The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 29, 1986, Image 12

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    Page 12/The BattalionAVednesday, January 29, 1986
TVTSC • TOWN • HALL
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formerly of “AMERICA”
*“A HORSE WITH NO NAME”
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Freeze kills 15
Record low temperatures set
Associated Press
An avalanche of freezing air
dropped temperatures to record
lows across the Southeast on Tues
day, and in the Northeast utility
crews worked to restore electricity
cut by heavy snow and ice.
The weather was blamed for at
least 15 deaths between Sunday and
Tuesday from Florida to New York.
Monday the weather forced
schools to close in at least 12 states
and sent dozens of homeless people
to Alabama shelters.
In the Appalachians, Asheville,
N.C., chilled to 2 below zero, down
from the record of 8 set in 1977, and
Beckley, W.Va., hit 7 below, 3 de
grees off its old record, also set in
1977. The lows of 13 at Montgom
ery, Ala., and Savannah, Ga., broke
records that had stood since 1897.
Greer, S.C., hit a record low of 5.
And in Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie
dove to a record 28 degrees below
zero, the National Weather Service
reported.
But balmy weather on the Plains
let Pueblo, Colo., warm to 71 de-
Associated Press
FOREST GROVE, Ore. — Hu
mor helps students to remember
more, says Dr. Byron D. Steiger,
who uses cartoons on class examina
tion papers. An associate professor
of sociology at Pacific University, he
points out that sociology is a study of
the human condition, and that hu
mor certainly applies.
“Who is it that tells the king the
truth?” he asked. “It’s the fool or the
court jester. Humor can get across
ideas that would be unacceptable
otherwise.”
Steiger often uses a cartoon on the
cover of a test to help students relax
and to ensure that they all start the
exam at the same time. Cartoons also
are included in the body of the test.
Steiger has found that if the student
understands the preceding cartoon,
he can answer the question.
An example of a punch line from
a cartoon Steiger has used on a a test
when the class was studying the effi
ciency of the jury system: “We find
the defendant guilty, the lawyers in
competent and thejudge pompous.”
Steiger has used cartoons in
classes and on tests for 10 years and
has a collection of at least a thousand
cartoons, sorted by classes, in which
he can apply them.
“Cartoonists make us look, at the
world in a different perspective, so
we can’t take everything for
granted,” Steiger says.
In the area of teaching, he adds,
“You have to remain interested in
what you’re teaching. Collecting and
using cartoons to fit courses keeps
me more intellectually alive.”
grees in the afternoon, tying its re
cord and 17 degrees warmer than
the reading at the same time at Key
West, Fla.
Central Florida’s citrus belt, with
two-thirds of the season’s grapefruit
and orange crops still on the trees,
had temperatures in the mid 20s for
several hours early Tuesday, right at
the threshold of time and cold that
could damage trees, growers said.
The $1 billion-a-year wholesale
citrus industry suffered tree-killing
The lows of 13 at Mont
gomery, Ala., and Savan
nah, Ga., broke records
that had stood since 1897.
— National Weather Serv
ice.
freezes in December 1983 and Jan
uary 1985.
Growers flooded citrus groves
hoping that standing water would
Some years Steiger has even
taught a Sociology of Humor course,
which is not standard fare in all so
ciology departments.
“I get a kick out of the cartoons on
test papers,” Steiger says. “The stu
dents like it. It helps learning.”
Some students have said, “Keep
doing it. It’s the only interesting
thing on the exams,” he reports.
Others have said more seriously that
cartoons break up the sections of the
exam and help break down exami
nation tensions.
Debra Watros, a Pacific senior
from Beaverton, Ore., says that the
cartoons on tests “are really differ
ent. I’ve never seen anything like it
before. It takes the tension off, loos
ens everyone up and humanizes the
professor.”
Another student, Ceclia Romero,
a junior from Kahului, Hawaii, says
that a cartoon at the beginning of
the exam and one in the middle help
her to relax. “They pertain' to the
test and can help me form an addi
tional viewpoint about the topic,
which I can use in an essay,” she
says. “They help me remember illus
trations to support what I am writ
ing.”
