Monday, September 14, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
—Razor backs on the lookout
Stone pigs on new building are link to past
A&M’s official r.
By Deciree Watson
Reporter
If students walking by Texas
ions available in new c i v ji engineering build
ing feel they’re being watched by
ht Grants for g- beastly eyes, it’s because they are —
i the informatk sort of.
The stone razorback pigs that
)1 Rudder at? p lif F at passers-by from atop the
^'Civil Engineering/1 exas I ranspor-
* *• at 7 p.m. ration Institute Building — one from
\ ill practice in i'thelmain entrance and another from
a ^re escafx* stairwell — are older
irlder-tf 7 ^nnirdtan the building itself. The build-
" ing is new and the move-in hasn’t
been completed.
meet and haveoi' Although juxtaposing visages of
il. BP 11 an i ma l s on a n engineering
• will speak on ‘building seems like a visual oxymo-
m « the figures do have historical
r . Mhificance. Dr. Donald Maxwell,
i ’( i i "I tnr;; ' head of the civil engineering
1 v< ‘ l( department, said.
Commons Wesi: "This architectural-based idea,
approved by the building’s coordina-
pplitations fors.tors, is an attempt to preserve his-
of flce in the Pa
tory and to combine the old and the
new,” Maxwell said.
The new facility was built on the
site of a building where animal dis-
>k pi
had several of these razorback heads
along the roof line, and when it was
torn down to make room for the new
bituminous laboratories (asphalt
labs) and office building, the two
best headpieces were kept for use on
the new building.
The facility is one of many efforts
made by the civil engineering de
partment to preserve its historical
bond with the veterinary school,
Maxwell said.
Most of the seven civil engi
neering buildings are renovated
buildings that once were occupied by
the School of Veterinary Medicine.
Until a few years ago, there were still
drains and wall rings in the old Civil
Engineering Building, next to the
Highway Research Center.
The old Civil Engineering Build
ing also has a unique roof line. It’s
crowned with horse heads, longhorn
skulls and pigs that are different
from the razorbacks on the new
building.
ice Committee!
are due Sept. 1
□THINKERS 5(
A&M press offers new edition
of Vandiver's Civil War book
lembershipanC:
ilion through
et in -102 Ruddt:
freshmen elea
By Sharon Foreman
Reporter
KTexas A&M University President
Frank E. Vandiver’s book “Their
of the
c 0 "Tattered Flags: The Epi
■ 1 I0m “ a ' Confederacy” was re-rele
Epic
HKifederacy” was re-released last
week by the Texas A&M University
anizational me Press, said Noel Parsons, University
pres-, editor.
AMERICANO The book was originally published
ations will bea b 1 1970 by Harper’s Magazine Press.
a m -5 n in Settlp sons t l ie was no l° n g^ r
‘ <728 * n print, so the press gained permis
sion from Vandiver and the Harp-
.er’s Press to re-release the book.
a to I he BatttlA Vandiver’s book is one of many
e working p ress j s publishing as part of a
pew military history series, Parsons
Although some typos were cor-
the book’s content wasn’t
changed. The book is in paperback
form and is selling for $12.95, Par
sons said.
I Vandiver said the book is an at
tempt to show the history of the
Confederate states in a unique way.
“It’s not straight history, it’s not
Jgraphy, it’s not a battle narrative,
it’s not political history — it’s all of
these things,” Vandiver said.
ffec
it lost
The book talks about the Confed
erate Army at great legnth, he said,
but depicts the army as instruments
in the hands of the Confederate gov
ernment.
“The book is an attempt to show
the whole life of the Confederacy
from a Confederate standpoint,”
Vandiver said.
Vandiver said he was 11 years old
when he started visiting battlefields
and reading Confederate history.
Vandiver found some early pa
pers that concerned a small batde in
Virginia, and he managed to publish
his first article when he was 16.
“That’s what got me going, and
from then on I had this insatiable
urge to see my name in print,” Van
diver said.
The title of the book, “Their Tat
tered Flags,” was given by the editor
of Harper’s Press. Vandiver said the
editor had been reading some work
of Civil War historian Bruce Catton
and came across a line that said,
“They’re all gone now with their tat
tered flags and faded uniforms.”
“I thought it was a great line,”
Vandiver said. _
Epi
idd
Confederacy,” also was added to the
title. Vandiver said the word “epic”
usually involves a tragic theme and a
hero.
“The Confederacy is a fairly tragic
theme, and my hero is Jefferson Da
vis,” he said. “Jeff Davis is an un
likely hero compared to those like
Lee or Jackson, but I think Davis was
a much misunderstood man.”
Vandiver, a historian and author
ity on the Civil War and World War
I, has written and edited 20 books.
Most of these books are about the
Confederate Army during the Civil
War. Vandiver has received various
awards and fellowships, including
the annual Award of Merit from the
Houston Civil War Round Table,
which now is permanently named
the Frank E. Vandiver Award.
Vandiver will autograph copies of
his book from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on
Oct. I in the Clayton W. Williams Jr.
Alumni Center, said University
Press Advertising Manager Mary
Ann Jacob;
timer has design-
gram should
low-calorie foofi j
food is eaten on?
oup, he said. Ooti
only the behavi?
d the other will
>r modification t
iking exercise,
ogram is design
lifestyle andeatini
:i pants," Turners
xpects the weigh'
about one to two
ogram is not)
but it is meant to
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Iter your lose it.
growl
it ASK
ve of thejournali!
chairman of tht
ing committee fe
nalism.
re some things ti-
> see happen forJt
says. “I wouldlik
I I think it is
ays it is someth#
adents to realize! 1,
urnalism is a st*
II as a writingdeg 1
>si a second majff
also is an adviser?
nmunicators oft
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iral journalism a#
imunication stink 1 1
, I think, what I?
