June 28, 2019•Volume 105, Issue 2•nique.
net
technique
News 2
TECH SATELLITE ON FALCON HEAVY p9
LIFE
Top L: Photo by Rob Felt, Institute Communications; Top R: Photo courtesy of HBO; Above: Photo courtesy of SpaceX
The Benefits and Downfalls of Sports Analytics
HARSHA SRIDHAR
STAFF WRITER
I love reading books written by
journalists, and I especially love it
when those books revolve around
sports. When I picked up Ben Re-
iter’s “Astroball”, published a little
under a year ago, I knew the book
would provide at least a few hours’
worth of entertainment. Reiter is
employed by Sports Illustrated and
the book chronicles his journey
following Major League Baseball’s
Houston Astros. Over the course
OPINIONS
. .
Consensus: Ángel Cabrera p4 ‘Thrones’ Disappoints p10
Opinions 4
of a few years, the Astros go from
lovable losers to world champions.
In many ways, the story would
ring familiar to anyone who has
read or watched “Moneyball” -
underdog team finds castaway
players with under acknowledged
talent and morphs the group into
a winning strategy. The analyt-
ics department plays a key role
in this transformation. The sto-
ry expresses that baseball will
never be the same.
Yet there is something nota-
bly different about the way Re-
iter - and the front office person-
Life 7
SPORTS
nel he interviews - describes the
team’s turnaround. In the world
of “Moneyball”, there is no room
for old-school baseball scouts. As
movies are wont to do, the film
resorts to caricature. Oakland’s
longtime scouts are hopelessly out
of touch. They do not know who
Fabio is. The scouts dock a player
of points for having an unattract-
ive girlfriend. They focus on form
over function. Why, general man-
ager Billy Beane wonders, won’t
these men focus on what matters:
getting on base?
See STATS, page 15
ENTERTAINMENT
Entertainment 10 Sports 16
LIFE
Successful
Tech satellite
launch
WILL FINCH
MANAGING EDITOR
50 minutes to liftoff, the
SpaceX Launch Director veri-
fies go for loading propellant.
A crowd of hundreds waited in an-
ticipation on rows of metal bleachers in
a scene where the excitement of the Su-
per Bowl was fit into a high school base-
ball stadium. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy,
the world’s most powerful operational
rocket, is only four miles away. Even
from that distance, the 23-story tall
spacecraft has a towering presence over
the view. And as liquid oxygen and
rocket grade kerosene fill up the rocket’s
stages, the crowd’s anticipation grows.
7 minutes left, and the crowd
at Banana Creek can see the
smoke from the pre-launch en-
gine chill coming off of the rocket.
All conditions seemed perfect for
the private aerospace company’s most
complex mission to date, much to
the relief of everyone that worked on
the nearly two dozen satellites in the
rocket’s payload. What made this mis-
sion so difficult was the fact that dif-
ferent satellites required different or-
bits and different times to be released.
But all that was left now was to wait.
At 60 seconds, the lights illuminat-
ing the viewing area shut off, leaving
only the launchpad, a moon half-full
and stars waking up from their day-
time slumber visible in the night sky.
All eyes, cameras and phones were
pointed at the rocket, especially those
belonging to six Tech aerospace engi-
neers both past and present. Prox-1, a
154-pound multi-year student satellite
See SPACE, page 9
Photo Courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Brad Pitt, who plays Billy Beane in “Moneyball” (2011),
contemplates the performance of his team, the Oakland A’s.
2 • June 28, 2019• technique // NEWS

C on s t r u c t ion Aramark Moves In ZOIE KONNEKER

technique
The South’s Liveliest College Newspaper

MASON FAVRO groundwork for what will become EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

STAFF WRITER
Summer is in the air and the
Georgia Institute of Construc-
tion is in full swing. All across
campus, construction projects
are in full swing and various
stages of completion, changing
the campus’ geography, adding
new study areas, and creating new
obstacles for students to man-
age as they navigate the campus.
On the East side of cam-
pus, the North Avenue din-
ing hall is undergoing mainte-
nance this summer to remedy a
leak coming from the overhead
plumbing system. This means
that Brittain is currently the
only dining hall available to
the East Campus community.
Additionally, the Price Gil-
bert library is still being remod-
eled this summer, as part of the
phase two expansion of the In-
stitute’s Library Next plan, to
increase the utility of Price Gil-
bert and Crosland tower for a
more digital world. This construc-
tion follows the opening of Cro-
sland during the spring semester.
One of the campus’ most
iconic buildings will soon un-
dergo substantial changes, as the
Student Center rebuild begins
this summer. The first portion
of the construction will focus on
the parking lot across from the
Instructional Center, laying the
a new exhibition center, accord-
ing to plans published online. In
future rounds of construction,
there are additional plans to re-
move the fountain around the
Kessler Campanile, as well as con-
structing outdoor pavilion areas.
On the West side of campus,
the Kendeda Building for In-
novative Sustainable Design is
approaching completion. The In-
stitute received $30 million from
the Kendeda Foundation in order
to finance the construction of the
building, which is intended to re-
ceive a certification from the Liv-
ing Building Challenge 3.1, which
would mean that the building
represents, “the most advanced
measure of sustainability possible
in the current built environment.”
Once completed, the Kendeda
Building will be used as a mixed
classroom, lab, and event space.
In addition, the Georgia Tech
Police Department (GTPD)
will soon be moving into a new
home as their new station reaches
completion. It was designed with
the WELL building standards in
mind, a qualification that is more
stringent than LEED standards in
some respects, such as air quality.
After GTPD has moved build-
ings, the current headquarters is
scheduled to be demolished to
make way for additional green
space in line with the Insti-
tute’s Eco-Commons project.
Zoie Konneker
As many students know, Georgia Tech has chosen a new MANAGING EDITOR:
food-service provider after collaborative process includ- Will Finch
ing input from students, faculty and staff. The decision fol-
lows years of complaints about Sodexo, the previous
provier. OPINIONS EDITOR:
The Institute has signed a contract with Aramark, which will be Vivian Wang
the new on-campus dining service effective July 1. GT Dining LIFE EDITOR:
hopes that Aramark will improve the dining experience for both Jaimee Francis
students and staff. ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
“We are excited to work with Aramark to improve food service Josh Trebuchon
opportunities for the campus community,” Kasey Helton, Asso- SPORTS EDITOR:
ciate Vice President for Campus Services told the Georgia Tech Emily Dykstra
News Center. “The collaboration will transform the dining pro-
gram while maintaining high-quality standards, reasonably priced DESIGN EDITOR:
options and a variety that support the diverse needs of the Tech Lauren Douglas
community.” PHOTO EDITOR:
Some aspects of this contract will include a focus on “hyper- Taylor Gray
local” partnerships with area chefs and restaurants, upgrades to ONLINE EDITOR:
new technology in an effort to streamline service and wait times, Baylee Friedman
a renewed effort in crafting creative menus with a wide variety of WEB DEVELOPER:
food choices that focus on quality and health and a possible renova- Jahziel Villsana-Espinoza
tion of the dining halls on campus. HEAD COPY EDITOR:
“Aramark is extremely proud to partner with Geor-
Avni Shridhar
gia Tech,” said Jeff Gilliam, president of Aramark’s High-
er Education division, to the Georgia Tech News Center.
“We look forward to helping the Institute with its campus trans-
formation of the Wenn Student Center and ultimately enhancing
the living and learning experience and environment for students, Founded in 1911, the Technique is the
faculty, staff and visitors.” student newspaper of the Georgia In-
This transition comes amidst other big changes on campus such stitute of Technology, and is an official
as the change in presidency and the hiring of a new GTRI director. publication of the Georgia Tech Board
Tech will officially switch to Aramark in July, but in the interim, of Student Publications. The Technique
several on-campus restaraunts will be closing temporarily due to publishes on Fridays weekly in the fall
and spring and biweekly in the summer.
their contracts with Sodexo.
Student favorites such as Chick-fil-a and Starbucks will be shut ADVERTISING: Information can be
found online at nique.net/ads. The dead-
down until sometime next week once the details of the transition line for reserving ad space is Friday at
are hashed out. For now, students will have to wait a little longer 5 p.m. one week before publication. To
before dining normalcy is restored. place a reservation, for billing informa-
tion or for any other questions please e-
mail us at ads@nique.net. You may reach
us at (404) 894-2830, Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

