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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1985)
Re- R RODUCER r ARTY R Nov. 18 11 a.m.-l p.m. Rudder Tower Here’s your chance to win Tickets to the Producers. BOB BROWN ^^=7 UNIVERSAL TRAVEL | COMPLETE, DEPENDABLE DOMESTIC AND WORLDWIDE TRAVEL Airline Reservations • Hotel/Motel Accomodations Travel Counsel • Rental Car Reservations • Tours Charter Flights • FREE Ticket Delivery 846-8718 • Agency is fully computerized • 410 S. Texas/Lobby of the Ramada Inn/College Station I.VrFKIKISAiV Join us Tkursduy nights for FROZEN STRAWBERRY MARGARITAS! Only $1-50 from 9:00 pm until dosing The INTERURBAN 505 University Dr. "an aggie tradition" JAMESPOINT DORM ALTERNATIVE Look what you get Plus $55 saving over dorm cost! CEILING FAN • MICROWAVE KITCHEN • LIVING ROOM DINING ROOM •TENNIS SWIMMING POOL • HOT TUB HEALTHCLUB • PATIOS PRIVACY CONVENIENT TO SHOPPING, SORORITIES, NITE LIFE FOR INFORMATION CALL: SAUSALITO APARTMENTS 1001 Harvey Road 693-4242 SUNDANCE APARTMENTS 811 Harvey Road 696-9638 VILLAGE GREEN APARTMENTS 401 University Oaks 693-1188 EAST GATE APARTMENTS 401 Lincoln Drive 696-7380 Unfurnished and Furnished Apartments are also Availabel on a Regular-LeaseBasis Starting at $270 0locm Top of the Tower Texas A&M University Pleasant Dining - Great View SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET 11:00 a.m. -1:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday $5.25 plus tax Open each Home Football Game 11:00 A.M. till game time Serving soup & sandwich 11:00 A.M. — 1:30P.M. Monday — Friday $2.75 plus drink Available Evenings For Special University Banquets Department of Food Service Texas A&M University Page 12/The Battalion/Thursday, hovember 14,1985 Scholars take humor seriously at conference Associated Press TEMI’E, Ariz. — Coming from Hungary to Hawaii and from India to Italy, up to 1,000 scholars will gather in this area in 1986 and 1987 to deliberate — and joke about —hu mor. They won’t just be junkets for co medians, said conference organizer Don Nilsen, an Arizona State Uni versity professor of English linguis tics. There’s in-depth academic study of humor here, although, that idea may sound pretty funny to the lay person. The national humor conference will meet in Tempe for the fifth and last time around April Fool’s Day next year, and the sixth interna tional meeting will take place in the area for the first time a year later. Nilsen will be the host for both conferences with his wife, Alleen Nilsen, assistant graduate college dean. The two are founders of WHIM — World Humor and Irony Membership. Previous international confer ences were in Ireland and India. Subjects already on the 1987 agenda range from a talk entitled “The Polish Joke,” to “The Indis pensability of Humor in China,” as well as more abstract views of Jewish humor, South African jokes and a lack of humor among college admin istrators. Unfortunately, not all those in vited can attend, Nilsen said. For some governments, a humor confei - ence is no laughing mattet. Scholars from many communist countries have been prohibited from attending, Nilson said. One profes sor from Yugoslavia enclosed a copy of a lei ter from his government which told him, “We have absolutely no confirmation you will return.” That’s too bad, says Nilsen. Some of the best humor research has come from Eastern Europe. Humor, when the meaning is stretched beyond just a good joke. can be as influential as politics or sci ence, Nilsen said. “It’s a good way to learn other people’s ways of dealing with the language and other things,” he said. Satire in books, newspaper col umns and cartoons communicates die changing mores of society. “Satire is a method of social crit icism and influencing the political process, a way of balancing out so ciety,” he explained. Humor has an undercurrent indi cating social trends, he said. Jokes come into fashion quickly and then disappear; Nilson points out that jokes about drinking were dropped f rom Johnny Carson’s monologue as the awareness of dangers of alcohol ism and drunken driving increased. Each nation has its own sense of humor that can be hilarious to the native but meaningless to the for eign visitor, Nilsen said. Jokes in the United States often have