What do Steiger’s teaching col-
leages think? Some of them frown
on the practice, Steiger admits. Oth
ers simply accept it as Steiger’s style,
and they also accept cartoons he
finds and sends them related to their
teaching fields.
“A professor should be an ally to
the student, not an adversary,”
Steiger says. “If using humor helps,
I’m all for it.”
in Southeast
retain enough heat to protect the
trees. Others piled on hay for insula
tion or set oil-burning heaters be
tween trees. Piles of earth were
stacked against the trunks of vulner
able young trees.
Schools across northern and cen
tral Georgia remained closed a sec
ond day Tuesday because of the •
cold, but temperatures began rising
during the clay and by midafter
nooh.
To the north, a storm off the
northern Atlantic Coast spread |
more snow across the Northeast ;
where nearly -4 f eet of snow fell over
the weekend in parts of New York|
state’s mountains.
Utility crews worked through the I
night to restore power to several I
thousand homes left without electn I
city after the weekend snowstorm |
brought down power lines through t
out northeastern New York.
However, Niagara Mohawk |
Power Corp. of ficials said at least 1
1 1,300 customers were still without I
power Tuesday, down from about I
40,000 on Monday.
How’s your
knowledge
of news?
Associated Press
1. The space shuttle Columbia |
was finally launched after me 1
chanical and weather difficulties |
that resulted in a record number |
of postponements: (a) 6; (b) 7; (c> il
8.
2. A week-long schedule ofjl
events honoring Dr. Martin Lu- ;|
ther King Jr. began, leading up to 11
the celebration of his birthday as 1
a national holiday. The civil;!
rights leader was slain April 4: (ai |
1903; (b) 1965; (c) 1968.
3. The American Heart Asso- I
ciation said the treatment of heart j I
and circulatory disease thisvearli
will cost an estimated: (a) $786 ;
million; (b) S78.6 billion; (c)$7.86 i|
billion.
4. Two Libyan fighter planes j
spotted a U.S. Navy surveillance I
plane over the Mediterranean |
and: (a) shot it down; (b) inter* |
cepted it and brieflv shadowedit|
(c) the Libyan, planes were shot
down by American fighter I
planes.
5. After more than three de* '
cades of military-dominated rule,
a civilian, Marco Vinicio Cerezo
Arevalo, took office as president I
of: (a) Guatamala; (b) El Salva
dor; (c) Mexico.
6. To prevent owners of back
yard satellite dishes from getting I
their signals free, Home Box Of i
fice and Cinemax: (a) began j
scrambling the signals; (b) |
stopped broadcasting the signals; I
(c) brought suit against dish own- j
ers.
ANSWERS: l.b 2.c 3.b 4,b 5.a
6.a
Sociologist says
humor will help
with memorization
Florida farmer raises gator 'crops'
Associated Press
PALMDALE, Fla. — Cecil Clem
ons is a central Florida farmer who
doesn’t plant anything, harvests only
when he has a customer, and spends
most of the time talking to tourists
who visit his place on U.S. 27.
Although the 16 acres and home
he has here are in a rather lonely
spot, Clemons has no fear of bur
glars or trespassers.
He owns “Gatorama,” a name that
explains all.
“You don’t make a house pet out
of them,” Clemons says with a laugh
at the entrance where $2.50 will pro
vide a visit with about 2,000 reptiles
— 1,500 alligators and 500 croc
odiles.
Clemons has been around gators
“since I was big enough to tote a
gun.” He’s never been seriously hurt
by the reptiles. He has due respect
for an alligator, he explains, and
“I’m a little, more particular with
crocodiles.”
Clemons sells and ships gators
and crocodiles around the world to
others who ostensibly need breeding
stock. He will not sell to anyone ad
mitting they plan to use them for
their meat or hides.
While there’s no posted price lisi I
at Gatorama, Clemons offers bab) |
alligators measuring 8 to 10 inches
in length for $150 apiece. Thenexi
category includes those up to foul
feet. They go for $400 to $500
Above that, the price runs up to
$2,000 each.
In a special tank live a pairofgavi
als he says were smuggled from
Southeast Asia to the United States
when the reptiles were small. Clem
ons says having a male and female
gavial is extremely rare in this coun
try. They are not for sale.
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March 15- 19
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Cancun
March 15‘ 20
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