The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 3

Friday, February 12, 1988 THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS A.3 Oh for a Pyke to turn snow into cash crop A 1948). then you've probably never heard of his invention "pykrete." Had the timetable for World War II been a little different, "pykrete" could have been a secret weapon for the U.S. and Britain. As it was, "pykrete" never got further than an experiment on a Canadian lake when the Allies decided they wouldn't need Pyke's invention warships made of ice cubes. Pyke was a brilliant Britisher whose mind may have taken a couple of wrong turns.

There were nearly as many people who considered him a flake as a genius. You name the problem and Pyke would apply some thought and create a solution. It might not be practical or even logical, but he wouldn't send you away empty. For instance, when the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War didn't have fuel to power their trains, Pyke had a solution pedal-power. Have lots and lots of men on exercycles all transmitting their energy to the train's wheels.

The soldiers, who would be the ones to pedal, thought it was the lousiest idea they'd heard all week. It was never used. Hardly a man alive hasn't heard of a recurring scheme to slice generous chucks off the Antarctic ice shelf and tow them to Saudi Arabia where they could be melted down for fresh water. It goes without saying, the entrepreneurial icemen would expect to receive sachels of Arabian petrodollars for their service. Recollections of ice cubes-to-Arabia came to mind as I looked out the wln- dow at the accumulating byproduct of winter snow and ice.

Surely, there should be some practical use for it. aside from generating overtime for the street and road crews. Occasionally, someone will load the freezer with snowballs and save them a Fourth of July stunt, but that's small scale. I'm talking about big business, like around Cadillac. every spring when residents harvest a small fortune in morel mushrooms from their yards and roadsides! Wouldn't it be great if snow could be cash crop? And neighbors would fight for the privilege of removing it from a common driveway or walk? And Mayor Bill would have to assign jextra police to make sure private citi- merely chip or dent, his frozen ships.

And like any other ice cube, they'd be unsinkable. Pyke envisioned his frozen ships, wrapped in logs or cork for insulation and disguised as conventional craft. They'd be armed with hoses for shooting super-cooled water that would freeze on contact with a target. While enemy shells bounced harm lessly away, his ships would sail close and ice the enemy into submission, sort of like Mr. Freeze on "Batman." A prototype ship of "pykrete" was made in Canada and survived on a lake for an entire summer without melting.

Meanwhile, the Allies had moved the war to the European mainland, the German navy ceased to exist, and so did any need for sea-going ice cubes with freezer nozzles. After World War II. Pyke stayed on the British payroll, wrestling with prob-; lems in education, public health and a more humane world order. But one winter evening in 1948, he tired of it all and OD'd on sleeping pills. A pity, too.

If he were around today, Pyke surely could devise a system to convert our snow into a covered mall from the Circle to Union Stations Similarly, the World War II British high command considered and rejected Pyke's three-stage plan for wresting the Romanian oil fields from the Germans. First you send in dogs bearing casks of brandy to loosen up the guards. Then you send in waves of party girls to seduce the guards. And finally you send in commandos to kill the guards. The plan probably was rejected for want of sober dogs who could be trusted with the brandy.

Likewise, the generals didn't think too much of his plan for a large pipeline that could be used to push men and machines from ship to shore or over difficult terrain like water through a garden hose. A chilling prospect But Pyke did get the attention of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt when he produced samples of his "pykrete," a mix of ice and wood pulp that would resist melting, even in warm temperatures. Build entire battleships and aircraft carriers out of it, he urged. His tests showed torpedoes, bombs or artillery shells would bounce off, or at worst. Richard K.

