pageFOCUS 13 Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 • 13 National crisis The art of Erato.... Georgia Tech vs. Florida State matchup Have you picked up the latest edition of FOCUS postponed until December due to national Erato, Tech’s literary journal? Read the tragedy. Turn to Sports for more review in Entertainment and see just how Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 information. Page 28 liberal us Techies can be. Page 17

Campus Research Review Fraternity pledge numbers decrease A New Economics Although fraternity pledge numbers decreased, sorority pledge numbers are on By Benjamin Small the rise. Students list numerous reasons for saying yes or no to the Greek system. Columnist By Madhu Adiga This column has previously concentrated Staff Writer primarily on science and engineering research. But we have other nationally renown pro- The first week of classes at Georgia grams at Tech. Today, we’ll focus on pro- Tech would not have been complete grams within the School of Public Policy, a without the annual fall sorority and unit of the Ivan Allen College. fraternity rush. Comprising 25 to 30 The Georgia Tech Economic Develop- percent of the student body, the Greek ment Institute (EDI) does not have banks of community has always been a major microscopes nor beakers full of solvents. They factor at Tech. do a different kind of research; they study the According to Interfraternity Council growth of small business and industry in Geor- (IFC) President Ian Carr, however, fra- gia. And the tools they use are surveys, con- ternity pledge figures this year were trol groups and other techniques ubiquitous slightly lower than usual. “Only 469 in the social sciences. guys pledged overall this year as op- As much as we “hard scientists” mock and posed to our usual 500 to 550,” said deride these studies, we shouldn’t take them Carr. “Since I have been here this has for granted. Public policy shapes how the been the first year that fraternity rush Government allocates its funding for scien- has experienced a decline in pledges.” tific research and development. By comparison, the number of so- We learned way back in economics class rority rushees improved this year. Al- about the fundamental resources required to most 45 percent of the freshman girls produce goods and services: land, labor, cap- participated in rush,” said Panhellenic ital and technology (sometimes “entrepre- Council President Susanne Hodges. neurship”). How the first three influence Fraternity rush and sorority rush business has been well studied since the In- are run in significantly different ways. dustrial Revolution and is well understood. Every night during Rush Week, the But now technology contributes very strong- fraternities on campus open their houses ly to modern business, so this is the topic of for students to come visit and to find much current economic investigation as well. out which organization is best for them. By Scott Meulners / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Professor Philip Shapira is a member of Most of the houses have a special type After picking up bids from the Student Center, sorority rushees run down ‘the hill’ on Bobby the EDI and conducts research relating to of food event each night, like Monday Dodd Way towards their respective sorority houses to be welcomed by their new sisters. public policy that affects the utilization of Night Football and wings. Because there technology and the modernization of manu- are 31 fraternities on campus and lim- world,” said Elliot Laffey, a computer engi- philanthropies each sorority supports and in facturing. A particular project of interest in ited time, fraternity brothers try to meet neering freshman who accepted a bid to Phi what kind of projects they participate. Final- one that “assesses the diffusion of technolo- as many rushees as they can to deter- Kappa Tau. “It was just a great way to get out ly, they become better acquainted with the gy, identifies the best modernization pro- mine whom they should offer a bid. and meet people since we were all pretty sisters. During the process, the sororities be- gram and evaluates industrial and regional “I was very impressed with the rush much new here and didn’t know anyone else,” gin to narrow down the list of rushees they development impacts.” process. I loved the free food and all he said. want to invite back to their parties. On Pref- Why? Well, you see, it’s macroeconomi- the attention you got from each from Sorority rush is more structured by com- erential and Bid Days, both the sisters and cally advantageous for the businesses within a fraternity. It’s pretty great when they’re parison. Each day has its own schedule for the rushees make their final decisions. During region to operate as efficiently as possible. all fighting after you and treating you rushees. First, they visit each of the six soror- We all benefit from local companies compet- like you’re the coolest person in the ity houses, and then they find out about the See Greeks, page 16 ing successfully and realizing their potential. And technology generally helps. Therefore, the State government takes much interest in helping enterprises to disseminate and inte- grate technology into their business struc- ture. The groups with which Dr. Shapira is involved acquire information through sur- veys and other