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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1996)
The Battalion y- lid f ere aggressivelj r this year, Man; ished their chi -ups by stringiij ing fences, setti® ar live bands umes. s built up yea -KEVIN CAFFE! Ion philanthropy ckiK Santry, managert: ar Duddley’s Drai of “Duddley’s Cm said his teamw e in showmanshi; s caveman theme, id his teammate; Epsilon fraterniti decorated their semble a cave an' )ths. r’s event stood 11 ist to the “meagei of the Spring 11 iffey said, in whitl :ams participated ne finals week careful aboutwb odies. are lower in fat ail the long run.Foodi earn and pizza® specially if theyei'i at will providei' im crackers, loll ales with low-fa 1 ^ at will helpstudtil ess. Taking a biti 1 of these theraptf Ik, call parents, ble bath, get a# :lo a crossword pit’ a bike ride, ormait k it off as each tail r debatf ian music, prarfl’ il passages i itic program, district trwW nearly 20 sj n favor of thr in the audi leered remar >aches inspiratim 1 character. Laches have con®’ 5 or felony," said I 1 - whose 16-year®' 11th-grader and he baseball team snot, NightNewsEd®' GGIELIFE EOITOR dis, Sports Enrroa Radio Editor l'ANICH, GRAPHlaEDI« , Graphics Editor is, Pamela Benson, lather Pace, KendraS.^ Wiggins hel Barry, Kristina 8C oad, David Hall, |e(f alters; Page DEScpt Buffin, Phil Leone, Holley .1. Baxter, RobClaiM 1 ■rson, Elaine Mejia, C aldez & Kieran Wats# 1 Rony Angkriwan, uve, Cory Willis J f' : , tody Holley, |ill M> !l! Loyle, Ed Goodwin, (■ Quezada, James VineF Jaway, Mandy Cater, C Texas A&M Universil' merit of Journalism, n phone: 845-3313; h 1 ip or endorsement by tising, call 845-2696, f are in 015 Reed McC i Friday. Fax: 845-26" 1 &M student to pickup mester, $40 per schw ; cover or American " >ugh Friday during the ng the summer sessio r ' as A&M University. Donald Building, Tex<-‘ Aggies under the sea — W ' m L ' ^ *Sf, :: , n : : ' On iiiiiliii i m Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Students in the Texas A&M Human Powered Submarine Project competed in the World Submarine Invitational, taking fifth place in the collegiate division and eighth place overall. A&M's human-powered submarine takes Aggies to new depths By James Francis The Battalion T he SunRayce took participants on a nine-day race from Indi anapolis to Golden, Colo. This time around, the World Subma rine Invitational had students in volved with the Texas A&M Human Powered Submarine project diving deep and reaching high for glory in San Diego, Calif. As an extracurricular organization of ocean engineering majors, A&M’s group of students competed against other teams such as the United States Naval Academy, Tennessee Tech and Texas A&M at Galveston. The project for the group was to creatively design a sub marine, “SubMaroon,” and have it powered strictly by hu man means — one person would pilot the sub, and two divers would assist on scuba gear for safety reasons. Ryan Piwetz, the project’s hull construction, propulsion systems and underwater crew chief team leader and a senior ocean engineering major, said the group formerly participat ed in two offshore water competitions in Florida, but the wave tank in San Diego minimizes risk — one of the obsta cles in the competition. “We spent time doing test runs at the OTRC (Offshore Technical Research Center),” he said. “A lot of time was spent in the construction phase, along with getting sponsors and paying for all the materials.” Located in Research Park, the OTRC’s wave tank gave the team a place to try out different divers and crews and to work out Various scenarios. In the end, the hard work paid off as the team came in fifth place in the collegiate division and eighth place overall, with about 28 entries total. The SubMaroon reached 4.464 knots, and with a world record set at 6.7 knots, the team only hopes to attain fur ther records. The project’s adviser. Dr. Robert Randall, who is a full time ocean engineering professor with 21 years of teaching at A&M under his belt, saw the objectives of the team bro ken down into four main goals. “Number one was to design and construct a human-pow ered submarine to compete in national races,” he said. Plans for the new, more innovated submarine include a new hull and drive system with smaller, thinner dive planes. The group also wants to create a new prop design, possi bly of variable pitch for better control. “We want to retire the old submarine,” Tumey said. Moving on to another invitational, the Texas A&M Hu man Powered Submarine crew will be looking toward more competition and more hard work. "It was a great success in the fact that we ac complished all the goals we set out to do." DR. ROBERT RANDALL adviser for the SubMaroon project Something unexpected always happened in past competi tions, such as unplanned surfacing and a hatch popping off, which is grounds for disqualification in the ocean races, so this time around, Randall wanted to compete