COVERAGE REQUESTS : Requests for

coverage and tips should be submitted to
the Editor-in-Chief and/or the relevant
section editor.
Copyright © 2018, Zoie Konneker,
Editor-in-Chief, and the Georgia Tech
Board of Student Publications. No part
of this paper may be reproduced in any
manner without written permission from
the Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of
Student Publications. The ideas expressed
herein are those of the individual authors
and do not necessarily represent the views
of the Board of Student Publications, the
students, staff or faculty of the Georgia
Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications Photo courtesy of GT Dining Institute of Technology or the University
West Campus is teeming with construction, as plenty of much- A student waits for Chick-fila in the Student Center, one System of Georgia. First copy free — for
anticipated projects are active, specifically the Campus Center. of the restaurants closed from June 21 through July 1. additional copies call (404) 894-2830

sliver
nique.net

If I fart at work and no one is around, does it make a smell

If you’re not mixing your cereals, you’re doing breakfast wrong.

If his main in Smash is Kirby...good luck Charlie.

So is the Lamborghini the new Wreck?

Just want to give a shoutout to Far East Fusion in the food court.

You guys are awesome.

Just want to give a shoutout to Far East Fusion in the food court.

not to be dramatic but panera’s short summer hours are ruining

my life

having a fulltime job is a nightmare yall stay in school

alexa play What Time Is It from high school musical

it is friday my dudes
// NEWS
ZOIE KONNEKER
MANAGING EDITOR
I RAN SO FAR AWAY
The Trump administration has
been debating a military strike
against Iran in the recent weeks.
On Thursday morning, an Iranian
missile struck down a $130 mil-
lion surveillance drone.
Trump had initially approved
attacks on Iranian targets after
this incident, and the attack was
in its beginning stages when the
President called off the operation
late Thursday night.
ARTS@TECH 2019 - 2020 Season Preview
ELIZABETH GEIGER
ARTS@TECH MEDIA CONTACT
May 28, 2019 – The Office of
the Arts at Georgia Tech today an-
nounces its 2019-2020 Arts@Tech
season celebrating the intersection
of art, science and technology.
The season showcases amazing
work created by artists across the
globe that incorporates innovative
technologies. At its heart, the sea-
son balances high craft in music
and dance with exciting technolo-
gies that heighten the experience
of the performance. Themes of
disability/mobility design, in-
terconnectivity, LGBTQ living,
cultural celebration, and more all
take their place amidst breathtak-
ing artistry.
Special Campus Savings! Tickets
to Arts@Tech performances are
available for $10 to current GT
students and half-price to current
faculty and staff.
The 28th Arts@Tech season be-
gins October 4 with dancer Elena
Annovi in a multimedia perfor-
mance of light, sound and move-
ment titled Dökk – the Icelandic
word for “dark” – presented by
the Italian studio and production
company, fuse*. Opening month
also includes a performance by
Japanese dance troupe Elevenplay
on October 19.
November features a Georgia
Tech School of Music world pre-
miere titled Four Seasons Double
Concerto featuring the Georgia
Tech Symphony Orchestra, high-
tech production elements, and
guest artists performing an origi-
nal score inspired by Vivaldi. Nov.
23 will mark the performance of
DESCENT, the culmination of
a weeklong residency by Kinetic
Light, a duet performed on a stage
of hills and hairpin turns. Atlan-
ta’s Laurel Lawson, who performs
with Alice Sheppard, designed
the innovative wheelchairs for the
piece.
The Arts@Tech season contin-
ues in 2020 with the return of Kid
Koala, the renowned DJ and mu-
sician whose Nufonia Must Fall
was such a hit at Georgia Tech
in 2018; on February 15 audi-
ences will be in on the action of
Satellite.
Tokyo-based enra sets in motion
The attack was set to take place
just before dawn on Friday morn-
ing to minimize risks for Iranian
civilians and military, however the
go-ahead was rescinded before ac-
tion could take place.
Officials in both countries have
been arguing about the location of
the drone when it was shot down.
On Thursday afternoon, Trump
reportedly told White House re-
porters, “This drone was in inter-
national waters clearly. We have it
all documented. It’s documented
scientifically, not just words.”
However, the Iranian government
stands by their statement that the
drone flew directly into Iranian
waters.
The location of the drone is still
disputed, however, Iran has re-
leased coordinates that suggest the
drone landed within the 12 miles
of coastline within its borders.
A RACE TO REMEMBER
All 20 Democratic candidates
for President debated among each
modern dance alongside original
computer animated graphics on
March 28, and Scrap Arts Music
rounds out the season with Chil-
dren of Metropolis – a percussive
extravaganza with more than 100
unusual and original sculptural
instruments – on April 17.
All performances of the 2019-
2020 Arts@Tech season will take
place at the newly renovated Ferst
Center for the Arts, 349 Ferst
Drive NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30332.
Tickets go on sale August 6. To
purchase contact the Ferst Cen-
ter Box Office at 404-894-9600.
Information is also available at
www.arts.gatech.edu. All pro-
grams are subject to change.
DÖKK BY FUSE*
OCTOBER 4 AT 8 P.M.
Dökk blends light, sound, and
movement into a breathtaking,
multi-dimensional universe cre-
ated by fuse*, an Italian studio
and production company that
explores the creative use of digital
technologies. Aerial dancer Elena
Annovi moves through a sequence
of 10 otherworldly environments
created by software that synthe-
sizes data from social media, the
sound score, the dancer’s heart-
beat, and her movements. Each
stop on her journey illuminates
the beauty created in response to
the world around us. Fuseworks.
it/en/works/dokk
ELEVENPLAY
OCTOBER 19 AT 8 P.M.
The all-female performers of
Elevenplay inhabit technologi-
