
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995                   TAG: 9507250020
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: G-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

QUESTIONS IN THE NEWS

A: Douglas Coupland wrote the book ``Generation X'' in 1991. But there's no need to be concerned about it now, because it's over. In last month's Details magazine, Coupland declared an end to X - but not before explaining where he got the term. It wasn't from Billy Idol's band, he said, but from ``Class,'' by Paul Fussell, which Coupland called a ``funny sociological book'' on American class structure.

Q: Does the Bastille prison in Paris still exist? If so, is it open to the public?

A: The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, marked the start of the French Revolution. The prison, on the east side of Paris, was subsequently demolished by order of the revolutionary government. For many people on this side of the Atlantic, Bastille Day, observed every July 14, is party time. To the French, however, it has been celebrated since 1880 as their national holiday, equivalent to July 4 in the United States.

Q: Because of rising aluminum prices, manufacturers are considering converting back to tin- plated steel cans. Will steel cans be recyclable, like aluminum cans?

A: Yes. In fact, most food cans already in use - 90 percent of them, said Betsy Martinelli of the Steel Can Recycling Institute in Pittsburgh - are steel, and they're recyclable. The steelmaking process requires the use of old steel to make new, so all steel products contain some of the same recycled material.

Q: Did Neil Armstrong come up with the phrase ``One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,'' or did someone else write it?

A: ``It's always been our understanding that he wrote that himself,'' a NASA spokeswoman in Houston said. He uttered the words when he ventured out of the lunar module Eagle and onto the moon on July 20, 1969. There's some difference of opinion about the exact wording, complicated by a crackling sound interfering with the moon-to-Earth radio transmission at the time. Armstrong has been quoted as saying these were his actual words: ``That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,'' but the ``a'' was obliterated in the transmission. The mission began on July 16, 1969, when Apollo 11 lifted off with Armstrong, Edwin ``Buzz'' Aldrin and Michael Collins. Four days later, the Eagle landed and Armstrong stepped into history.

by CNB