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Life & Times Transcript
3/28/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Light pollution is spreading along with urban sprawl, but why should we care? Scott Kardel>> The more time you know, the more chance you have to do something, to react. We'd like to know if there's anything coming right at us. So we hope that the brightness of the night sky doesn't keep us from finding a killer asteroid. Val Zavala>> And then, you might call him a man of letters. Meet the master of fonts. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> For the past sixty years, the Palomar Observatory has been peering into space, bringing back amazing images. But recently, this telescope has had trouble seeing. So what's the source of its vision problems? Can we do anything about it or will this valuable tool have to be shut down for good? Roger Cooper headed to north San Diego County for our story. Roger Cooper>> The top of Mount Palomar has always been a perfect place to experience the powers of the universe. Inside this white observatory dome a hundred miles southeast of Los Angeles sits something that's been called the perfect machine. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> A giant reflecting telescope capable of seeing incredible distances into space revealing remarkable images of galaxies, planets and stars. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> It towers over your head, the two hundred inch telescope here at Mount Palomar. For forty-five years, this was the largest telescope on earth. It's still one of our largest astronomical instruments. But as big as it is, this giant has a weakness. It can be blinded by the light. Those twinkling lights you see from Mount Palomar are not stars. They are glow from civilization down below. And every time something like a car dealership or a new subdivision goes up, so do electric lights and the Palomar telescope's ability to see faint objects in space gets weaker. That has the staff and scientists at Mount Palomar concerned. Ironically, this site was chosen because it would be dark. Scott Kardel>> Yeah. In 1934, Palomar was in the middle of nowhere and it was very dark (laughter). Roger Cooper>> Scott Kardel is Public Affairs Coordinator for Mount Palomar Observatory. He says that light pollution started to become a problem in the 1980s as suburban growth in north San Diego County took off. Scott Kardel>> And with that comes cities and parking lots and homes and back yards lit up and ball parks, and all of these things contribute to the brightness in the sky. Roger Cooper>> Karl Dunscombe is the telescope operator who drives the massive instrument to the precise points astronomers want to study in the night sky. He's seen tremendous change since moving to the mountain nineteen years ago. Karl Dunscombe>> I bought a small cabin and, even before I moved in, I came up here one night and just turned off the headlights and looked at the stars and it was amazing. It was just this pristine beautiful sky. We don't have it anymore. It's gone. Scott Kardel>> If we look towards the Temecula area, we can see lights from beyond that that come from Orange County and Los Angeles. We can see the lights of Palm Springs from here, which is actually a fair ways off. Roger Cooper>> But just how bad is it? About a year ago, a night sky team like this one from the National Parks Service measured light pollution at the observatory. Scott Kardel>> They actually measured the quality of the night in terms of how dark it is. Roger Cooper>> They found that the brightest plume of light was coming from San Diego, but there was also light coming from the northwest, Riverside, Orange County and beyond. What would light do as astronomers try to detect faint objects at the edge of the universe? Bad things, says the telescope operator. Karl Dunscombe>> I kind of liken it to watching television and having a whole bunch of snow on the screen. You want a clear picture and you want to be able to see, and the light pollution is just like a bunch of snow on that screen. Roger Cooper>> One of those astronomers who gets to spend all night using the telescope is Caltech graduate student, Mansi Kasliwal. Mansi Kasliwal>> It's a pretty big toy to play with. Roger Cooper>> She says that light pollution could have ruined her view of a remarkable event. What if it had obscured her view of the night a star exploded, the Supernova she witnessed? Mansi Kasliwal>> One of the most fantastic things that I've seen with the Palomar telescope is there's a subject for 2006 which was the brightest Supernova ever. This Supernova basically was just a few odd seconds from the center of this galaxy and you could very clearly see the center of the galaxy and the Supernova separately. Roger Cooper>> But lest you think this is all academic, there is another more ominous aspect to light pollution. Mount Palomar happens to be the place JPL scans the skies for near-earth objects like asteroids. Scott Kardel>> I hate to sound like a doom and gloom, I'm going to scare you kind of thing, but it's true. We do spend a portion of our time looking for asteroids that come near the earth so that we can understand if there are any on a collision course for the earth. We hope that the brightness of the night sky doesn't keep us from finding a killer asteroid. Roger Cooper>> Astronomy aside, the rise in light pollution has another impact and it's on all of us. We're losing our view of the stars from our own back yards. Look at the United States at night from orbit. We are now a planet aglow with electric lights. Scott Kardel>> It's amazing what people are missing and don't know they're missing. You know, the loss of seeing the Milky Way from your own back yard. Karl Dunscombe>> They should have the ability to go out and see the stars. For them to spark that interest, you know, that inquisitive interest to know what's out there. With the light pollution getting worse and worse, you don't see that. The kids don't have that opportunity. Roger Cooper>> So is there anything that can dim the lights around the Palomar Telescope? The observatory staff has been working for years with Riverside and San Diego Counties and county officials have adopted ordinances to limit light pollution. Observatory officials encourage cities to use lighting that aims downward and a certain kind of lighting, low pressure sodium fixtures, that interfere less with the astronomers' view. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> But while the growth of light pollution has slowed some, Scott Kardel says that the day could come when Mount Palomar might have to close its dome. Scott Kardel>> It's entirely possible. I don't see that growth in the area is diminishing, so it's entirely possible that eventually we may face the reality that the telescope just isn't able to do what it was designed to do anymore. We hope that we can push that back far into the future because the instrument is working wonderfully well and it's maintained wonderfully well by the staff here. Roger Cooper>> For Karl Dunscombe, loss of this great telescope would be a tragedy. Karl Dunscombe>> It never ceases to impress me when I come to work and I walk in and I see the telescope and I know the history here. When I'm driving it, to know that I'm driving five hundred thirty tons of steel and glass. It's just amazing. It's an excellent machine. It's one of the best machines in the world. Scott Kardel>> So we can conceive of this telescope working for generations to come if the local environment is maintained to allow it to do so. Roger Cooper>> On Mount Palomar, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Remember last January when Governor Schwarzenegger proposed sweeping health reform offering virtually every Californian health coverage? Well, what ever happened to that? Well, as it turns out, the governor has yet to send a bill to the state legislature. His staff is busy working with all the lawyers to make sure they're on board, meaning hospitals, doctors and insurance companies. The governor's plan asks something of everyone. All Californians must purchase an insurance policy. Employers with more than ten workers must provide coverage. Doctors and hospitals would contribute a small portion of their revenues to the state. As for insurance companies, they could not deny anyone coverage and they would have to spend at least eighty-five percent on patient care. So what are the chances of the governor's plan actually becoming law? For some perspective on the issue, we brought together three people around our Kitchen Table. David Lehrer from CommUnity Advocates; Keith Richman, former State Assemblyman from Los Angeles; and Professor Gerald Kominski from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Our segment is funded by Ralph Tornberg. David Lehrer>> Keith, Gerry, from Washington to Sacramento, health care and health insurance and all the mess that everybody knows every time they fill out an insurance form is dominating the news. If the governor's plan were implemented, how would it affect regular Californians? Keith Richman>> Well, David, I think it's going to help regular Californians. Californians are concerned about health care. They're concerned about the cost and those who don't have health insurance are worried about getting it. So the reality is that most Californians are worried about health care. They're worried about losing it or they're worried about getting it. What the governor's proposal says, first of all, is that everybody in California has to have health insurance. Just like if you're driving a car, you've got to have automobile insurance. Gerald Kominski>> One of the biggest problems with the current system is that there's a hidden tax that we all pay. By having 6.5 million uninsured in the state, those of us with health insurance pay higher premiums and higher prices when we use health care because someone has to cover the cost of the uninsured, and that's one of the ways that we do it. The governor's plan, by requiring all Californians to have insurance and then providing subsidies for those with low income, should reduce some of that pressure to recover costs from those of us with insurance. David Lehrer>> The general consensus seems to be that we can't continue at the status quo. Something's broke and the president says it and the governor says it and opinion molders seem to suggest that that's the case. What are the prospects of this plan being adopted? Gerald Kominski>> Well, I think that, first of all, there are somewhat good prospects based on the fact that a similar proposal was enacted last year in Massachusetts. The governor and his staff have taken that into consideration. They've said, look, we have a successful model that was implemented in another state. It represents a moderate -- it's a compromise approach. It has some elements that appeal to Democrats, some that appeal to Republicans, and that was a successful approach in Massachusetts. So I think that that is a cause for optimism. There are other aspects of the proposal, though, that are going to be controversial and it's going to be an uphill battle. David Lehrer>> As someone who's watched sausage being made and being a participant in the legislative process as an Assemblyman, what do you think the prospects are and who are the groups that have such vested interest that, if they don't really get what they want, they're going to make sure that nothing happens? Keith Richman>> There's a lot of special interest groups in health care, whether you're talking about insurance companies, doctors, hospitals. To get something done is very tough. Like Gerry said, I mean, I really applaud the governor for taking this on. I think he's put forward a centrist position. You know, almost laughably, David, you could say that, on the Democratic side of the aisle, the philosophy has been "Give