cally enhanced landscapes popu-
lated with drones, iPads, robot
arms and lasers. The cool, white
stage environment morphs from
shadow box to endless sky as the
propulsive soundscape adds layers
of excitement and intensity. This
Tokyo-based movement and me-
dia collective has performed at the
Rio Olympics, during the open-
ing act of Lady Gaga’s 2014 world
tour, and was featured in Season
11 of America’s Got Talent. Elev-
enplay.net
FOUR SEASONS DOUBLE CON-
CERTO
other to put their politics, policies
and platforms on display for the
American Public.
Half of the candidates debated
on Wednesday night, most no-
tably Beto O’Rourke, Elizabeth
Warren and Cory Booker. On
Thursday, Joe Biden, Kamala Har-
ris, and Bernie Sanders debated
among others.
As the 20 Democrats continue
to compete for the spot against
President Trump next November,
a few things are certain about the
next election cycle.
In light of the blacklash that
the Trump administration has re-
ceived for their harsh border poli-
cy and use of internment camps,
immigration will continue to be a
major issue for the candidates to
discuss in the coming months.
FEELING THE HEAT
A European heat wave set new
records for the month of June.
Meteorologists say that it is due
to hot air drawn in from northern
NOVEMBER 15 AT 8 P.M. AND
NOVEMBER 17 AT 3 P.M.
A feast for the senses, this world
premiere boasts an original score
inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Sea-
sons performed by an operatic
soprano, guest instrumentalists
and the Georgia Tech Symphony
Orchestra under the direction
of Dr. Chaowen Ting. Visually
stunning theatrical and techno-
logical elements combine to cre-
ate a unique experience for the
eyes, ears and heart. Four Seasons
Double Concerto is produced by
the Joseph & Loretta Law Insti-
tute of Arts and Technology at the
University of Denver in collabora-
tion with the Georgia Tech School
of Music. The original music was
composed under the direction of
Zhou Jiaojiao of the Law Institute
and the Central Conservatory of
Music in Beijing.
KINETIC LIGHT: DESCENT
NOVEMBER 23 AT 8 P.M.
Obliterating assumptions of what
dance, beauty, and disability can
be, this duet takes audiences on a
transformative ride. DESCENT
reimagines the Rodin sculpture of
Greek mythological figures Venus
and Andromeda as a love story for
Africa, but the continent hasn’t
handled such unusual weather
well in the past.
In 2003, there had been an-
other heatwave that gripped the
continent. Between July and Au-
gust, anywhere between 50,000
and 70,000 heat-related deaths
occurred, 15,000 of which were in
France alone.
While linking a single event to
global warming is complicated,
experts say that extreme weather
events like this will happen more
often due to climate change. And
reords going back to the late 19th
Centtury show that the average
temperature of the Earth’s sur-
face increased by about one de-
gree since industrialization. Ad-
ditionally, a climatalogy institute
in Germany says Europe’s five
hottest summers since 1500 have
been in the 21st Century.
RAINING CATS AND DOGS
From late May into the begin-
ning of June, dangerous floods
two women. Dancers Alice Shep-
pard and Laurel Lawson traverse
a stage built with hills and curves
that acts as a partner in the cho-
reography and storytelling. The
duo claim their desire as their
wheelchairs fly within inches of
the ramp’s edges, moving together
and apart in a lushly lit landscape
created through breathtaking pro-
jections by Michael Maag. DE-
SCENT won Dance Magazine’s
2018 Reader’s Choice award for
most moving performance. Ki-
neticLight.org
KID KOALA’S SATELLITE
FEBRUARY 15 AT 7 P.M. AND
9:30 P.M.
DJ Kid Koala shares an innova-
tive collection of dreamy, atmo-
spheric tracks and invites every
audience member to play along
while seated at mini turntable sta-
tions equipped with color-coded
custom vinyl and effects proces-
sors. In this intimate setting, the
audience is cued to play along as
an integral part of the show, cre-
ating an ambient vinyl orchestra
with Kid Koala and melding indi-
vidual strains into a flowing river
of sound. KidKoala.com
ENRA
technique • June 28, 2019• 3
repeatedly hit the American Mid-
west. Oklahoma’s decades-old le-
vee system, in particular, was dan-
gerously pushed to its limits.
A NEW DIRECTION
Starting in September, Dr.
James J. Hudgens will be the new
director of the Georgia Tech Re-
search Institute.
Currently the director of the
Threat Intelligence Center at San-
dia National Laboratories in Al-
buquerque, NM, Hudgens’ career
includes a PhD in ceramic engi-
neering from Iowa State Univer-
sity and employment at Raytheon
Electronic Systems and Texas In-
struments.
His specialties are in national
security systems, cybersecurity,
quantum information science,
data analytics, and photonic mi-
crosystems.
The selection comes five
months after a national search
where Hudgien was one of four
finalists.
MARCH 28 AT 8 P.M.
Japanese performance com-
pany enra brings contemporary
dance, hip-hop, and martial arts
into another dimension. Brilliant,
animated computer graphics re-
spond to the dancers’ movements
in a series of magical vignettes
that transport you from the sweet
beauty of a starry night to the ex-
plosive energy of a galaxy in for-
mation, and from an ancient Japa-
nese temple to a modern, gritty
cityscape. enra.jp/about
SCRAP ARTS MUSIC: CHILDREN
OF METROPOLIS
APRIL 17 AT 8 P.M.
With a sci-fi vibe that takes in-
spiration from Fritz Lang’s 1927
classic film, Metropolis, this is a
fast-paced, all-acoustic percussion
bonanza. These musicians don’t
just play music, they perform
action-choreography on Scrap
Arts’ signature invented instru-
ments with gymnastic agility and
percussive drive. They bring the
original score to heart-pounding
life in a production that chron-
icles one musician’s whimsical
quest for identity, reinvention and
a sense of place in a world that’s
been forever changed. ScrapArts-
Music.com
Photo courtesy of Greg Kastelman
Opinions
OPINIONS EDITOR: Vivian Wang technique

“
”
Travel is about the gorgeous
feeling of teetering in the unknown.
- Anthony Bourdain
4
Friday,
June 28, 2019