means; they indicate programs the local government should establish in or- der to improve commercial productivity. A great example of such a project is the LaGrange Internet Access Research Project. The government of this city in western Geor- gia has established public, easy-to-use Inter- net access for all citizens, in an attempt to “increase its online population and overcome barriers to online take-up.” The goal is to By David Ziskind / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS remove the traditional obstacles to acquiring Dan Buckland (left), and David Indech this technology including the high cost of the (above), crash after an exhausting round connection, the low penetration of comput- of studying. Suffering from sleep-depriva- ers into households and the perception of the tion is common at Tech, with academic Internet as being hard to use. Image that— rigors driving them on until early morning. free bandwidth. But even though it’s difficult for us techies to fathom, not everyone is quite so fast to embrace the technology. This fact is something on which the study focuses. The Sleep deprivation common occurrence at Tech researchers are also trying to determine the By Shantan Pesaru recommends that adults get eight hours of ditions that keep you awake? 5) Could any effects of increased connectivity—whether it Staff Writer sleep per night for good health, optimum over-the-counter or prescription drugs be will improve education, work skill, civic in- performance and safety. In fact, the NSF interfering with your sleep? volvement and so on. …BBBBNNBMMMMMMBBBBMM… also claims that sacrificing sleep is highly Before attempting to fix poor sleeping Professor Shapira also compares the rate If you have ever woken up to a comput- counterproductive. habits, it is necessary to understand why at which U.S. businesses incorporate novel er screen that contains pages and pages of So how do you know if you really are lack of sleep is so harmful. technologies and modernization to counter- the above line or one similar to it, you may sleep deprived? If you answer “yes” to any In a study published in Occupational parts in other industrialized nations like Ger- suffer from Abnormal Tech Sleeping Pat- of the following questions, it would be very and Environmental Medicine last year, re- many and Japan. terns (ATSP). The good news is that you beneficial for you to reassess your sleep searchers claim that sleep deprivation can The means by which data is acquired for are not alone, and you can do many things habits: 1) Do you feel groggy or anxious have some of the same hazardous effects as these sorts of public policy studies include to counteract sleep deprivation. especially when you are less active? 2) Do being drunk. Sleeping less than six hours surveys of companies, case studies of specific With Tech’s demanding classes and pro- you find yourself dozing off in class or per night can affect your reaction time, grams of study, it is not always easy for craving naps during the day? 3) Do you coordination and judgment, just as alco- See Research, page 16 students to make time for sleep. have more colds and flu bugs than normal? The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) 4) Do you suffer from other medical con- See Sleep, page 16 14 • Friday, September 14, 2001 • Technique FOCUS Tech Up Close It’s not as light as you think email: [email protected] Last week’s Tech Up Close: campus call box FOCUS Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 • 15 The wonderful world of LEGOS Word to the Wise By Craig J. Davis The world of LEGO is almost computer environment. LEGO Lore Staff Writer limitless. Boats, trains, airplanes, LEGOS are so popular with An abbreviated history of the world’s most popular building blocks houses, cars, spaceships, trees and Americans that in October 1999, 19321932: Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish carpenter, starts a business Engineers might as well start entire towns can be made of them. the McDonald’s fast food restau- creating stepladders, ironing boards, and wooden toys. The somewhere. Childhood engineer- All of these are illustrated in the rant chain included them in their ing development begins with blocks, LEGOLAND theme parks in Eu- Happy Meals. LEGO also promot- toys become Ole’s most successful product. then Lincoln logs and finally one of rope and in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I’m ed McDonald’s simultaneously. 19341934: The company adopts the name “LEGO,” from the Danish the most amazing construction-type still playing with LEGOS. I still In 2000, the British Association words “Leg Godt,” meaning “play well.” toys ever: LEGOS. even have some at home,” said Jake of Toy Retailers announced the 19471947: The LEGO company is the first in Denmark to buy a plastic- LEGOS have been in existence Tompkins, a freshman chemical en- LEGO brick as the “Toy of the injection molding machine for manufacturing toys. for almost 70 years, entertaining gineering major. Century.” Also, a nine-act Italian 19541954: LEGO’s are renamed “LEGO Mursten” or “LEGO Bricks.” bright children anywhere around What makes LEGO such a di- opera was produced to illustrate the 19541954: The word LEGO is registered as a trademark in Denmark. the globe. They come in a variety of verse toy is how it can interest a LEGO Company’s history since 