everybody everything", and on the Republican side of the aisle, it's almost been "Don't get sick". What the governor has done is put forward a plan that's in the middle. He's tried to build on the current system to address the problems of cost and access. It's a plan that, I think, generally is on the right track. David Lehrer>> Gerald, who's been most vocal in opposition? Gerald Kominski>> Well, I don't know if we have vocal opposition yet, but my suspicion is that the insurance industry will be ultimately the most vocal in opposition. In a sense, they stand to lose the most and their way of doing business really, if the governor's proposal is enacted, will change the most. They'll be required to have guaranteed issue insurance which they currently don't have right now. And they'll be held to a performance standard where they will have to pay out eighty-five cents for every dollar of premium that they collect, eighty-five cents in the form of health benefits. Many insurers in the state right now would not meet that performance standard and I think that's going to be controversial. Keith Richman>> I agree. I think Gerry is right. The insurance companies will oppose that. I think that other groups like the unions are going to oppose the individual mandate. They're going to oppose the benefit design saying that everybody ought to have a more comprehensive benefit plan than the governor has proposed. The unions, I think, are simply going to say that everybody ought to have everything paid for by the employer. David Lehrer>> Your colleague wrote an Op Ed that said that the notion that the employers have to pay four percent of their salary pool to a plan would mean that a lot of employers who pay about eight percent now for insurance would give up insurance. Gerald Kominski>> Yeah, it's a major concern and it's not clear how the governor's proposal would prevent that from happening. But basically, what we know is that for employers who do provide health insurance benefits, they pay anywhere from six percent to as much as twelve percent of payroll for those health benefits. The governor's proposal will say that, if you don't currently offer insurance, you either need to do that or, in lieu of that, you can pay four percent of payroll into this new state fund. That raises the question, well, if I'm paying eight to twelve percent now, why I don't I just go into the fund? There are provisions to prevent that from happening, but it's not clear yet what the governor is going to propose to prevent that. David Lehrer>> If the governor's plan isn't implemented, if there's no change in the status quo, how bad is it going to get? Keith Richman>> Well, I think it's just going to continue to get worse little by little. As an example, every single year, fewer people can afford insurance every single year because of the increasing cost to business for health care. Another one to two percent of businesses every year drop their health insurance coverage, so now in the state of California, I think, Gerry, it's what fifty-four percent of businesses that offer health insurance and the rest don't. We have a situation now where we have insurance companies that have pre-existing illness exclusions. They don't have guaranteed issue. The governor's proposal has reforms that address that. David Lehrer>> Is there kind of a momentum that the governor is -- I mean, his press has been simply extraordinary. From the New York Times across the country, they're saying, wow, he's done an amazing job. I mean, does that kind of have a force all its own? Keith Richman>> Well, there's no question that the force of public pressure to solve the problem is a benefit in overcoming the influence of the special interest groups. The most powerful special interest group in Sacramento is the public employee unions. They are the most powerful special interest group on the Democratic side of the aisle, so they're going to be listened to and they're going to play a key role in crafting legislation. But whole thing is going to require a compromise which, you know, historically there hasn't been a lot of compromise in Sacramento recently. David Lehrer>> But there's a possibility? Keith Richman>> There is a possibility. David Lehrer>> Well, on that semi-optimistic note, thank you, Keith, and thank you, Gerry, and we're all going to keep our eye on Sacramento. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> Here is a question for you. How many fonts or letter styles do you think there are in the world? A thousand? Two thousand? Five thousand? Well, if you guessed fifty thousand, you'd still only be half right. And who do you think designs these fonts? Did you ever think about where these distinctive names and fonts come from? Some of the best come from this computer in a crowded workspace off a kitchen in a home in Sherman Oaks, the home of Doyald Young. Doyald Young>> And this is the one that was chosen. Val Zavala>> Doyald Young is the dean of topography. Doyald Young>> And this is used on Starbuck's syrup labels. It's used also on Comedy Central. You see it used a lot of places these days. Val Zavala>> For more than half a century, Doyald has been designing logo types for major corporations, hotels, restaurants, institutions and Hollywood stars. His newest font appeared on television. Doyald Young>> It was first shown on "E", the celebrity program at night, to announce Brittany's baby boy's new name (laughter). Val Zavala>> Your font was used for that? Doyald Young>> Yes. Val Zavala>> He's written three internationally acclaimed books, definitive texts on logo type design. He's lectured from London to Tokyo and in forty cities across America. And for all his commercial success, he says -- Doyald Young>> I'm a teacher, first of all. I have to say that. A designer, second. Val Zavala>> Doyald has been teaching at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena for more than twenty-five years. Teaching is ingrained in his