OUR VIEWS | Consensus Opinion

To Incoming President Ángel Cabrera The Power of Puzzles

Thoughts on the administration
With the recent announcement of in-
coming President Ángel Cabrera, the Tech-
nique sees a valuable opportunity to use this
watershed moment to speak to Dr. Cabrera
and the administration collectively. Dr. Ca-
brera has had an impactful several years at
George Mason University, with a proven
record of increasing enrollment and gradu-
ation rate by multiple percentage points,
and played a role in improving other met-
rics of student academic outcomes. George
Mason’s SGA President has also fully en-
dorsed Dr. Cabrera, citing his competency
and commitment to driving change.
In the same vein of being mission-fo-
cused and tangible, the student body of
Georgia Tech would like to see the same
approach applied to decisions regarding
current pressing issues on campus, includ-
ing improving visibility of administration
activities, confronting issues head-on re-
garding the LGBTQ+ community, as well
as data and privacy breach issues that have
recently plagued the university. We hope
Dr. Cabrera’s previous positive track record
in addressing some of the transparency
concerns held by the students and faculty
of GMU translates to Tech, despite some
concerns among students that the Presi-
dential selection process itself lacked trans-
parency. We remain cautiously eager to see
his approach in addressing Georgia Tech’s
own issues with transparency and ethics
scandals and mending broken trust.
There is also an ongoing mental health
crisis on campus that requires urgent and
The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the
Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.
technique editorial board
Zoie Konneker EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Will Finch MANAGING EDITOR
Jaimee Francis LIFE EDITOR
Avni Shridhar HEAD COPY EDITOR
Jahziel Villasana-Espinoza WEB DEVELOPER
Taylor Gray PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
prompt attention. It is our hope that, as
a person who has endured the rigors of
Georgia Tech for two degrees and as a fa-
ther of a recent Tech graduate, Dr. Cabrera
might use his strong ties to the university
to inform his decision-making and consid-
eration of the well-being of students. We
place our trust in Dr. Cabrera to continue
to empower victims of sexual assault and
misconduct to have their voices heard, ac-
knowledged, and acted upon with momen-
tum, as he has demonstrated by increasing
staff numbers in GMU’s Title IX office.
At the same time, we feel it is important
to note that students are not simply statis-
tics to improve upon. While we are always
excited about innovative industry partner-
ships, ground-breaking research, and con-
tracted projects, these achievements by the
university all seem like empty headlines
without contextualizing them in terms of
benefits to students. Past Presidents have
largely prioritized the institution over
students - but what is the job of the Presi-
dent, if not to serve the student body, first
and foremost? As the voice of the student
body, we encourage students themselves to
effectively “set the direction” for the next
generation of Tech students. It is equally
our responsibility as students to show Dr.
Cabrera and the ensuing administration
what change needs to be enacted, and what
is truly important to students and faculty.
Only then can we forge a path forward
that is productive and meaningful to all
parties involved.
Vivian Wang OPINIONS EDITOR
John Edwards SPORTS EDITOR
Beatrice Domingo DESIGN EDITOR
Zoie Konneker ONLINE EDITOR
out the world...even as you
MASON FAVRO
STAFF WRITER
I practically grew up on my
grandmother’s knee, studying her
habits with the rapt attention of
childhood. She spent long hours
in her garden, where her green
thumb was obvious. When fam-
ily visited, she excelled at prepar-
ing delicious spreads, often with a
little help from her children.
The habit of hers that influ-
enced me the most was how she
religiously played the crossword
puzzle that came in her daily pa-
per. To me, they seemed impos-
sible. Every clue referenced some
person, event, or concept that I
had never heard of. My grand-
mother, thanks to her bountiful
experience, was well prepared, and
made the impossible look easy as
she solved the puzzle over a cup of
coffee.
I still have much to learn before
I can hope to achieve the level of
skill of my grandmother, but I
have found the puzzles stimulat-
ing. They require a great breadth
of knowledge, covering disparate
topics from film to law, from geol-
ogy to politics. In college we select
majors and minors, specializing in
a field on our way to a career. This
path doesn’t always value the gen-
eral knowledge that makes people
engaged members of society, and
lets them be engaging in conver-
sation. Crosswords allow us to
build, refresh, and test our general
knowledge.
They reward people who haven’t
limited themselves to a single ex-
perience, but have instead elected
to read widely and stay connected
to the world and its goings on. I
have found that, for me, cross-
“I find puzzles to be
relaxing, a way to block
immerse yourself further
into it.”
MASON FAVRO
STAFF WRITER
words strengthen my general
knowledge, even as my classes be-
come increasingly specific.
It is no small coincidence that
the most well known crossword
puzzles are published in papers
like the New York Times; their
broad coverage of current events,
ranging from obituaries to foreign
policy means that many answers
are included in the paper itself.
These outlets value quality jour-
nalism and fact based reporting,
and they collect current events the
world over into a single source, a
few pages long. The New Yorker
is another prominent publisher
of crosswords. Their coverage,
however, focuses more on the
cultural rather than the political.
The current and the cultural show
two sides of the social experience,
both quizzed in puzzles, and both
equally important to personal de-
velopment. This kind of engage-
ment is the cornerstone of general
knowledge, and it is a base to build
on as you further expand your ex-
perience through entertainment,
learning, and leisure.
I find them to be relaxing and
a way to block out the world for a
little while, even as you immerse
yourself further in it. I subscribe
to the New York Times daily puz-
zle, which means that, much as
my grandmother did, I religiously
complete it. The satisfaction that
I gain from completing the puz-
zle isn’t really what drives me to
continue with them, so much as
the chance that they give me to
decompress.
Crosswords remind us that the
world is vibrant and ever chang-
ing, and that if we limit ourselves
to a single type of knowledge then
we lose the ability to connect with
all that the world has to offer.