19551955: The company launches the “LEGO System of Play,” colors, and they are made of a hard child from under five years old until 1932 to the present day. plastic so they are not easy to break. adulthood. The DUPLO system is LEGO MINDSTORMS are a featuring 28 sets and 8 vehicles. The word “LEGO” comes from the designed to make the youngest chil- more recent invention from the 19581958: The current stud-and-tube coupling system is patented. The Danish words “LEg GOdt” trans- dren happy in their building en- LEGO Company. Probably the most new system makes models much more stable. lating into English as “play well.” It deavors. The most difficult LEGOS, complex system ever, MIND- 19611961: LEGO toys first sold in America. also means “I study” or “I put to- however, are of the TECHNIC sys- STORMS are essentially robots. The 19631963: ABS plastics replace Cellulose Acetate in brick production. gether” in Latin. tem; some of the plans, such as the movements of the toys such as cars, 19641964: The first LEGO sets, including building instructions, are sold. At first, since plastic materials Super Car, can include over 1,300 dinosaurs and robots can be con- 19651965: The first LEGO train in produced. were not readily available, the toys individual LEGOS pieces. trolled. The system is so complex 19681968: LEGOLAND theme park in Billund, Denmark opens. had to be made of just wood. It “My dad passed his Lincoln logs that it includes such elements as 19691969: The DUPLO brick is introduced. DUPLO is eight times wasn’t until 1947 when the LEGO to me, and then I graduated to sensors, motors and over 700 LEGO 1969 company began using plastic injec- LEGOS. As a mechanical engineer, elements. MINDSTORMS even larger than standard LEGO, but still compatible. tion-molding machines to produce it’s the perfect toy,” said freshman require a computer program that 19711971: LEGO releases its first toys aimed at girls. its toys. Eventually, more and more Joe Tucholski. allows the user to program the ro- 19741974: The large-scale LEGO Figure is introduced. improvements were integrated into LEGOS are for girls, too. The bots to whatever the user wants the 19771977: The “Expert Builder” (Technix in Europe, later TECHNIC in the system, forming the products Belville line of LEGOS was intro- toy to do. All a user has to do is the U.S.) sets are introduced. we know today. duced in 1994 and the LEGO SCA- program with his PC, which then 19781978: Mini-figures and base plates are first produced. LA line in 1997 to attract young instructs the RCX (the autonomous 19791979: LEGOLAND Space sets are sold, first “themed” Lego sets. girls five years old and up to creative LEGO microcomputer). 19831983: The LEGOLAND Castle sets hit the market. building. “I remember playing with Another interesting aspect in LEGOS with my broth- LEGO’s TECHNIC line is the Bion- 19861986: Technic Computer Control is released, allowing LEGO ro- ers. It was really annoy- icles. The alien-looking creatures bots to be controlled using a computer. ing sometimes because create an interesting niche for some 19891989: The Pirate series is launched. my little brother would players. “Here you will learn the 19901990: Model Team is launched, a series of very visually detailed always destroy every- truth and the legends about the Toa, and realistic sets, as opposed to the technical, mechanical real- thing we built,” said Mel- the Turaga, Makuta and the other ism of Technic sets. issa Wallace, freshman biology denizens of the Mata Nui. You can 19951995: DUPLO BABY appears, catering to the six- to twenty-four- major. also discover the power of the Kanohi month-old children’s market. LEGOS can be more exciting masks and learn why they are so with a theme. Pirates, divers, valuable to both sides in the strug- 19961996: LEGOLAND Windsor opens, about 20 miles outside of rescue operations, even Star gle,” the Bionicle website suggests. London. Wars and Winnie the Pooh Even Bionicle video games are com- 19981998: MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System is introduced. themes have entertained young ing to the PC and Game Boy Ad- children for years. There are vance. Collectively, Bionicle is just even computer programs a story about conflicting fictional that can be integrated creatures in a fictional world, un- with LEGOS. With such like the other more “real” themes programs as LEGO Cre- such as pirates and divers. ator, LEGO Chess and LEGOS are probably one of the LEGO Loco, children can most ingenious toy ideas ever. They expand their creativity into a are great for creative thought. 16 • Friday, September 14, 2001 • Technique FOCUS

