The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 18, 1963 Page: 5 of 10
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WEDNESDAY, DEC. 18, 1963
« i
THE THRESHER
Five
Music, Art, Theology Presentation
Highlights Chapel Yule Program
By RICHARD BEST
Last Thursday evening Rice
celebrated Christmas in the Cha-
pel. A 'special presentation of mu
sic, art, and theology was ar-
ranged to commemorate the birth
of a child who lived and died in
separation from our world of fine
art, great music, and academic
excellence.
The significance of this serv-
ice surely lay in the University's
acknowledgement that ultimate-
ly all human achievement is
straw in the presence of eternity,
manifest in an infant. But our
letters, our sciences, and our art
are all that we have, through
them the academic community ap-
proaches the meaning of life and
work which is for some revealed
in the Incarnation.
The evening began with a bril-
liant organ recital by William
Whitehead of the Philadelphia
Symphony. A number of select
ions from Bach displayed the tal-
ent of the organist and the rich
ness of the baroque instrument.
THE GREAT CHAGALL litho-
graphs still hung in the Chapel
an appropriate commentary on
the cooperation of the Christian
and Jewish communities on the
campus. The Memorial Center and
Chapel were also gaily bewreath-
ed for the Yule—a gaiety of dec-
oration which seemed somewhat
inappropriate for a time of na-
tional mounrning.
•- The Christmas service consist'
ed of prayers, hymns, scripture,
and talk. The Chapel Choir and
the Rice Chorale led the people
in the singing of various tradi-
tional carols, presented two spec-
ial selections, "Break Forth O
Beauteous Heavenly Light" by
Bach and "Lullay, My Liking" by
Hoist.
THE CHOIRS SOUNDED good,
but the electronic organ used
SWC DEBATE-
(Continued from Page 1)
Arkansas and TCU to compile the
best affirmative team record. Ro-
senthal and Phillips were awarded
a team trophy and individual
gavels.
Both freshmen are from Hous-
ton and debated aginast each
other in high school. Mike Rosen-
thal debated two years at Lamar
winning four first places in de-
bate tournaments. Eddie Phillips
won one first place an many sec-
ond places while debating three
years at Sam Houston High
School.
Rice will be represented at the
Harvard Tournament and the
Baylor Tournament later this
year. The team's sponsors are Dr.
John Rogers and Dr. Allen Matu-
sow.
Harold's
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when they stood in the apse is an
abomination. Even if the singers
had to return to the loft, it would
be preferable to enduring the
tinsel tones of that instrument.
Besides, making the choir stand
for a thirty minute talk is dis-
quieting to the observer to say
nothing of the discomfort of the
s'tanders.
The "Christmas Meditation"
was delivered by Dr. Dietrich
Ritschl, now of the Pittsburgh
Theological Seminary. Having
recently returned from a visit be-
hind the Iron Curtain, he brought
greetings to this campus from
Soviet and East European stu
dents.
RITSCHL TOOK his text from
St. Paul's admonition to "work
out your own salvation with fear
and trembling." The central
theme of his talk was the rela-
tion of the two advents or com-
ings. The first was the Incarna-
tion, the birth of Jesus; the sec-
ond will be the glorification of
God in Christ at the end of time
Between these two advents all
human life is framed, and in
this framework Christians must
work for the salvation of the
world. Yet they must do so with
the fear and trembling caused by
their own errors—the murders
and persecutions out in the name
of Christ.
REFLECTING HIS European
background, Ritschl warned his
hearers to expect Christians to di-
minish in numbers ana influence,
to be a real minority as in Rus-
sia and in some American cities.
The Church's function then must
become not so much the salva-
tion of society but the service of
men—to approach the non-Chris-
tian with fear and trembling, to
serve as priests for those who
have no priests, to pray for all
and to work for all.
Ritschl's vision is hard for
Americans to contemplate. Doubt-
less it is already the situation in
most of Europe; perhaps it will
soon become so in this country.
But not yet.
Christian churches, especially in
Texas, carry a lot of political, so-
cial, and economic influence.
While there are indications that
they may lose this control and
be forced to be a minority which
exists only to pray and work for
their fellow men, they connot be
expected to give up their power
without an immense struggle.
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THE
BRANDING
IRON
JA 8-1741
SIGHTS - -
and SOUNDS
By CHARLES DEMITZ
In this trying time of con-
science examination and self
doubt, as test means climb sky-
ward and S-E's tear their hair, as
academs ci'inge from the requir-
ed-reading backlog, as smiling
architects face the world armed
only with a rose and a baby ruth,
we of the scriveners' Midgard
feel compelled to rebuke the ca-
viling peasantry: there WILL be
a Dead Week. Thus spake Santa
Claus.
Realizing that most of the
world won't be here after Friday,
we nevertheless posit the follow-
ing necessary condition for de-
parture: attendance at the Ham-
let's "Zoo Story." Individuals at
cross-purpose attempt communi-
cation in Albee's now-classic one-
act.
