The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 28, 1974 Page: 1 of 8
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Transcendental Meditation: can it £d© almost an
in FOk'KKST JQHVSOX
The lioatJt-s tried it, but
didn't like it: thousands of < ol-
iege students practice it, with
varying' degrees of success;
even older people are pic. kin.u
up the techniques, and paying
dearly for what they get. in ;'t
few short yearsj Transcendental
Meditation, as taught hy the
I
Halturi,!) Y'.y.i, has
Sained -.v .de .acceptance as a
mean:- ; s spiritual -harmony,
se11-und*■ rstundiivg, and -simple
relaxation.
The list of putative benefits
of Transcendental Meditation
looks like the label on a bottle
of patent medicine. It im«
>'
pi:oves c'-iordinatio
autonomy, self-r::-
raneity;, creativit
1Q and grades. T
. •: .cicncy,
!„ Hp
memory,
supposed
moit
-. r,
fceae
, at).
to reduce nervou.- a ss, depres-
sion, self-doubt, b i pressure
and the use of drugs. "You
might have gotten the impres-
sion, that meditation can do air
.•■.•n-!.\e roults
Afi.l id this* by mediti.t'mj;
only 2-0 minutes, morning and
evening. No withdrawal from
the- v.,; Id, no prayers, no di-
etary re:-t:rietions, no chastity,
n> rituals, no chants, no sac-
!.?V
No
news.
the rice thresher
. ,:ba.
"The
t Ions'- in
practicing
technique
meditation
to those that h;
■d in highly
in yoga, and
who have had
of experience.
tin
of
we
easii;. -
transcet
■o very :
ive b, en t
trained t
in Zen
15 to 20
in n unlit
>!. a rv-
sxperts
ill on k s
v ours
ation."
Pity,
that.
volume 61, number 26
thursday, march 28, 1974
Bird study shows odd behavior patterns
by TRICIA REGAN
After many weeks of rooftop
observations, Dr. Dan Johnson
and the students in his Popula-
tion Ecology Lab are still try-
ing to find a reasonable ex-
planation for their data on the
birds that plague Rice.
At the beginning of the se-
mester, Johnson had a
theory, which, if correct, would
have explained the complex
social structure of the birds.
Now, although there is dffTack
of propf to destroy or uphold
Johnson's theory, he contended
that "my observations are not
really wrongs'
Exactly what did the bird-
watchers find? There seems to
be one gross generalization:
birds arrive in the vicinity early
in the evening, settle in Her-
mann Park, then fly around, ar-
riving on campus later. When
they get to the campus, the birds
play what Johnson and his stu-
dents call the "bare tree g£<me."
A place to sit
In this game, the flock fills
a bare, leafless tree, usually
one of those in front of Lovett
Hall, then leave the tree again
and look for a place to* sit. The
'population ecologists think this
is important. There are only a
few trees in which this hap-
pens. "It's my suspicion," said
Johnson, "that the birds (in
this way) are getting reorgan-
ized after flying back."
In the morning, before leav-
ing, the game is repeated, but
not necessarily using the same
trees. Again, one explanation
for this behavior is.that it or-
ganizes the flock before flying
out.
Some odd behavioral patterns
have been . recorded, notably
along, the road by Sewalk* Hall,'
Baker College and Fondren
Library. Bird-watchers have
observed that, just before sun-
set, all the birds in those trees
will jump up and fly toward
Cohen House Woods, then come
back and settle down for the
night. As of yet, there are no
explanations for this.
Early birds get the middle
Another phenomenon is this:
birds who arrive on campus
first settle in the middle of the
trees. Later arrivals settle to-
ward the outside. The ones who
arrive later leave earlier, and
those first arriving at night
leave last in the morning.
The campus is not homoge-
nous as far as types of birds.
This conclusion is based on
numbers of dead birds collected
by those in the la|^ In the area
Blood drive to honor Blanton
'To help Houston's hospitals
and honor a friend, the Rice
Pre-Med Society will hold its
semi-annual blood drive next
April 2, 3, and 4—Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday—
from 5 until 10pm in the Grand
Hall of the Rice Memorial Cen-
ter.
M. D. Anderson Hospital and
Tumor Institute makes maxi-
mum use of the blood it re-
ceives. The blood, through cen-
trifugatiqp and precipitation
processes, is broken into com-
ponents. Each patient is only
given that fraction of the blood
he needs. The antihemophiliac
factors are removed from the
plasma and are administered to
patients with bleeding problems.