:lub,” DeBonissa'I
nbers will soonkj
azine for the (
she says. The#
istock Publicatio?
July convention
Texas coast
to receive
big cleanup
m Environmentalists hope to pick
up support for a pollution pre
vention agreement as well as
beach trash during the second
Texas Coastal Cleanup.
§f About 3,000 volunteers are ex
pected to sift debris from more
than a dozen Texas beaches dur
ing Saturday’s three-hour event,
said Linda Maraniss, regional di
rector of the Council for Environ
mental Education in Austin.
They also will sign and circu
late petitions seeking U.S. Senate
ratification of an international
agreement to end the ocean
dumping of trash made from
plastic.
ft “We’ve got beach users who are
careless and leave their picnic de
bris. But we’ve also got a problem
from offshore sources. Merchant
ships throw a tremendous
amount of debris into the Gulf of
Mexico,” Maraniss said.
f Plastic products accounted for
more than half of the 124 tons of
debris collected last year from
122 miles of beachfront, figures
from the council showed.
Beaches were cleared from Boca
Chica, at the Mexican border, to
the Louisiana state line.
The agreement needs only
U.S. approval to have the force of
international law.
New computer course
aids farmers, ranchers
By Donna Buchala
Reporter
Farmers and ranchers can reap
benefits from a series of short com
puter courses sponsored by the
Texas Agricultural Extension Serv
ice and the Texas Agricultural Ex
periment Station.
The program will be held at the
Stiles Farm Computer Training
Center in Thrall, northeast of Aus
tin. The program, scheduled to be
gin in November, will run through
September 1988.
The intensive three-day courses
will be primarily aimed at reducing
costs in today’s competitive agricul
tural society, said Dr. James
McGrann, an assistant professor oF
agricultural economics at Texas
A&M and a farm and ranch man
agement specialist.
The courses will be limited to 18
people per session because of the in
tensity of each course and to ensure
the opportunity for hands-on com
puter use for the participants,
McGrann said.
Each of the 11 courses will cover a
different facet of the agricultural in
dustry, from swine management to
electronic spreadsheets and their use
in agriculture.
“We are teaching them to be ana
lysts — to pick the best alternative,”
McGrann said. “They need quick in
formation to adjust to changing con
ditions and environment, and to
have this information in just a few
minutes.”
This program shows farmers and
ranchers how the computer works as
an educational tool instead of just ac
cepting the results, he said.
“Rather than going in unin
formed, with the computer they can
make a decision — hopefully — to
prevent a mistake,” he said.
Most participants in the seven-
year-old program have been better-
educated producers who are busi
ness-oriented in activities, he said.
“There have been mainly younger
farmers, but some have been older,
too,” McGrann said. “They are in
formation users who are more asso
ciated with education. For commod
ity-oriented informing, with some of
the big farms, it’s a necessary tool.
And with the progressive-type man
agers, it’s the same way.”
Computer use in agriculture ex
tends from the very sophisticated to
the very basic, McGrann said, de
pending on one’s specific needs.
“From the feedlot, where we can
tell you what an animal ate yester
day, to the commercial type, where
there is a husband-and-wife team
and the wife does all the accounting,
the computer is just a tool to comple
ment,” McGrann said.
“In the last two to three years, we
have had no problem with supplying
software,” McGrann said. “Like any
new technology, we had our prob
lems at first.”
■■■it
Texas A&M
Flying Club
COME LEARN TO FLY WITH US
Interested people are urged to attend our meeting
Sept. 15 at the Airport Clubhouse
For information
845-3329
7:00 p.m
4r MSC
TOWN HALL CLUb
PRESENTS
m
WITH
JOE "KING” CARRASCO
FRIDAY - SEPTEMBER 18TH 8:30 p.m.
DeWare Fieldhouse
Tickets $5.50 - TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE TAMU BOX OFFICE 845-1234
ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
LOWEST PRICES
IN THE NATION
FULLY IBM-PC/XT COMPATIBLE
$599
COMPLETE SYSTEM!!!
THIS AMAZING PRICE
INCLUDES:
•640 KB RAM (1 MB RAM OPTIONAL)
•2-360 KB DSDO disc drives
•TTL HIRes Hercules
•Print Port
•AT-style keyboard
•180 Watt power supply
•8 Regulation expansion slots
•Expert Support
Nobody Beats Our Prices!
<Sto.
409-693-7599
707 Texas Ave. S., Bldg C, #308
[tHWj
uttumA
AKlt Jltf’E
iVtCtOn PlACti
BLDG "B
ii«y
[ISi
I !W«I onj
O 7 TfTXAS Avenue South
TEXAS A&M P OK O BRmiNDS
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
Calculator Demonstration
Day
Monday, Sept. 14
10:00 am till 4:00 pm
f,' T A' 1
i. s
At the
Texas A&M Bookstore
in the Memorial Student Center
A Texas Instrument’s representative will be in our store to demonstrate the
Texas Instruments line of Business, Financial, scientific, and programmable
calculators dedicated to engineers, mathematicians and scientists.
If you are a student at Texas A&M University, Texas Instruments has a
calculator dedicated to your field of study. Visit with our representative and
investigate the calculator designed for you.
STORE HOURS
Mon.-Fri ..7:45am-6:00pm
Sat 9:00am-5:00pm
845-8681
.itfl
bookstore