and get a good time and speed for the vessel. The third and fourth goals of the project were to involve more students in the submarine — in this competition, there were two crews — and to test submarine configurations, as the team had the chance to try two propellers. “It was a great success in the fact that we accomplished all the goals we set out to do,” Randall said. Now, plans for next year’s competitions become the thoughts of team members. Tracey Tumey, a sophomore ocean engineering major who participated in the competition, said she is looking forward to next year for different reasons. “I see new people getting involved because a lot of our fifth-year seniors will be leaving,” she said. With next year’s invitational taking place in Washington, D.C., in June, the team will begin construction on a new submarine as soon as possible, Tumey said. Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion Ryan Piwetz, a senior ocean engineering major, changes the sprocket on the drive system on the Sub Maroon. A&M student aims to promote college music with local music album By Amy Protas The Battalion T here is an invention called college radio, and it does exist at A&M. This is the message Kristen Palme, a junior biochemistry, genet ics and psychology major, wants to get across to A&M students. Palme, an employee at KANM, is making an al bum featuring local bands benefiting the radio sta tion. Palme said not enough people know about the student-run station. “I’m making it for KANM,” Palme said. “We’re doing it for a promotional for the radio station and the local bands of College Station and Bryan. I just want to promote music because we want more people to know about KANM. Not a lot of people know about it, even though we’ve been here for 25 years.” KANM currently broadcasts over cable radio. The money raised from the album will go toward the station buying an PM license which would expose the station to a lot more people. “We’ve been having a lot of problems getting an FM license,” Palme said. “A&M doesn’t want to have an alternative station. Some people are very helpful, and others would rather put the money toward football. “It’s sad that A&M is one of the top 10 schools in size, but schools with only 10,000 people have FM stations with larger transmitting power. All we’re asking for is 100 watts.” "It's based on having a good time. The music's not that important." — KEITH ZAHRADNICK member, Barn’ Manifold and The Transmissions Palme also has personal reasons for making the album. She said she hopes to one day be involved in the recording industry. “I came up with the idea because I’d like to have my own record label one day,” Palme said. “I’ve heard these bands, and I like them a lot. I’ve al ways wanted to have them on a CD. It’s pretty easy to put out a CD, and it’s pretty easy to get the money back. Other people don’t agree, but at a school with 40,000 people, there’s got to be enough people who would want to buy a CD that has A&M people on it.” A&M has two radio stations — KANM and KAMU. Only one, however, is student-nm — KANM. Brett Tohlen, guitarist for the band Lewis, which is on the album, and a junior biochemistry major, said it is a shame more people are not inter ested in college radio. “I think there’s a market for it here,” Tohlen said. “But those who are in a position to help aren’t supporting it. College radio is good because it features something that’s new and that not a lot of people have heard. “People need to give certain music a chance and see if they like it. These artists care more about the music versus the money. That’s why the music is good, because they’ll stay independent and do what they want to do.” Palme said searching for bands falling under one genre was a difficult task. “It’s going to be an alternative album with a wide variety,” Palme said. “It will have heavier punk and lighter music like Lewis. It’s hard to make an album with local bands of one genre. A lot of the bands in town are cover bands, but I’m not putting any cover bands on the album. They have to write their own music, and they have to be original.” The album is going to feature all kinds of music falling under the vast umbrella called alternative. Everything from punk to mellow to dangerous rock will be represented. Keith Zahradnick, aka Rikky Stix, a member of the band Barry Manifold and The Transmissions and a junior industrial distribution major, ex plains what dangerous rock ’n’ roll is. “It’s based on having a good time,” Zahradnik said. “The music’s not that important. It’s dan gerous music, wake-the-dead. It’s like you can’t go to a show expecting Stone Temple Pilots or Pearl Jam. “You have to come in expecting to party and drink a lot of beer. It’s not really rockabilly or punk or punkabilly. It’s dangerous rock ’n’ roll.” The album is being produced in town at Guinea Pig Studios. Palme said she hopes for the album to be released at the end of this se mester or the beginning of the summer.