YOUR VIEWS | Online Comments Write to us: taries on content found within

Opinion: Why I Came to Tech Doesn’t Matter letters@nique.net
Got something to say? Then
let your voice be heard with the
I could write a book on how I got to Tech Technique. Sliver at Nique.net,
tweet us @the_nique or check us
and why it mattered to me. It had it’s ups out on Facebook at facebook.com/
and downs, and I’d go again in a second. thenique. We want to hear your
opinion and make it known to all
of campus.
I feel like in the last 17 years, my brain We also welcome your letters
Wallace B. McClure has been digesting everything that got in response to Technique con-
tent as well as topics relevant to
crammed in during four years at Georgia campus. We will print letters on
Tech. a timely and space-available ba-
sis. Each week we look for letters
that are responses to or commen
Levi D. Smith
the pages of the Technique. Along
with these letters, we are open
to receiving letters that focus on
relevant issues that currently af-
fect Georgia Tech as a university,
including its campus and student
body.
When submitting letters we ask
that you include your full name,
year (1st, 2nd, etc.) and major. We
ask that letters be thought provok-
ing, well written and in good taste.
We reserve the right to both reject
or edit letters for length and style.
For questions, comments or
concern, contact the Opinions
Editor at opinions@nique.net.
// OPINIONS
World Domination
Starting out the 2019
Women’s World Cup with a
13-0 triumph over Thailand,
the USA Women’s soccer
team has consistently dis-
played an impressive show of
strength against opponents
Sweden, Chile, and Spain. Al-
though the women’s team has
been seemingly unstoppable,
it remains to be seen whether
their momentum can last the
entire tournament.
Jeni’s Next Move
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams,
a crowd favorite among many
residents of Atlanta. and
known for its variety of high-
quality and unexpected ingre-
dients, has recently announced
its sixth location in Midtown,
at our very own Coda Build-
ing. This paves the way for all
Jeni’s-loving students to satisfy
their cravings with a five min-
ute crawl out of bed.
Two years later, what is the aftermath of #MeToo?
In light of recent rape accusations against President Trump, how have attitudes evolved?
CAROLINE BREWER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
While the #MeToo movement
is far from complete, it would
also be unfair to withhold credit
for the movement’s progress
in the entertainment industry.
Accompanied with the rise of
“cancellation culture”, or the
removal of support of people
deemed to be problematic, the
#MeToo movement has brought
a sense of accountability to a
mass of people with previously
unprecedented amounts of
latitude and influence.
In the wake of accusations
of sexual misconduct against
mainstream musicians such as
R. Kelly, XXXTentacion, and
6ix9ine, streaming services
such as Spotify temporarily
“cancelled” these artists and
promptly removed them from
their playlist algorithms in line
with a new ‘Hate Content’ policy.
Of course, the subsequent reversal
of Spotify’s decision to mute these
artists can be viewed as an area
in which the #MeToo movement
needs improvement, but their
initial decision to limit the content
of abusive artists is undoubtedly
the result of an increasingly
Electric Shock
Recent intermittent storms
that have roiled through the
South have hit students where
it counts - with a dead phone
and laptop. Many students
across campus have experi-
enced extended power and
water outages in rapid succes-
sion, most notably U-House
and Greek Housing. Those
affected should take note of
Clough’s hot showers and nu-
merous outlets.
Crisis at the Border
Public outrage has recently
been directed at the humani-
tarian disaster occurring at
our Southern-most border, as
capacity for migrants has long
been exceeded and children
have been kept in deplorable
conditions, separated for ex-
tended periods of time from
their families, without access
to basic standards of hygiene
and care.
noteworthy movement.
The #MeToo movement does
not solely affect those in the
entertainment industry. As
Americans have increasingly
become more concerned with
the political inclinations of their
favorite celebrities, naturally
the masses have started holding
politicians to the same standard
as we have traditionally held
entertainers. Special election
Republican nominee Roy Moore
serves as an example of how
sexual misconduct allegations
can irreversibly tarnish the
reputations of politicians. The
scandal surrounding Roy Moore
demonstrates that individual
reputations are not the only thing
on the line – entire electorates can
be mobilized to enact bureaucratic
turnover, as evidenced by
Alabama willfully electing a
Democratic candidate over an
alleged child molester.
The #MeToo movement closely
relates the entertainment industry
to changes within the political
landscape, and given that our cur-
rent president straddles the line
between being an entertainer and
being a politician, there has never
been a more consequential case-
Take a Break for Your Own Sake
WILL FINCH
MANAGING EDITOR
The summer is nearly half-
way over. Some Tech students
are completing their degree with
a summer semester. Others are
working on at an internship to
add to their resume and improve
their chances of getting a job once
they graduate. But how many are
actively taking a break from work-
ing toward the future so that they
can enjoy the present?
The act of taking a break has
evolved negative connotations
throughout multiple facets of
American life. In the job sector,
hundreds of millions of vacation
days are wasted. Meanwhile, it’s
considered a point of pride to have
never taken a day off.
As for student life, there’s such
a rush to “get out” with a degree
as quick as possible. Even at Tech,
there’s almost a competition to
see who can take more credit
hours at a time and who gets less
sleep before a midterm. The say-
ing “health is temporary; GPA is
forever” completely embodies this
type of lifestyle.
And it’s to the detriment of ev-
eryone on campus.
Last winter, there were two re-
ported suicides in eight days. Last
spring, Tech’s Division of Cam-
pus Services and Division of Stu-
dent Life conducted three surveys
to evaluate campus mental health
and well-being. Of the nearly
5,000 who participated, 69% of
students reported experiencing
one or more days when emotional
or mental difficulties impacted
their academic performance in the
previous four weeks.
Tech has started to take more
actions toward addressing the
study of the movement’s progress
played out before our very eyes. A
grand total of 17 women have now
accused Donald Trump of sexual
misconduct, yet across the politi-
cal spectrum, one sees only numb-
ing apathy.
This kind of creeping indiffer-
ence to Trump’s behavior points
to ways in which the #MeToo
movement continues to be insidi-
ously undermined, and facilitates
learned helplessness of sexual as-
sault victims is lacking. It would
behoove the American people to
translate the principles underlying
the culture of ‘cancellation’ and
hold President Trump equally ac-
countable to the same standard as
we have with various entertainers
and politicians alike, often with
less serious allegations.
mental health crisis afflicting
more and more colleges campuses.
But as services improve, it is the
students’ responsibility to improve
the toxicity of its current work
culture. A part of that is removing
the stigma behind gap semesters
or years.
College course work in any ma-
jor is difficult. Universities are at
the highest level of learning, and
as such, require high effort — no
matter the course material. Solv-
ing engineering problems that
require two pages of work, lab
reports over 12 pages long and
recording 20 pages of unique
thought over world literature area
all admirably difficult.
Sitting in class for 12 hours, ac-
companied with homework and
outside studying can result in stu-
dents actively working more than