Patients are given full credit
for blood received through
voluntary donations. Each
month 1000 units of blood are
administered as well as 2000
unfits of platelets.
The Pre-Med Society is hold-
ing this blood drive in memory
of Mr. Ben Blanton, Director
of Rice Information Services,
who passed away on February
27. Blanton was a strong ad-
vocate of voluntary blood don-
or programs. During the ten
years that he worked on the
newspaper in Wichita Falls, he
steadily pushed the Red Cross
blood program there. During
his lifetime, he gave over 10
gallons of blood and over the
years the media publicity he
gave volunteer donor programs
were responsible for countless
blood donations. As one person
said, "There could be no more
fitting tribute for Ben—every-
thing he did came from his
heart."
Due to the shortage of hos-
pital personnel, this blood
drive will be hgld from 5 until
10pm. M. D. Anderson Hospital
and Tumor Institute is furnish-
ing expert phleibotomists; dona-
tion will be fast and painless.
behind the Chemistry Bldg.,
on the side of Herman Brown,
and in front of Ryon Lab, there
were approximately 43% dead
male cowbirds, 2% dead female
cowbirds, 40% dead robins, 4%
dead redwings and 1% assort-
ed types of deads birds like
grackles, starlings, etc.
In the area to the side of
the Chem Lec Hall, and in front
of Herman Brown, these pro-
portions are different: 38%
dead male cowbirds, 1% dead
female cowbirds, 60% dead
robins,, and 1% assorted dead
birds. These diferences can be
explained through a social
structure, which would allow
some birds to roost in some
places and others to roost in
other places.
The facts on the half million
birds still inhabiting the Rice
campus are not by any means
all in. It could take years of
study to fully understand the
birds' behavior. At any rate,
next year's Population Ecology
Lab will try to solve the rid-
dle. Who knows — they might
even succeed.
The magic word
The technique is simple and
the effect predictable. One sits
with his eyes closed and men-
tally recites a "mantra." Dr.
Richard Alpert (not a TMer)
explains the term:
"A mantra is a phrase, or
it could be a sound that you
repeat over and over and
over again. Take for exam-
ple the (Tibetan) phrase . . .
Om Mani Padme Hum . . .
Now, there are many mean-
ings—there's a whole book
written about its meanings
by Govinda. One of the ways
of understanding its mean-
ing is that Om means, like
Brahma, that which is be-
hind it all, the unmanifest.
Mani means jewel or crys-
tal. Padme means lotus, and
Hum means heart. So, on
one level what it means is
the entire universe is just ••
like a pure jewel or crystal
(Continued on Page 2)
TexPIRG plans consumer aids
Last month, TexPIRG ran-
domly surveyed undergraduates
to determine to what extent
Rice students want or need a
Consumer Complaint Service on
campus. The following are
percentages of "yes" answers
to the question "Have you per-
sonally had problems with . .
Availability of Advertised
Goods-20%.
Returned Goods-9%.
Credit and Banking-32%.
Insurance-16%.
Warranties and Guanantees-
15%.
Auto Repair-35%.
Deposits (Apartments, Utili-
ties, etc.)-20%.
Exactly 2/3 of those survey-
ed indicated that they wanted
such a Service to provide "do
it yourself" information to deal
with complaints; 67% indicated
that they wanted to use a
"Marvin Zindler" approach if
all else failed. No one seemed
to want Marvin Zindler con-
nected with Rice, though.
In response to this question-
naire, TexPIRG plans to pro-
vide a "do it yourself" con-
sumer complaint handbook for
students next year. This hand-
book will cover your legal
rights, how to deal with a store
or business that has ripped you
off, government agencies to
call, and how to suit in Small
Claims court ($5 fee, no lawyer
required, your $5 back if you
win). The handbook will cover
goods, obtaining credit, auto
insurance, life insurance, war-
ranties and guaranties, auto re-
pair, apartment eviction, and
deposits on apartments and uti-
lities, including telephone de-
posits.
Also under consideration is a
student service to provide up-
dated information about where
to go for best deals and who
has ripped off students in the
past. Such a service would de-
termine where Rice students do
their buying and try to get
Rice ID discounts of 10% or
more. Many local businesses get
1/3 to Vz of their business
from Rice people. Further
ideas include arrangements for
(Continued- on Page 3)
JSSMHF
:>a\
-•"jbh HI „ i -
35% of those polled reported problems with auto repair..
—/ames young
• 0 «*,
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 28, 1974, newspaper, March 28, 1974; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245191/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.