From April 1922
School children undernourished
Under-nourishment is the most serious handicap of school children in Denton County, investigations by Mrs. Pearl Pate, Red Cross public health nurse, have disclosed. During the past month, of the 298 children found deficient physically, 167 were suffering from malnutrition, and 134 were 10 percent or more underweight.
Making sixty-five talks in the twenty-seven visits to Denton County schools, where she inspected 402 children in eight different schools, the monthly report of the nurse covers a busy month’s activities.
One hundred and twenty-nine children with bad tonsils were found, and fifty-three mouth breathers. The vision of sixty-four tested defective. Fifty-two children of the 402 have bad teeth examinations revealed, and the hearing of sixteen is not normal.
In addition to her work in public schools, Mrs. Pate had under her care eighteen cases during March, thirteen of which were able to be discharged at the end of the month. Sixteen nursing visits, eighteen home visits to school children, nine infant welfare and eight prenatal visits were made during the month.
This carnival ad comes from April 2, 1947.
From April 1947
Airport runway lighted for night
Night fliers now have a lighted runway to guide them in making landings after dark on the municipal airport west of Denton where installation of lights has just been completed on 2,400 feet of the main north-south runway.
Edges of the runways are now being leveled and dirt is being filled in against edges of the concrete by Alexander Duessen, airport manager, and the city’s street department.
One flying school, the Denton Aviation Co., is now in operation at the field and a building is under construction for another, the North Texas Aviation Co.
The North Texas organization was formed by three former Army fliers, who also have pre-war civilian flying experience, Pat Breen, F.J. Wagner and N.B. Cutler. They are now constructing a 70-by-100-foot hangar of concrete tile and steel and adjoining office and classroom space of 16 by 100 feet. They expect to open the school within six weeks.
From April 1997
Professor gamely advances design field at UNT
Ian Parberry is now a master bomber.
His training started when he realized he was having a midlife crisis and found himself bored with his work as a computer science theoretician.
He just wanted to have fun — so he taught himself how to blow things up.
“It’s really just about enjoying what you do,” he said. “Everything seems so much better when you have a passion and enthusiasm for your work. I really enjoy this, so I simply retrained myself.”
Now, four years later, Dr. Parberry looks to collect a pretty penny for his efforts.
As director of the University of North Texas Recreational Computer Laboratory and professor of computer gaming, Dr. Parberry and his students sold their first computer game.
“I am really on a high about this,” he said. “It seems like I’ve spent 80 hours a week for the last two years developing this game with my students. It just feels great to know it is going to be developed and marketed in a number of countries.”
Subhunt is a 3-D arcade-style computer game that allows the player to blow up and sink battleships from the cockpit of a mini-submarine. Designed with varying missions for reinstating peace to the world’s seas, the game features something for everyone — from the beginning gamer to the sophisticated egghead.
“It’s the standard action computer game,” Dr. Parberry said. “The easiest market to target is the teen-age male, and we designed this game with them in mind. There’s lots of explosions and action so it feeds their hormone levels.”
Spectrum Pacific, a games company out of Australia, has contracted with Dr. Parberry for the right to produce and sell the game. A percentage of the royalties will go to Dr. Parberry’s computer gaming lab.
“Since I’m under contract, I’m not at liberty to say how much we’ll be getting,” he said. “But I hope to be able to upgrade our hardware and hire a full-time lab technician with the revenue.”
The lab is where UNT students learn and hone the technique of programming computer games. It is one of the only labs of its kind in the world.
“Academics typically consider games beneath them,” Dr. Parberry said. “Even though it is a very technical, complicated science, universities have never felt the need to teach people how it’s done.”
But Dr. Parberry says the gaming industry loves the idea of having prospective employees who are well-trained in their field.
“The way it works now, people are really just training themselves from books, so when they get a job, there is a lot of formal training that still has to be done,” Dr. Parberry said. “But in this class, the students actually design game demos they can take to companies and say, ‘I’ve already worked on games, and here’s what I’ve done.’”
And companies are paying graduates of the class starting salaries of at least forty thousand a year.
Jeff Wofford, a 1995 graduate who worked in the gaming lab from its inception in 1993, is designing games in Austin. He said his experience at UNT landed the job for him.
“The games industry is the largest entertainment industry in the world,” Mr. Wofford said.
Dr. Parberry said he started the class because there was a need.
“These students are getting wonderful jobs doing something they love and have always dreamed about,” Dr. Parberry said. “I believe it is the university’s responsibility to help everybody realize that goal.”