the 40 hours per week required at
a full-time job. Behind the scenes,
the stress of keeping scholarships,
the dread of looming college debt
or even the disappointment of
failing a test make being a student
even harder. Yes, each semester has
the occasional three-day weekend,
but any student is familiar with
the illusion of a break as professors
assign work to do during the holi-
day. Truly, the grind never stops.
For some students, this is sus-
tainable. But that doesn’t mean
ZYRA SHABAZI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Make no mistake - the #MeToo
movement has accomplished
much in terms of empowering
survivors of sexual abuse. People
of all genders are breaking out of
the cycle of silence on the issue
and holding perpetrators of sexual
assault accountable. #MeToo has
changed the way we think about
these topics and brought them
into the spotlight. But has the
hashtag impacted perpetrators
and the consequences they face?
Where does justice stand now as
compared to a few years ago?
There is probably no one bet-
ter to ask than Anita Hill, who fa-
mously accused a Supreme Court
nominee of sexual harassment in
1991. At the Senate hearing, she
was humiliated and denied a fair
chance to share her testimony. In
a recent interview with The New
York Times pertaining to this
hearing, she says, “there needs to
be an apology to the other wit-
nesses, and there needs to be an
apology to the American pub-
lic, because we know now how
deeply disappointed [people] all
over the country were about what
they saw... There are women and
men now who have really lost
technique • June 28, 2019• 5
“There can be a difference
between hard work and
working every day for so
many semesters in a row”
WILL FINCH
MANAGING EDITOR
that every student must hold
themselves to the same standard.
There can be a difference between
hard work and working every day
for so many semesters in a row. I
know that I sure as hell needed a
break after the past five semesters
of taking classes.
For the same reasons people
should take vacations, students
should utilize gaps in their studies
for the sake of their own mental
health. The degree is what’s im-
portant — not the time it takes to
get said degree.
Additionally, gap semesters and
years provide students with the
one thing they never have enough
of: time. Whether it’s the time to
learn a new programming lan-
guage, the time to learn guitar or
the time to read or write a book
series, gaps in your education give
you the time to be someone other
than a student working toward
their career. They give you the
time to figure out who you are
outside of a degree.
There is a life beyond Tech,
where no one cares about GPA,
how many credits you took per se-
mester and how many semesters it
took to graduate. Campuses need
to emphasize that students’ value
shouldn’t be tied to their degrees,
but rather to their passions that
make life worth living.
confidence in our government to
respond to the problem of gender
violence.”
It is evident that she is not of
the opinion that the justice sys-
tem has progressed in favor of vic-
tims of these crimes. Anita Hill
is a black woman, and it begs the
question of whether she would
have been treated differently if
she were white. Many minority
groups have much higher rates of
sexual violence - bisexual women
currently have a 50 percent chance
of experiencing sexual assault.
The case of CeCe McDonald,
a transgender black woman, pro-
vides a clear picture to anyone
wondering how the government
interacts with people of color
and the LGBTQ+ community.
Sexually harassed and attacked
by a man one night, she stabbed
him in self-defense. McDonald
was thrown in jail and convicted
of second-degree manslaughter;
these communities see little re-
spect in the courtroom.
Yes, the #MeToo movement
has given survivors the strength to
step forward, and that is nowhere
near insignificant. However, it has
not given us the power to take al-
leged rapists like President Trump
down. To that end, we will need a
lot more than a catchy hashtag.
6 • June 28, 2019• technique
Warren: Champion or Foe? Home on the Move
JOHN EDWARDS
SPORTS EDITOR
Elizabeth Warren is market-
able. Her fresh face has allowed
her to outpace even frontrunner
Joe Biden among less-moderate
voters of her party – a Quinnipiac
poll found that Warren finished
only second to Senator Bernie
Sanders among highly-liberal vot-
ers in Florida. Warren’s reputation
as a stalwart progressive has made
her an appealing second choice
for Sanders supporters, a Morn-
ing Consult poll earlier this year
reveals. However, while Warren
may be eating into Sanders’ popu-
larity, she is doing so with hope-
lessly compromised values, under-
mined beyond excuse.
Warren, for much of her politi-
cal career, has practiced the kind
of ‘band-aid capitalism’ that so
many progressives today are guilty
of – the notion that government
should attempt to address as many
of the symptoms of society’s ills
through government regulation
and programs. This comprises
most of her policy history – War-
ren recently introduced a laugh-
ably short-sighted policy goal for
her campaign claiming that the
military “can help lead the fight
against climate change”, and has
introduced bills to hold capitalism
‘accountable’ by reducing mar-
ket incentives for corporations
(s. 3348) and create an agency to
produce drugs inaccessible to pa-
tients only under certain extreme
circumstances (s. 3775).
Warren’s proposed legislation
amounts to using a water-bottle
to put out a house fire. Warren
claims to be a progressive, yet gives
little consideration to the magni-
tude of her proposed movements
towards progress - incremental at
best and negligible at worst. War-
“The only major difference
between Warren and
Clinton is their particular
flavor of center-left
politics.”
JOHN EDWARDS
SPORTS EDITOR
ren is a self-avowed capitalist, and cism that Warren had previously
a recent Economist article pro- registered to vote as a Republican.
claims her “the Savior of Capital- It is an unfair criticism to sug-
ism” – a troubling attitude given gest that because someone once
that the externalities that much of held a believe in their past, they
her legislation addresses are them- might no longer believe solidly in
selves direct results of capitalism, their current platform – rather, it
designed to produce extraordi- carries the same weight as it did
nary profit for shareholders and when opponents mentioned Clin-
leave the working-class behind. ton as having been a “Goldwater
Capitalism needs no saving – it Girl” in 2016, as both Clinton
is working as intended. It is the and Warren’s policy platforms
working class that requires rescue, expressed a desire to work within
and Warren’s policies are tone- the realms of capitalism, to work
deaf responses to their pleas. around it, rather than remove the
In all fairness, there are few system that is itself intrinsic to
candidates in the current Demo- much of human suffering today.
cratic primary with a more devel- This accusation reflects how little
oped policy plan at this stage of difference there is in the overall
the race. Buttigieg and O’Rourke policies of the parties from when
appear content to run simply on they were a part of the Republican
a series of genial platitudes, while party to their current politics to-
Biden is coasting on name-recog- day. The only major difference be-
nition alone. Warren’s is a clearly tween Warren and Clinton is their
structured, well-laid out plan, particular flavor of center-left
and I have few doubts as to its politics – neo-liberalism versus
feasibility – unlike Biden’s only progressivism.
platform plank to date, “find a It is this fundamental issue
cure for cancer”. Even if Warren that continues to plague War-
successfully implements all these ren – the misguided notion that
policies, we will hardly be bet- capitalism can be saved, or that
ter off than we were. Warren has it requires saving. In order to
made the commendable move of bring about meaningful political
setting realistic policies goals, but change, the system itself must be
