Koko's first words were, "Koko good!" Imagine Koko's trainer, Dr. Marilyn Kavinski, as she heard Koko talk for the very first time. Dr. Kavinski says, "I just about peed my pants." Dr. Kavinski is among the leading scientists working with Chimpanzees throughout the world. Her fifteen years of research has finally paid off. Dr. Kavinski said, "This is beyond my wildest expectations. When I first started working with Koko I was only interested in teaching her how to ice skate. When Koko could not do a "triple lutz" I became frustrated and began to teach her sign language." The new technology allowing computer chips to be implanted into Chimpanzee brains has been developed by Radon Industries. Radon hopes that they will be able to replace their entire human workforce within the next two years. "This is a very exciting time for us here at Radon Industries," said an official Radon monkey spokesman.

Is this the future of mankind? What's the deal with these sign language monkeys? Lately Chimpanzees have been getting a lot of press because they can count and recognize complex number orientations. Are Chimpanzees getting smarter or are their trainers just using better techniques? Is it possible that apes could someday talk? Work is being done on computer chips for memory retention, hearing and even eyesight. Could this someday translate into giving animals the ability for speech? Can you imagine going to a zoo and having a conversation with "Koko the talking Chimp" who has a Ph.D. from Harvard. Suddenly monkeys become man's best friend as every kid in America wants his or her own talking chimp. Suddenly Planet of the Apes becomes reality as chimps take over the world. The future is here, are we ready?

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Space Cadet

In the spirit of Disk-O, Space Cadet is the first in a continuing tribute on old science fiction. Airing from 1950 - 1955 the opening voice-over of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet boomed - "the age of the conquest of space... the world beyond tomorrow!" Expanding into radio, comic books, novels, and every kind of toy imaginable, Space Cadet was far beyond its world of tomorrow. Anyone who knows anything about the show will tell you about the amazing silver rocket Polaris. Could there ever have been a more beautiful and simple rocketship created? Of course by today's standards the Polaris as a spaceship may seem outdated, but it is still the preferred shape of modern day rockets.

Although Space Cadet heralded a new era it wasn't the first space show on television. A year before "Captain Video" graced American television sets. Buck Rogers was also a radio and comic strip hit beginning in the 1930's. Other shows that soon began to appear were "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger", "Johnny Jupiter" and "Rod Brown the Rocket Rangers." Possibly the best thing that came from Space Cadet was the great genre of spacetalk. With some of the greatest lines such as "What's the latest space dope?", "Blast me for a Martian mouse!", "Spaceman's luck!", "Don't give me that meteor dust", "Lay off the space gas", "You're way off your orbit", "What are you fusing your tubes about?", "Go blast your jets", and "Why don't you go to Saturn and play ring around the planet?"

Who knows what tomorrow may bring for Space Cadet. As Hollywood goes everything eventuall cycles back again. With a little "Space Luck" maybe we will see the Polaris on that big Silver Screen.