Shull zens didn't steal snow off the streets that rightfully belonged to the city? Residents would stand guard to stop passing schoolchildren from scooping up their precious snow 'and wasting it on snowballs. Unfortunately, there are no salvors who want to buy it and haul it away to ski resorts. As it lies and it does do that it's a liability. What we need is someone with a fertile imagination like Goeffrey Pyke to find a way to turn our snow and, ice into profit. If you've never heard of Pyke (1894- PEOPLE Arias asks Gorbachev to halt arms shipments Rap group action backs ol' Joe Clark nr- Costa Rican president Oscar Arias Rae Dawn Chong Kristy McNichol mocracy throughout Central America: an end to outside aid to insurgent forces in the region, and a halt to the use of any country's territory as a base for attacks on another nation.

From Managua, it was reported Thursday that inflation-wracked Nicaragua will issue a 500,000 cordoba note next week. Until last June, the biggest denomination bill was a 5,000 note. The government claimed 1987 inflation was 1,800 percent. Unofficial figures estimate it reached 7,000 percent. The Associated Press SAN JOSE, Costa Rica 1 Costa Rican President Oscar Arias called on Mikhail S.

Gorbachev to act in line with the new image the Soviet leader is fostering by halting arms shipments to rebels in Central America. Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for drafting a Central American regional peace plan, also asked the international community to work to cut off all military aid to the region's guerrilla movements. "We must struggle, with the help of the' whole world, so that the shipment of arms to insur- gents in the region stops," Arias said Thursday in a message broadcast nationwide on radio and television. Arias then directed the call specifically at the Soviet Union, saying Gorbachev's new image less dogmatic and more tolerant than his predecessors would be tested in the region. "The new image that Gorba- chev today presents to the world will be put to the test in Central America," Arias said.

"He should cease all armed support, direct or indirect by means of Cuba and Nicaragua, to insurgent forces." Leftist guerrillas in El Salvador have been waging an 8-year-old war against the U.S. -backed government there. The guerrillas reportedly receive some of their weapons from the Soviet bloc via Cuba and Nicaragua. The guerrillas deny the reports of outside military aid. They say their arms are purchased on the international black market or captured from government forces.

"Today there is a chance for peace like never before in tral America," said Arias, "an Ml l.T. BROWN The Indianapolis News t. The rap group RUN-DMC went to Paterson. S.N.J.. Thursday to put on a free concert at Eastr side High School in support of JOB CLARK, the school's controversial principal.

Clark won national fame for the strict disci-spline he maintains with a bullhorn and baseball bat. but he's irked some folks by suspending 66 students with bad attitudes and chaining the fire exits to keep out dope dealers. But Clark is I as far as Run-DMC is concerned, "No gang of knuckleheads has the right to keep other kids from getting an education," said DARRYL McDANIEL, aka DMC. "You take away someone's schooling and you've stolen his CARL WEATHERS, who plays a demoted policeman in his new flick, "Action Jackson," took 'Mime out from promoting his film to tape public, service announcements encouraging people to tjoin the New Orleans police force. Police Superintendent WARREN WOODFORK returned the favor by making Weathers an hon- orary captain.

Weathers also visited his old New Orleans high school, St. Augustine, and donned one of the school's letter Jackets for the occasion. 1' Meantime, his costar in "Action Jackson." 't, VANITY, will be featured in a nude spread In an upcoming edition of Playboy mag. But she told -Jet mag it's with the blessing of her fiance, bass player NICKIE SDCX of MOTLEY CRUE. However.

Sixx told People mag he and Vanity are splitsville and that he told her to get her things out of his pad. Playboy honcho HUGH HEFNER has lashed back at a former model whose $5 million lawsuit against him claims he abandoned promises to support her and father a child. "It is sad to see a loving relationship reduced to such hurtful exploitation." Hefner said Thurs- day. "This is not a 'palimony' suit, it is a publicity stunt." CARRIE LEIGH. 24.

said in her suit filed Thursday in County Superior Court that she had received an engagement ring from Hefner, 61, and was his companion and social hostess at the Playboy Mansion from April '83 until two weeks ago. Her attorney, MARVIN MITCHELSON. said during a news conference that JESSICA HAHN, one of the mansion's newest residents, was responsible for the breakup. Blips: RICHARD NIXON is taping promo spots for Orion Home Video's release of "Robocop," the adventure fantasy about a half-man, half-machine law 'n' order fanatic. The $25,000 Nixon's being paid will be donated to the American Boys Club.