she has moved the finish line to be dismantled, not protected. Until
next to the starting block – band- Warren recognizes the intrinsic
aid progressivism will not create evil of capitalism, she should re-
meaningful long-term change. main an unpalatable option to
You may frequently hear the criti- Democratic voters.
POLLY OUELETTE
STAFF WRITER
As college students, the na-
ture of where we live is transient.
Since freshman year, I’ve had the
slightly unsettled feeling that I
shouldn’t get too comfortable be-
cause I have no way of predicting
where I will end up when I gradu-
ate.
Even during college, where we
sleep can change rather often. In
the last three years, I have moved
over a dozen times between study-
ing on campus in Atlanta, to
studying abroad in Oxford, to
interning in San Francisco and
Austin. I’ll move at least a few
more times before I settle down
to spend a few years in one place.
Don’t ask me for my address, be-
cause by the time you send me
something, I may not live there
anymore.
We aren’t in college for long, and
that knowledge combined with
the nature of college life (leaving
for breaks, doing something dif-
ferent every summer) means that
any strong sense of home can be
hard to come by.
Should we hang up all those
photos if we’ll just be leaving in a
few months?
Should we even unpack our bags
if we will have to pack them again
soon?
The last few months in particu-
lar for me have been full of these
questions, as I’ve hopped from in-
ternship to internship in places I
have never lived and where I know
no one.
At first, it was immensely dif-
ficult to feel comfortable in these
new cities. I found it hard to meet
people or to feel as if I truly oc-
cupied where I lived. It seemed
pointless to put in the effort to
build relationships with the peo
// OPINIONS
ple and spaces around me if I was
going to leave as quickly as I ar-
rived.
I eventually discovered that
home, instead of a permanent
place of residence, is a mindset
and an energy that I put out into
the world. A home is a place or
a person that you can relax into,
feel vulnerable in, without fear or
discomfort. I had to consciously
allow myself to open myself up
to other people, to let them set up
camp in my life, to allow my heart
to settle in and stay for a while in-
stead of anxiously waiting for the
day when I would have to leave
again.
And just like that, people be-
gan to wander into my life. The
openness I put out into the world
was returned to me multiple times
over. The people I met became re-
liable sources of support, love, and
fun. I was the same to them. They,
just like a comfortable home, were
there for me to come back to when
I ventured off to try new things.
Other simple pleasures helped
me cultivate a sense of belong-
ing and security in my transient
homes. A favorite mug always sits
in the kitchen cabinet. I always
find places to practice yoga or to
rock climb. I allow myself to hang
up photos or mementos, and I
bring a few “nonessential” pieces
of my heart everywhere I go.
In a few short weeks, I have
to go back to Atlanta to finish
my final year of my undergradu-
ate studies. It would be easier to
go back if I hadn’t put down firm
roots in the places I have been, but
I know that I wouldn’t have it any
other way. I will always be thank-
ful to the people and cities that
have allowed me to occupy a little
piece of them for a few months. I
know that if and when I return, it
will feel like coming home.
 Life
Bridging the Gap: Addressing FASET Concerns
JONATHON PENNIE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
For incoming first-year stu-
dents at Tech, Familiarization and
Adaptation to the Surroundings
and Environs of Tech (FASET)
is more than just another lengthy
acronym to forget: this ordeal pro-
vides them with their first experi-
ence of learning how to navigate
the challenges that Tech delivers.
The FASET orientation pro-
gram serves to give students an-
swers to their many questions
about what being a Tech student
is really like, but we sometimes
find that those questions are not
always fully answered.
Some incoming freshmen leave
FASET feeling more nervous than
they were when they began the
orientation program.
“I felt like I made the wrong
decision,” third-year Philip
Weekend
Getaways
JAIMEE FRANCIS
LIFE EDITOR
If Atlanta’s summer humid-
ity is leaving you feeling sluggish
and life is beginning to feel rou-
tine, The Technique recommends
a change of scenery. We have put
together a list of destinations, all
within two hours of campus, to
help spice up your routine and
re-energize you for those summer
classes.
SERENBE (35 MI)
This small community just
south of Atlanta offers an alter-
native life-style to the hustle and
bustle of city life. Serenbe, GA
prides itself on its relaxed pace,
cultural events, and sustainability
efforts. The town has preserved
over 70 percent of the land as
green space, allowing visitors to
savor the scenic views while they
enjoy the other amenities offered
there. Special events include a
LIFE EDITOR:
Jaimee Francis
life@nique.net
Huynh said. “Later on, once I
started classes, I felt much better,
but FASET did not reflect the GT
experience for me. After FASET, I
was left with very little informa-
tion on important things like reg-
istering for classes.”
Transitioning into college
can oftentimes be a stressful and
frightening experience. How well
prepared a student feels can sig-
nificantly affect his or her college
experience. A knowledge gap be-
tween what a student knows ver-
sus what they need to know can
complicate a new student’s college
experience.
Feeling dissatisfied with one's
FASET experience, specifically
with the information provided,
is something that has distressed
many students.
Tech is a uniquely rigorous
school that requires many tools
and resources to succeed. FASET
actively tries to meet as many stu-
dents needs as they can while at
orientation. We discussed these
goals with Sonakshi Mishra, a
current third-year FASET leader.
“Our primary responsibilities
consist of ensuring that every stu-
dent gets a positive introduction to
Tech,” Mishra said, “We want to
make sure that every student feels
happy and welcomed.”
To many, the FASET orien-
tation program is considered a
weekly farmer’s market, theater at
the local playhouse, tours of local
farms, as well as cooking and yoga
workshops.
CALLAWAY GARDENS (85 MI)
This famed resort offers over
2,500 acres of amenities, rang-
ing from gardens and trails to
beach and water sports. Other op-
tions include meeting over 1,000
winged friends in the butterfly
center, zipping through the trees,
relaxing at the spa, or listening to
the music of the Columbus Sym-
phony Orchestra under the stars.
Just miles away visitors can visit
The Little White House, the per-
sonal retreat of Franklin D. Roos-
evelt. There is even a wild animal
safari in the area, home to animals
such as giraffes, zebras, buffalo,
camels, rhinos, and more.
HELEN (85 MI)
This former logging town rein-
vented itself as a Bavarian alpine
town: not in the Alps, but in the
Appalachian. Their quaint down-
town area offers a variety of mom-
and-pop storefronts and dining,
and even the small number of
national chains located there are
modeled in the classic South Ger-
man style of architecture. For
those seeking more adventure,
The Technique recommends tub-
ing down the Chattanooga. It is
affordably-priced and can be as
relaxing or as thrilling as you wish
it to be. We also suggest stopping
by Dahlonega, GA on your way
back down: dozens of boutiques,
cafes, and studios line the charm-
ing downtown area, as do numer-
ous history and heritage museums.
HyTech Racing Wins Awards
HyTech racing brings home first-place trophy from
international engineering competition48
cornerstone to starting off on
the right foot at Tech. Afterall, it
provides students with their first
opportunities to organize their
classes, meet advisors, and inter-
act with student organizations.
According to the FASET website,
the program is “designed to help
students complete important col-