Greeks from page 13 Research from page 13 Sleep from page 13 both fall and summer rushes, the reasons, but the most common was control groups like the LaGrange hol does. of sleep best helps you to be success- sisters may not talk to potential time and money. Many who came project and the acquisition of sec- If you already know that you are ful the next day. Try and get that members outside of rush activities, to fraternity rush and decided not ondary data. For example, techni- sleep deprived, adopting an attitude much sleep every night. and they abide by rules to ensure to pledge have said that they want- cal publications are often data-mined that you do not have time to do The next step is to get better that one sorority does not gain an ed to wait until spring semester rush. to determine the frequency at which anything about it is probably why sleep. One of the easiest ways for unfair recruitment advantage. “I went to fraternity rush to meet particular technological words and you are still sleep-deprived. improving your sleep is to make “A lot of the women liked the people, and of course, for the free phrases are used; how such frequen- Training yourself to follow a nor- sure your sleeping environment is sorority rush format,” said Hodges. food,” said Mac Young, a UCS fresh- cies changes through the years can mal sleep routine will take time to comfortable. A firm mattress, a feath- “National Panhellenic Council re- man. “It was fun, but I didn’t want indicate the response of individual get used to. er pillow or maybe even an extra fan quires us to run it this way, so we to pledge this year because of the countries and regions to advanced Many first-year Tech students may help. really have no choice. But the struc- time commitment and the money. technologies—more research indi- have already adopted irregular sleep- Another obvious way to improve ture helps the rushees find out as It’s still an option for me next year, cates a greater community interest ing patterns. Tom Rhodes, a build- your sleep is to establish a bedtime much as they can about each house.” though. I would have to say that if or potential incorporation. ing construction ritual. This in- Kamber Christensen, a chemi- fraternity rush [were] as structured The School of Public Policy spe- major, recognizes cludes going to cal engineering freshman and a new as sorority rush, though, I probably cializes in this type of research. If how sleep depri- “I get annoyed at bed at the same member of Alpha Chi Omega, also wouldn’t have even rushed.” you’re interested in how the things vation affects his time every day. enjoyed the structure of rush. “I Whitney Hagan, a UCS fresh- that you study in your science and personality. everything if I don’t Doing so will let appreciate how formalized it was man, said, “I was already against the engineering classes are actually uti- “I get annoyed get enough sleep. I your body get used because I know that if it [were] as sorority thing because of all the neg- lized by society, this work might be at everything if I to providing you relaxed as fraternity rush, I wouldn’t ative stereotypes of sorority girls, for you; both graduate and under- don’t get enough want to be a with sufficient en- know where to begin in choosing a and I didn’t like how formalized graduate students assist with the ac- sleep,” said successful person…I ergy at about the sorority. Besides, as structured as it the whole rush process was. I would quisition and processing of data for Rhodes. “I want same time every- was, it was still a great way to meet have to say, however, that the main massive projects like LaGrange. If to be a successful realize I need to day. people,” she said. reasons I didn’t rush were because you’d like to contact professor Sha- person…I realize make sacrifices.” A very impor- Those in the freshman class who of the cost and because I thought it pira directly, please email him at I need to make sac- tant method of im- decide not to go Greek have many would take up too much time.” [email protected]. rifices,” he added. Tim Rhodes proving sleep is to For a majority Freshman, Building get exercise. Phys- of students, espe- Construction ical activity pro- cially first- and sec- motes sleep and ond-year ones, stimulates your average hours slept per night range body when you want to wake up. from anywhere as low as four hours Nate Padgett, a second year com- to as much as six. Tia Emerson, a puter science major, does push-ups first year transfer student, adopted in the morning to “get the blood an ATSP rather effortlessly. moving.” “I’m used to it [5-6 hours of If you have trouble waking up, sleep],” said Emerson. “It has been just force yourself out of bed and do so long since I’ve had real sleep,” something. Turn on some music she added. and dance if you have to. Once you Students have unique ways of stimulate your body, it is highly getting inspired to wake up every likely that you will stay awake. day, especially those with eight or Although academic life at Tech nine o’clock classes. lends itself to poor sleeping habits, Nathan Blasingame, a first year there are many simple things you mechanical engineering major, can do to combat sleep deprivation. drinks half a pot of coffee in the Help yourself by getting more mornings to get going. He does sleep, or at the very least better quality whatever it takes because like many sleep so that you can perform your other students, he refuses to fail at best in school. Students often risk school. the quality of their studying time The first step in getting more for the quantity of their studying By Rob Hill / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS sleep is to determine how many hours time. Staying up until three in the Fraternity brothers and potential pledgees vent some serious anger on an old clunker during fall rush. The event of sleep is right for you. Keep track morning usually means that you’re was a brother bonding experience where students could get to know the various fraternities on campus. over a couple of weeks what amount cramming anyway, so prepare ahead.