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
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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
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Association
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962-1984, Ediiod
editorial Board
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Managing Ed® I
, City Editor ;
yk, News Ediffl
itorial PageEdiW
, Sports Editor
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ALL STUDENT
ORGANIZATIONS ARE
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PARTICIPATE IN THE
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(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