NOT IN TUNE with the street
carolers is "Pajama Tops," a Pa-
risian creation in Playmate dress,
with the situation not quite as
bottomless as the title implies.
Nights- only, at the Music Hall.
After hundreds of years, thou-
sands of actors, millions of dol-
lars, and one gross lot of con-
ditioned-response PR men, Stan-
ley Kramer finally got the record
unstuck: "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad,
Mad World" will pogo-stick into
the Windsor this Thursday. Sim-
ilarly inoffensive fare is the
Tower's "The Cardinal," a Pre-
minger product that plot-pad-
ding has turned into a cinematic
meatball easily digestible after
several family cuttings.
YOU MAY properly gape at
the Alray's catch from the deeps
of a celluloid Mindanac Trench.
"Lady Chatterly's Lover" it is;
now's your chance if you weren't
tall enough the last time.
Note to Ingemar Bergman fol-
lowers: the spider god is dead.
Currently reigning is an embodi-
ment of silence, as the suicide
of "Winter Light" attests. Shoot
your Christmas spirit all to pieces
at the River Oaks.
'OLD NASSAU" will resound
on December 23rd. Those still in
town might do well to see this
year's Triangle Club presenta-
tion from Princeton. Tigers ram-
pant on a field of Tattersall.
And a merry Christmas to you,
Earl.
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THEY CAN'T CRAM . . .
Popplebaum Defines
Limits Of Computers
By SHIRLEY JONES
Dr. Wolfgang Popplebaum of
the University of Illinois spoke
Wednesday on the possible mis-
uses and ultimate limitations of
computers. He tempered these re-
marks with words on the great
potential® of computer technol-
ogy.
National Cash Register Com-
pany is presently trying to de-
velop a system which would make
it possible to store all the infor-
mation in the Library of Congress
within a few filing cabinets that
could be attached to special com-
puters anywhere in the country.
A man could thereby have access
to all written knowledge at his
fingertips—the remaining diffi-
culty would be to recover specific
pieces of information after they
had been stored.
TO IMPROVE the operation of
computers, designers try to in-
crease the speed of their systems;
complex processes can often be
reduced to simple steps that can
be done sequentially. Reliability
is also increased by this tech-
nique, but "fail-safe circuitry"
provides the best assurance of op-
eration in crucial times such as
during a missile firing.
The ultimate limitations of
computers can be understood
with quantum mechanics. Among
those limitations is the rise time
of the operation;' we are already
approaching its best possible val-
ue, i.e., 10-16 seconds.
Dr. J. A. Robinson at Rice is
one of the men working on logic
computers. These machines neces-
sitate reducing theory-proving to
standard steps that can be pro-
grammed; however, many prob-
lems are inherently insoluable by
this method.
HEURISTIC PROOFS can be
drawn up by computers, but this
is not always feasible. The num-
ber of necessary guesses may ex-
haust the storage facilities (the
ultimate limit of which is 10-21
information bits per cubic foot).
Adaptive computer circuits are
capable of "learning". A Califor-
nia modpl used a conductive gel
which undergoes a permanent
chemical change along the path of
an electrical impulse sent through
it. Because the change is irrever-
sable the machine cannot forget
data even if the programmer
would like to erase some later.
The memory capacity of the
human brain may be approxi-
mately 10-14 bits, but unlike a
computer, the human brain has a
"memory heirarchy" and can
store information temporarily, al-
lowing students to cram for ex-
ams.
THE PLATO SYSTEM of
teaching machines has several
sets of instructional series per
subject. By periodically question-
ing the student, the machine de-
cides how detailed the explanation
of the material should be.
In effect, the student has a pri-
vate tutor; moreover, what each
student is taught can be pro-
grammed by the best teachers
available. The fact that this ma-
terial can also be perfectly stand-
ardized is both an advantage and
a danger; Dr. Popplebaum hopes
that we will always retain human
teachers "to keep education meth-
ods somewhat flexible."
Believing that a person's larynx
moves while he thinks, even if his
lips do not move as he reads, re-
searchers at MIT have worked on
a sketch-path system to mon-
itor thought. Pattem-rccognition
computers, D r. Popplebaum's
specialty, are being used to im-
prove photographic enlargements.
Array processors calculate ma-
trices, an aid in avoiding messy
mathematics.
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Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year
Houston's Clothier For
Gentlemen And Their
Sons
JA 6-4461
. 2507 TIMES IN THE VILLAGE
Two Blocks West of Rice Stadium
. POST OAK AT WESTHEIMER
. LANTERN LANE ON MEMORIAL
Bill Rogde BA '38
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Keilin, Eugene. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 14, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 18, 1963, newspaper, December 18, 1963; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth244903/m1/5/?rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.