is PETER FALK is back with his wife. SHERA DANESE Tennis star BORIS BECKER is said to have given his girl, REGDfA NEDER, $24,000 so she wouldn't pose naked for Playboy mag RAE DAWN CHONG has moved in with C. THOMAS HOWELL on a six-acre ranch in Ojai. Calif. They both starred in "Soul Man" i KRISTY McNICHOL.

25. who won an Emmy for her role as the kid sister on the 1976-80 "Family" series, is choosing between several TV pilots she has been offered. Meantime, she has movie cameos in the current "You Can't Hurry Love" and in the upcoming "Two Moon Junction." Today's quote: "People ask me. don't you feel guilty for the deaths of JIMI HENDRDC. ELVIS PRESLEY.

JAMS JOPLIN and JOHN BELUSHI? I feel terrible. But. heck, they weren't using my drugs. had nothing to do with heroin, morphine, "cocaine or liquor. You never heard me talking about speedballs." TIMOTHY LEARY.

the former Harvard psych professor who told U.S. youth in the '60s that things went better with psychedelics. Do you have a opportunity for democracy in Latin America like never before. There is a last chance to defeat poverty and to prevent misery, protected by dictatorships, from perpetuating itself." He expressed the hope that Nicaragua will move resolutely toward making its society more democratic, and that peace talks between combatants in both Nicaragua and El Salvador will resume and bear fruit. "It is they who must choose between war, and peace," he said.

Peace talks stalled Cease-fire negotiations between U.S. -backed Contra rebels and representatives of Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government are scheduled for next week in Guatemala. Peace talks between the two sides in El Salvador have stalled. The government says talks will not resume until after legislative and municipal elections March 20. Arias and the presidents of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras signed the peace plan last August in Guatemala City.

It calls for cease-fires in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala: greater freedom and de secret admirer? Find out tomorrow. Read the special VALENTINE GREETINGS on the Star and News Classified pages. The Star THE NEWS We deliver the know-how and the network. SOLUTIONS WITHOUT PROBLEMS" A TZTT -Vc i Si J'f iWM I r'y- )r' A fj '11' Tit? A 'fT3 ''tly A 11 s- I y- -k I 1 'a i' A A 4 A jm I A 1 I' I I yf Abducted pair freed in Beirut The Associated Press BEIRUT. Lebanon Two Swedish journalists said gunmen dragged them from a taxi Thursday and carried them away In the trunk of a car, but later freed them and apologized, saying they were looking for West Germans.

"The abduction took only 28 seconds. I timed it." Andre Lada. cameraman for Sweden's TV-2 station, told reporters. Lada. 46.

and Folke Ryden, 29. a TV-2 correspondent, were kidnapped shortly after they arrived in Beirut from Parts on Thursday to report on the abduction of two Scandinavian U.N. workers last week. two said they were going to stay in Lebanon despite the Incident. "It was quite scary when it (kidnapping) was happening.

I'm glad It's over. It happened so fast that we had no time to react." Ryden said. Lada said about seven gunmen in two cars intercepted their taxi 200 yards from a Syrian army checkpoint on the highway from the airport. "They dragged us out of the rear seat and bundled us into "the trunk of a small car." said Lada. He said he and Ryden were taken out of the trunk in an empty garage.

Lada said the captors' "chief." who spoke English well, apologized. The kidnappers then put the Swedes in the back of a car and returned them to the place where they were seized, forcing them to keep their heads down during the ride. 4 When you talk with business people every day about their cornrnuni-cations needs, you hear what they want loud and clear. Their specific needs vary, but what's really important to them remains constant: convenience, performance, reliability. So, that's what we design at Indiana BelL Systems that solve communications problems immediately without creating new ones.

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