Wednesday, february 25, 1981
daily nebraskan
page 9
Childish car conduct is a public embarrassment
Commentary by Robert Bauer
Cars often can be like children. Usually
well behaved, but every once in a while
they also can be very embarrassing in
public. If your car is approaching middle
age then you should read on carefully.
Your car could begin to behave badly, in
public, and you need to be prepared.
departures
The behavior seems to come in two
forms. Smoking and coughing. Neither will
improve you nor your car's reputation.
Smoking, however, is by far the worst of
the two. When you pull up to a stop light
with a trail of pungent gray smoke pouring
from your car's exhaust, there will be no
denying the facts. You'll be marked as a
smoker.
The most convenient way to cure this
problem is to visit your local garage and in
vest a few hundred dollars in a ring job.
For roughly half a semester's tuition you
can give your car the equivalent of open
heart surgery. That is just one way to cure
the smoking behavior.
Unfortunately, most of us don't have
$200 to drop for a valve job. For those of
us in that category there are alternatives.
One such alternative is the "STP down the
hatch" trick. This is where you gorge your
car with STP every so often. The STP
makes your oil so thick it can't seep down
between your rings. For the $1.50 you
spend for the STP, it seems like a reason
able offer.
Warm-up car
Another possibility is simply warm up
your car. This is where you start your auto
in the garage and allow it to warm-up be
fore driving off to class. In this way, all the
smoke the car puts out gets trapped in the
garage, thus sparing you the embarras
sment. By the time you drive off to class,
your car's rings have expanded and the oil
is no longer slipping into the cylinder caus
ing the smoke.
Coughing, the second form of behavior,
is equally as embarrassing. This is where
your auto seems to suffer from epilepsy.
Imagine, you pull into your driveway, put
the car in park and turn off the ignition.
Instead of stopping, however, your car con
tinues to spit and sputter and heave and
shudder. Finally, the car gives one last gasp
and stops. All your friends stare at you as
you get out of the car. They know your car
has got the shudders.
Fortunately, this problem is much easier
to deal with than the smoking. If you have
$50 burning a hole in your pocket you
could once again run down to the garage
and ask for a tune-up. If you can't
remember the last time you gave your car a
tune-up, then this might not be a bad idea.
Your car will love you for it and the
knocking will probably quit.
Gasohol alternative
However, if you are like me you prob
ably can't remember the last time you had
$ burning a hole in your pocket. For
ti " e of us there is an alternative - gasohol.
Vt $137 a gallon, gasohol has to be the
cheapest alternative to a tune-up. Put a
tankful of this in your car and it will sail
down Vine Street like a born-again
Chrysler.
Gasohol may not be the ultimate answ
er to your tune-up problem, but for my
Red Beast it worked wonders. It seems like
it's worth a try and besides, you'll feel like
a real Nebraskan putting corn alcohol in
your tank.
Most of these suggestions probably are
just measures to delay the inevitable. It's
like putting off your math course until
you're a senior. Sooner or later it sneaks up
on you.
douglas 3
; 13th &P4b ????
5:30-7:30-9:30
STATES
5:20-7:25-9:30
jNI tOHOt
UK IOMIIN
9-5 p)
5:25-7:35-9:45
ORDINARY
PEOPLE (R)
Nominated for 6
Academy Award'
( sHonrcc emnrQQQfEATuiE films )
Show focuses on estates
Estate planning is the topic for viewer
questions on this month's "Ask A Lawyer"
program, broadcast Thursday at 8:30
p.m. on the Nebraska Educational Tele
vision Network.
A panel of Nebraska lawyers in estate
planning will be on hand to answer view
ers' phone-in questions on the air. The
topic includes wills, trusts, joint owner
ship and tax considerations. Attorney Jim
Hewitt of Lincoln is host.
"Ask A Lawyer" is financed in part by
a grant from the Nebraska State Bar Assoc
iation and is produced by the public affairs
unit of University of Nebraska Television.
Paul Preston is producer and director of
the series.
A variety of topics will be featured on
"What's NU?," airing Friday at 8 p.m. over
the Nebraska Educational Television Net
work. This episode of "What's NU?" diverts
from the program's usual format which
focuses on a central theme. Each NU
campus-UNL and its Institute of Agri
culture and Natural Resources, UNO,
and the NU Medical Center-will explore
some facet of its operation.
Jim Raglin, NU director of public
affairs, is host of "What's NU?."
Winter concert set
UNL's symphonic band will present its Mid-Winter
Concert at 3 p.m., Sunday at Kimball Recital Hall. 11th
and R Streets.
The concert, which is free and open to the public,
will be directed by Jack R. Snider, director of UNL
bands.
Graduate Assistant Larry Lawless will conduct
"Excerpts from Sebastian Ballet" by Menotti and
Dr. Robert Fought, director of bands and director of
the UNL Marching Red, will conduct the famous Hoist
"First Suite in E Flat."
The Symphonic Band also will present Jenkin's "Amer
ican Overture for Band," "Symphony No. 2" by John
Barnes Chance, "Varients on a Mediaeval Theme" by
Dello Joio and marches by Eugene Allen and John Philip
Sousa.
After the concert, a reception will be held for band
members, their parents and friends in Westbrook Music
Building.
Right now, many local
Army Reserve units can
offer high schx)l diploma
graduates a $1,500 enlist
ment bonus, or up to $4,000
in educational aid for col
lege. Not many part time
jobs offer a bonus, let alone
valuable skill training in
fields like Surveying or
Medical Technology, to
name a couple. And you'll
earn over $1,200 a year, to
start. You can even join
while in high school , if
you're 17 or older and meet
other enlistment qualifica
tions. So stop by.
MEET TODAY'S
ARMY RESERVE
475-8561
YOUR H
FOR FUN
OPEN 10:00 A M.
Continuous Shovi
Exclusive!
"Womensongs for humankind"
Betsy Rose
& Cathy Winter
in Concert
Friday, February 27, 8:00 PM
in the Great Plains Room at the
UNL East Campus Student Union
(1 Block north of 38th and Holdrege St., Lincoln, Ne)
Admission $4.003.50 with UNL student ID
Childcare and work exchange credit are available
by reservation; call 472-2597
We're very pleased to present the first Lincoln appearance
by feminist musicians Betsy Rose and Cathy Winter.
Local community support for women's music is ex
panding these days, making conceits such as this one
possible. Help sustain the momentum don't miss
Betsy and Cathy February 27!
Sponsored by
UNL Women's Resource Center
and the Lincoln Legion of Lesbians
i v
Announces:
"BUD NIGHT"
$1.50 Bud Pitchers
55c Bud, Natural Cans
Tenia! Vd, Feb. 25
J Sbooooooooooooooooooocooooooooooooooooooo
dU
&X V-SxHl1 violent night storm. A
3) J mysterious taven on a lonely
T1 T 2 iM I road. A group of strangers
l Lj -ri" a delirious woman In black, a
C1 UV nameless vagabond who
fwlA 1 revds in inglorious"
XfS Z D MW" $ V torm, a harried governor, his
MM m daughter's fiance - see
Wl M r heltef. A crash of thunder. A
x$& I Kr H Qvii na ol lightning. A gun shot!
cSS I v '&Vil Anything can happen before