focused on the battle between the sexes, such as “women driver” jokes, or the mistrust between races and nations. “Western and Eastern humor is different,” Nilson said. “Western is sexist and racist. We’re afraid the Italians are going to take our jobs or something, so they’re put down. “In jokes in the Eastern bloc coun tries, youi job is fairly secure but the humor is used on politicians, but it’s underground humor; it’s a way of coping.” Americans’ sense ol humor has changed lately, he said. “We don’t tolerate racist, sexist, age-ist jokes so much anymore. It’s not that we’re becoming a lax society, it’s that we’re changing., “We have a different taboo sys tem. We have more feeling — you don't hear women driver jokes un less the person telling it is over 50 years old.” “A joke is a test of tension,” Nilson said. “If you have joking between two groups, the best kind of joking is when there’s moderate tension. If there's no tension — no humor.” What’s up Thursday CAMPUS CRUSADE-NA V1GATORS-INTERVARSITY: will have a Faculty forum 12:50-1:15 p.m. in 146 Phvsb Bldg. HAGGAI FELLOWSHIP: will meet at 7 p.m. in 502 Ruddei MSC PUBLIC RELATIONS: will have a workshop lor ail Student organizations at 5 p.m. in 308 Rudder: “Market, ing: You Look Ma-h-velous!” Dr. John Burnett of Market ing Dept, will speak. MESQUITE HOMETOWN CLUB: will take group pictures a) /:45 p.m. Cali 605-0218(Bryan) ot 260-28f»5(Roti) for info. VIETNAMESE AMERICAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION: will meet at 8:30 p.m. in 302 Rudder. GUATEMALAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION: will meet at i 8:30 p.m. in 402 Rudder. a CLASS OF ’86: Class shirts on sale at MSI — Elephant Walk is Nov. 26. DELTA SIGMA PL will meet at 7 p.m. in Blocker (room TBA). Speaker on hotel management. Professional Attire. I ALPHA LAMBDA DELTA: will have a short meeting and take Aggieland picture at 7 p.m. in 203 Zacht \. AGGIES SPACE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY: will meet to hear Joyce Davis of NASA's Mat him l oo) Programming speak on Employment and Co-op with NASA at 7 p.m. in 501 Rudder. MSC CAMERA COMMITTEE: will not have a seminar on studio photography at 6 p.m. in MSC basement camera darkrooms. 1 lie seminar has been cam elled. DANCE ARTS SOCIETY: will have Aerobics at 6:30 p.m., Intermediate tap at7:3() and Inter./Adv Jazz, at 8:30 in 26H E. K.vle. NATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK ENGINEERS: will meet at 7:30 p.m. in 401 Rudder. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSOCI ATION: will mm at 7 p.m. in 404 Rudder. Friday MSC CAMERA COMMITTEE: will have a seminar on studio | photography at 5:30 )>.m. in MSC basement camera dark rooms. Cost $25. H1LLEL FOUNDATION: will have Sabbath services at 8 PO INTER VARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: will meet at 7 p.m.in Rudder (see screen lot room). CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: will have a leadership trainingclass at 7 pan. in 701 Rudder. OFF CAMPUS AGGIES: will meet at 1 1 ;30 p.m at Mt. Aggie to go to yell practice. UNITED CAMPUS MINISTRY: will have Bible study at 6:15 p.m. at A&M Presbyterian Church offices. TAxMU VET CLASS OF ’87 8c BRAZOS CO. UNITED WAY: will have hog calling Sc greased pig t,mi ting contest | at 7 p.m. at Louis Pearce Animal Science Pavilion. J-mati, j 4-nerson co-ed teams. Honorary jmlge: Coach Jackie Sher- i t ilt. Applications available at Office of the Dean, College of | Vet. Medicine. $ 10/team of 4. Prizes will be awarded. IB ■ Plane crashes give NTSB hectic year Associated Press WASHINGTON — Ron Schleede hasn’t had a good night's sleep in months) He keeps gelling telephone calls from places like India, Tokyo and Ireland where there is no re spect for different time zones. “And that’s just the routine stuff,” says Schleede, acting chief of the avi ation accident division at the Na tional Transportation Safety Board. Those calling him are NTSB investi gators with updates on some of the major air crashes that have swamped the agency this year. Things have been so hectic at the NTSB that it is not unusual for in vestigators to juggle two or three crashes at the same time. To make matters worse, key se nior staffers have left, some com plaining about