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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1984)
Monday, December 3, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3 ^Singing Cadets enthuse ~ Christmas music crowd By Katherine P. Hurt Staff Writer \ , As the old adage goes, they saved the best for last — or almost — at the Vocal Music Programs’ Christmas Concert Sunday night. The Singing l,Cadets, as usual, were full of sur prises as they performed for an en thusiastic crowd at Rudder Audito rium. '"■The crowd, of almost 2,000 peo ple, whooped when Singing Cadet Director Robert Boone walked onto the stage and, for the first time dur ing the concert, came alive as the jovous, freshly-scrubbed Cadets sang such numbers as “Do You Hear |lVhat 1 Hear,” “T he Little Drummer Boy” and “Sleigh Ride.” ■ As an unplanned surprise for the [victorious Aggie football team and for those who spurred them to vic tory, the Singing Cadets burst into ■harmonious adaption of the Ag gie War Hymn, bringing the crowd to its feet, whooping all the while. The Aggienizors, a barbershop quartet composed of Singing Cadets Rick Huff, Rick Thurman, Kent Copeland and Ken Denmark, were an additional treat in the Cadet rep ertoire. The stocking cap-clad quartet sang a whimsical adaption of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” singing that their true loves brought them goodies such as 12 bell towers and 11 crying longhorns. Unfortunately, the Singing Ca det’s performance was the only one in which the audience had any fun — the rest of the Vocal Music Pro grams Christmas Concert was pretty droll. The concert got off to a slow start with The Women’s Chorus, con ducted by Patricia Fleitas, singing songs like “Coventry Carol,” “T he Merry Sounds of Christmas,” “He Came For Me” and “Here We Go A- Caroling.” The Women’s Chorus had a per forming quartet too, appropriately named The Beauty Shop Q uartet - The girls’ uninspiring rendition of “Chocolate in My Stocking,” drew no response from the crowd until they threw chocolate kisses to the audi ence. As the curtain closed on the wom en’s choir, The Reveliers, a 15-mem- ber mixed chorus, rose from the or chestra pit. The forcibly-animated, folksy group elicited a fair amount of applause for their synthesised- pop renditions of “A Christmas Song” and “What is Christmas.” The Reveliers descended all too slowly back into the pit as the cur tains opened for The Century Sing ers, a 40-member mixed choir. The most memorable part of the Century jSingers’ performance of “Festival Magnificat” and “Gloria from Messa di Gloria” was Jeff Wright’s fabulous piano accompaniment. The Reveliers ascended again singing, “I can hear the sounds of Christmas as they echo through the years ...,” echoing Lojeski’s arange- ment of “The Merry Sounds of The Texas A&M Women’s Chorus. Christmas,” sung earlier in the con cert by the Women’s Chorus. After the Singing Cadet perfor mance, the Reveliers sang jazzy, commercialized renditions of Christmastime classics “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “Go Tell it on the Mountain,” with a few too many Photo by JOHN MAKEL Y inserted “dooby-wahs” and “shoo- bops.” At the end of the concert the crowd rose with oohs and ahs as the Vocal Music Programs’ massed cho rus sang a joyous, full-bodied rendi tion of Handel’s “Hallelujah Cho rus” from “The Messiah.” mg Computer farming project developer to teach Brazilian farmers technology Researcher designs injury analysis system By CATHIE ANDERSON Staff Writer ■ Faculty members at the University dn’t want low-ol Sao Paulo in Brazil will be in- downuw; structed about computerized farm *nsitivetolioiB chno,0 Sy a T exas A&M agricul tural economics professor. ,1° reacnonjp r Jj m McGrann, who has taken ling. And™ a |month’s leave of absence from r SO he thoiijB&M to go to Brazil, said he has f /2-yeanolHen working on computer applica nt i ■ )ns f° r farming for 10 years. Dur- mpt,UiaM the past fi ve y ears> he has ftrked on the University’s Year on he encoEflooo Computer Farm project. onformfrouHThe Computer Farm, at the Stiles Fanu Foundation near Thrall, Bexas, applies computer technology xpener l ar g e scale commercial farming u-lule 11 operation. |The objective of the program is to apt computer technology and lake it useful to farmers, McGrann said. Computerized farming in Texas is allenging because farmers have a ter variety of crops and land, he , This means decisions are more Ifficult to make. McGrann said the computer can while i was he militan e attempted : his real Hi ened wasven idy to "come ther be noi cer find t Charles Its m. He ni id his im need to ds the sup ithout thept^ • how well ii ie’ll never bed! always be all give answers to a series of questions, but it is up to the farmer to make the ultimate decisions. The computer gives a list of data from which con clusions can be drawn. “The computer will one day be come a very common tool for farm ers,” McGrann said, “an extension of the human mind.” He said some farmers, students, and instructors are resistant to using this particular tool. “They will be left behind,” McGrann said. “Computers will be come inaccessible tools for them. We have students in their 20s saying, ‘Technology will never be useful.’ But we have a man who’s 74 years old who’s thrilled by computers. “You find that the more innova tive producers find computers most useful. They find very creative ways to use the computers. They (innova tive farmers) nave made decisions that have paid for their computers.” McGrann said that computers will help farmers in the transition from being overly agriculture-oriented to becoming more business-oriented, a change that he said is necessary. Financial problems will be even more troublesome because of de pressed economic conditions, so farmers will have to learn to depend on accountants and economists to help with those problems, McGrann said. Gomputers will help producers learn more about economics and Fi nance, and farmers will become more competitive. McGrann said 85 percent of the software at the computerized farm is designed to help the farmer with budgeting. Those particular software programs are the most ef fective pieces of equipment, he said. Priced at $5,000 each, the com puters will help the farmer do ad vanced planning more efficiently than previously, McGrann said. The Year 2000 Computerized Farm trains farmers in how to inter pret computer output, not in how to formulate advanced programs, he said. Courses at the Stiles farm last from two to three days and include: • Farm and ranch accounting and financial statement analysis. ttalion 145 360 >cr of Association tlism Conference loriam 962-1984, Ediiod editorial Board tman, Editor Managing Ed® I , City Editor ; yk, News Ediffl itorial PageEdiW , Sports Editor tlion Staff itegel, Rhor •s ti Brown,Jo ir . Cliarean"il | j A len, Leigh-Elleifl ALL STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE J / 4r MSC aTi-NI o u n i y FB Cathy N : Im Makely, Deaiq al Policy h, sclkiipponinn^ service in 7'najd’l he Battalion irt iWjj n\ and do not ntn _ s /U\W adniddilBiffl’l as a iahoratorcno'lfl iiiff and ptaogrfT mmimibiions. s Policy ild mil exited M 1 esenes die riglii wd 1 ! make even cflktutfl tier must (tesipi(i)t |l l piio/iemmiiterofiltH hed Monday i/in»d 1 ■ scmestera.exitpifrjl Midi siihscripimiiit school year and W| ishedon retjmi taiion, 116 (teed nVersity, College Sisjl • mimBer.idOSJMi-ifl hi College ddress changes to 11*11 shy, College Saw? (Take a roll in the hay with us) APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE IN THE STUDENT PROGRAMS OFFICE and THE STUDENT FINANCIAL CENTER «.$$$$$ ^ GOOD WAY FOR & $ YOUR ORGANIZATION $ <{. TO MAKE MONEY ^ $ $ $ $ $ • Range livestock management in formation, performance records and decision aids. • Farm and ranch budgeting and fi nancial planning. • Crop production and operating cost field records. • Marketing information and strat egy analysis. • Beef cattle performance records and decision aids. Each class requires a $145 fee, but seminars on farm and ranch man agement can he taken in either Dal las, Austin or Lubbock for $50. “New ideas for our program come from the farmers, ranchers, and ex tension services involved in our pro gram,” McGrann said. “You can only identify what their needs are by talk ing to them. You have to understand that you just can’t sit in your office and dream up what they’re going to need. You have to get out and talk to them.” _ McGrann said farmers evaluate the computer programs before they are released to the public. By MARYBETH ROHSNER Reporter An injury detection system, being developed by a Texas A&M re searcher, will help medics determine a wounded soldier’s condition dur ing chemical attack. The heavy, protective clothing soldiers must wear when chemical weapons are used makes medical di agnosis difficult, said Charles Les- sard, associate professor of bioengi neering. “The soldier and paramedic are in multi-layered suits,” Lessard said. “The problem is that we can’t re move the suit so we can’t check vital signs.” Lessard said an instrument placed on an unconscious soldier’s trachea (the neck air passage) can pick up the sounds of the soldier’s breathing and heartbeat. Damaged or fluid- filled lungs have distinctive sounds, he said. Lessard and other research ers record and analyze the sounds of healthy and unhealthy lungs, using cadet volunteers as examples of nor mal lungs. “We caii get a great deal of infor mation about the individual’s condi tion just by the sounds at the tra chea,” Lessard said. The instrument can be placed underneath the neck of the protective suit without expos ing the soldier to toxic chemicals in the environment. Because paramedics, not doctors, will use these systems on the battle field, Lessard said the detection sys tem must be easy to operate and carry. Each unit will include a small computer for data analysis. Lessard also is developing a tem perature gauge for the detection units. “In the suit, an individual is going to get very hot,” Lessard said. “There may be a lot of thermal cas ualties, so the temperature indicator will be good to have.” The instrument may also have ci vilian uses. Lessard said the instru ment could monitor infants to pre vent crib deaths. i