personality. For the short time I spent with him, I learned all sorts of things like what a Kartouche is. Doyald Young>> Kartouche is a French word meaning "ring" and it's an elaborate border around something. You see architectural Kartouches with the numbers of a street address. You see them on old maps. Kartouche. Val Zavala>> I learned the difference between a logo, which is a symbol like this, and a logo type, which is a word written in a distinctive style. How many fonts are there in the world? Doyald Young>> It's a safe guess, probably, a hundred thousand. Val Zavala>> That's phenomenal. Doyald Young>> Because with all the technology, we can now design fonts. Some people can do it very quickly. I take a long time to do it. Someone once said, "I'd like to watch you work", and a fellow friend of mine said, "It's glacial. Don't." I'm sort of neurotic about designing fonts because I work on them so long. The first one I did was called Young Baroque, which is an elaborate, elaborate formal script, and I worked on it in pencil long before the computer came around. I worked on it off and on for a dozen years. At the same time, I did another one called Eclat, which is a real bold sport script. I said that you could sell fan belts with it (laughter). Val Zavala>> He recently finished two more, one called Home Run and another, Young Finesse. And if you think fonts are made up of just twenty-six letters, think again. Doyald Young>> The italic is elaborate. I have five hundred nine characters, what we call Glyphs these days, in it. That accommodates all of the European countries, all of their diacritic marks. Notice that there are very few straight lines. This is really -- Val Zavala>> -- what do you mean by straight lines? Doyald Young>> For instance, this is really not a straight line. It has a very subtle curve to it. Val Zavala>> Many of think it would be easy and cool to create a font, but it's much harder than you can imagine. Doyald Young>> After all of this time, with a hundred thousand fonts, a lot of them will be very similar. It's very difficult to decide if you have truly an original font. Val Zavala>> Font design is filled with terms like slotted steel nibs, split quills, lower case to cap ratio, X factor, slope and weight. That's the technical side. The aesthetic side is full of words like elegant, husky, sophisticated, forceful, comfortable, romantic and exuberant. Doyald Young>> This is for Sea Smoke, which is a vineyard near Santa Barbara. Val Zavala>> Doyald's job is like a matchmaker, marrying the desired effect to the right font. This is the logo type he created for a wine. Doyald Young>> And the reason he wanted to call it Sea Smoke is because it's near the ocean and the fog comes in late afternoon and covers the vines with fog. Sea smoke is a term that sailors use at sea for fog. Val Zavala>> There's nothing in Doyald's background that would predict he'd become a font master. Among his father's many jobs was running a wrecking yard in a small Texas town. He left home at age fifteen, having lived in fifteen different towns, and he began a series of jobs as long as a freight train. Just listen to this resume. Doyald Young>> I went to Houston. I was a bellhop there and a bellhop in New Orleans at the Roosevelt Hotel. I went to Manhattan. I was an usher at the Radio City Music Hall in the loge section. I used to stand at the front of the stairs and say, "Loge is to your right, please, Loge is to your right, please." And I did that for four hours. I wearied of that and went to San Francisco as a shipping clerk. I went back to Texas. The Army said, "No, we don't want you because you've got asthma." I went to Albuquerque. I got a job loading milk trucks in a dairy at four o'clock in the morning, and I was a newsstand clerk in a little tiny town called Ashfork. Then I found out that I could make more money working for the railroad, so I was a freight brakeman on Caboose 2005 for Santa Fe. I finally wound up in a golf club factory whipping golf clubs and varnishing them and filling the grooves with white paint. It was cold in Chicago. It was ten degrees and it was snowing and I lasted, I think, four months, and I came out here. Val Zavala>> Once in Los Angeles, Doyald went to L.A. Trade Tech where a teacher noticed his talent. Then to Art Center where he still teaches today starting with the basics. Doyald Young>> So many of the students that enroll at Art Center these days, first thing they want to do is go to the computer. They love the computer. It's a narcotic. It really is. We, of course, want them to learn to draw first. My advice is to learn to draw, then go to the computer. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Doyald is now semi-retired and enjoys quiet evenings at home with a book and his cats. He loves not just letters, but words, and not just words, but ideas. If he's not reading, you'll likely find him at his computer designing posters, taking some of his favorite quotes and endowing them with visible elegance. Doyald Young>> I have another one here which is Isaiah Berlin and he's talking about "When ideas are neglected by the people who really ought to pay attention, things get out of hand. They may grow too violent to be affected by rational criticism." Val Zavala>> Wow, does that have a lot to say for today. Doyald Young>> Doesn't it, though? So he's talking about ideas that happen in the classroom can affect the world. Val Zavala>> Doyald Young is being honored this year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts for his contribution to the field of design and his decades of teaching. And, if there were an award for charm and gentility, he would win that too. If you'd like to learn more about the world of graphic arts, you can go to the website for the American Institute of Graphic Arts at aiga.org. I'm Val Zavala and that's our program. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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