the style of manage ment, and the five-member board is going into its second year short two members because of a political fight, between the White House and Con gress. The safety board, which is charged with investigating not only aviation accidents but major acci dents involving rail and highway transportation, has always been a busy place. But this has been an unusual year even for this small agency which numbers just 340 employees and has a budget of $22 million. NTSB insiders acknowledge that this year’s unprece dented string of air accidents has put unseasoned inves tigators to the test as never before. At least a half dozen times, it has had to cancel meetings because it couldn't get a quorum. The board hasn't had a full complement of five members since February, 1984. The White House has proposed three nominees to the board, but the Senate Commerce Committee is re fusing to approve two of them be cause senators question their techni cal competence. John Lauber, a NASA researcher on human factors involving aviation, has unchallenged credentials and is expected to be approved by the com mittee on Thursday. But he will re place a current member, so the board is likely to go for another six months or so still two people short, congressional sources say. It has been a strange year for the board in other ways: • Investigators have had to orga nize a climbing expedition into the Andes to examine a plane wreck; they’ve helped put together a sal vage operation in the Atlantic as part of another accident probe; and they’ve shuttled between Washing ton and Tokyo in connection with a third crash. • The chief of the aviation acci dents division resigned for a job at the Federal Aviation Administra tion, and the board has had trouble filling the post from within because top investigators are too busy hand ling ongoing crash cases. • Critics have begun talking of a “brain drain” because some veteran investigators have left — a charge that makes some who haven’t left an gry because, as Schleede com plained, it implies “that those still here are imeompetents.” Among those that have left are the agency’s top experl in pilot be havior, who went to the E’AA, and its leading expert in analyzing aircraft black box recorders, who took a bet ter job at NASA. While there has been turbulence, board chairman Jim Burnett says the talk of poor morale has been exag gerated. And he says those who have been promoted to fill vacancies have a better! technical education than those they replaced, although they may not have had much on-the-job “tin kicking" at crash sites. ^ NTSB insiders acknowedgefhat this year’s unprecedented sll '‘ ll 8),a air accidents has put unseasoned in vestigators to the test as never W fore. Two top investigators "ho iv cently were brought in front Ml offices had little i nance to test tn|| new surroundings before t¥f found themselves heading. JpB team” on its way to a major airline crash. There also have been cases whfiH special projects such as one examlfb ing the increasing number of C|B collisions on runways have had w put on hold. jw Investigator Jack Drake, R|| barely settled in to the Washington of fice last summer after trartsferrffl from the Atlanta field offu%jM he was put in charge of the runWi investigation. But then he loif himself heading for Milwaukee n head of a “go team investigating 1 - crash of a Midwest Express J < • He was barely back in Washing when his work on that crash was y terrupted by a near collision at tional Airport involving an Em Airlines jet and a helicopter. ,|| The runway incursion ' nvestl ^i tion again has been delayed, _ knowledges Burnett. 38, a f ()in Arkansas traffic judge who vv j aS J| pointed to the board three and a|H years ago and later made chairn»s|l Picture This! ,<{$5 Your choice of: (DMushroom, Cheese, or Pepperoni (l)Garden, Spinach, or Sooper Salad (l)Medium beverage You save up to 54C \\. f | ' Try the new Flying Feast anytime slices are sold, at... ‘nmrMti 303WUNIVERSITY- 846-1616 Ma> juke onr Doll zap i SALE E Blackman s in the third las Maveric Basketball the cold-sf Wednesda\ T he Jazz 30 percent period, whi nimates we advantage. The clos' der of the points, sevt irks had tl time. Adrian I points. 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