lege business prior to arriving
for classes.”
FASET leader Samantha Allison smiles for the camera at the most recent FASET orientation.
Visitors can even visit take a ghost
tour of that haunted city on week-
end nights.
BLUE RIDGE (90 MI)
Blue Ridge is a scenic moun-
tain town located on the foothills
of the Appalachian Trails. The pic-
turesque landscape can be viewed
from aboard the Blue Ridge Scenic
Railway. This relaxing ride follows
the winding path of the Toccoa
River and stops in the quaint sis-
ter towns of McCaysville, Georgia
and Copperhill, Tennessee. Blue
Ridge can also be seen from along
the trails of the Chattahoochee
National Forest, where hikers
can view the Long Creek and Fall
Branch waterfalls. After building
up your appetite, we recommend
picking your own apples and ber-
ries at Mercier Orchards.
TELLULAH (95 MI)
Tellulah, GA is most known
for its namesake state park – and
deservedly so. Its two-mile long
gorge is nearly 1000 feet deep
and can be seen along the trails
that extend over 10 miles. A pic-
turesque suspension bridge pro-
vides scenic views of the river and
six waterfalls from a height of 80
feet. For an even closer view of the
river, visitors can expect to walk
down nearly 1200 steps. We rec-
ommend bringing plenty of water
and snacks! For a post-workout
treat, we suggest visiting The Blue
Ridge Honey Company. Less than
a 10 minute drive from the park
entrance, this quaint store offers a
variety of different bee products,
including honey, beeswax, can-
dles, and more.
technique
Friday
7
June 28, 2019
With mounting pressures from talked to incoming freshman
within and outside of academia, about what information they
some wonder if a weekend-long found to be missing from their
program can properly prepare stu- FAST experience.
dents for a four-year, or longer, ex- Some of the biggest complaints
perience in such a short window. that students have after leaving
“We only have two days to pre- FASET is their confusion con-
pare incoming first years,” said an cerning class registration as well
anonymous FASET Leader. “With as the actual merit of some of
such a short window of time, we’re their experiences during the pro-
bound to miss some things.” We See FASET, page 8
Photo by Jonathan Pennie
MONDAY
Free Play Monday
Location: 1st Floor Student Center, Tech Rec
Time: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Mondays from 10am-5pm, all play is Free for GT students
faculty and staff.
TUESDAY
Summer Salsa Classes
Location: Student Center Ballroom
Time: 5 p.m.–7 p.m.
Student Center Programs Council and GT Salsa Club Presents
Summer Salsa Classes! Beginners are more than welcome to join.
WE DNESDAY
Mindful Moments
Location: Student Center Juniper Room
Time: 3:30 p.m - 4:30 p.m.
Health Initiatives invites you to drop in and relax.
HOLIDAY WEEKEND
Fourth of July extended weekend. No classes Thursday or Friday
Check this week’s Tips & Tricks for ideas to plan your perfect
holiday wekkend!
ONGOING EVENTS
Postage Required & Marvelous Marbling
Location: Robert C. Williams Museum
Time: 9 a.m - 5p.m.
Postage Required: This exhibition features a variety of postcards
that are on the move: tilt them, lift a flap, or pull a tab, and see
something new. Explore the cutting-edge technology of a century
ago.
Marvelous Marbling: Discover how the beautiful patterns of
marble papers are created, and learn about some of the early
twentieth century practitioners of the craft.
8 • June 28, 2019• technique
HyTech Racing Brings Home Trophy
JONATHON PENNIE
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Once again, the HyTech Rac-
ing team brought home the gold,
making this the second year in a
row that they have placed first at
the Formula Hybrid racing com-
petition. They were awarded the
highest honors for Design, Auto-
cross and Endurance events. They
even set a record in the endurance
event. After this great feat, The
Technique chatted with the team
president Nathan Cheek, a recent
Tech grad, to discuss the team’s
recent victory.
“Being on a team, if you put in
the effort, you are massively re-
warded in terms of the knowledge
and experience you gain,” Cheek
said, “You aren't going to do any-
thing like this in class.”
The HyTech Racing team
comprised of over 60 members
actively works each year to make
a better electric vehicle than they
have before. This past year alone
the team managed to not only
achieve their goals of increasing
serviceability and robustness of
the car, but they also dropped the
weight of the vehicle by 45 lbs.
The team managed to do this by
navigating the rules of the com-
petition: they trimmed weight on
significant parts such as the chas-
sis and small things like the steer-
ing wheel and brake lights. The
team succeeded in keeping their
weight low while also maintain-
ing racing regulations.
Although these vehicle im-
provements can make a monu-
mental difference in how well a
car competes, a properly trained
FASET leaders help incoming students learn aout campus resources and
organizations, and inform them on the most important things to know gong into Tech.
// LIFE
staff of drivers is another critical
factor for victory.
“The drivers can shave many
seconds off these different events,”
Cheek said, “If you have a driver
who can take those corners faster,
is confident in the vehicle and
knows how much they can push
the envelope, then they are going
to be faster, and that's going to
get us more points.”
Like many other competitive
fields, the HyTech racing team
must focus primarily on their
own vehicles. They never know
just how well the competition will
perform. When building some-
thing as complex as an electric
car, many things can wrong that
can change a team’s standings.
For example, a team car could
break, fail to meet regulations or
even simply underperform due to
lack of testing.
“It's not always clear who the
best teams are going to be from
year to year,” said Cheek, “Some
of the best teams can come and
go. It’s not always a given that a
team is going to do excellent, ac-
cidents can happen, and things
can break.”
After just having secured a vic-
tory, the team is already thinking
about plans for next year. The
team is considering switching
from metal to composites but
their main focus will be on shav-
ing time. After shaving off so
much weight last year, the team
will shift gears and put their ef-
forts into testing time. They hope
to showcase their improvements
at other competitions around the
globe.
“This next year we’re looking
to go to Formula North in Cana-
da and new competition that will
probably be based in California,”
Nathan Cheek said, “We want to
compete with the best teams to
show that we are competitive with
everyone.”
Although Nathan Cheek will
no longer serve as the team presi-
dent next year, the team still re-
mains optimistic. They are look-
ing forward to another exciting Photos courtesy of HyTech Racing
year of racing. HyTech racing Team placed first at recent racing competition after cutting down on vehicle weight.
incoming first years.”
FASET FROM PAGE 7 Orientation can both an exciting
gram. While there is currently a and stressful time at any univer-
guide on how to add classes on sity, providing students with their
the registrar’s office including first impression of what will be
meanings on common error mes- their new home for the next few
sages, the instructional guide has years. As it stands, there currently
no visuals and can be difficult for exists a gap between what infor-
first-year students who have never mation first-year students are pro-
dealt with Tech’s chosen online vided with and what they feel they
platforms. need to know. Since the FASET
“I wish FASET was a bit orga- orientation program is continually
nized,” summer first-year Aziza growing and changing; hopefully,
Ahmed said, “At times it felt like it can eventually grow to meet
we were just running around for these student needs.
no reason at all.” In speaking with students and
Despite complaints from stu- FASET staff, it is overwhelmingly
dents about the information gap, evident that FASET leaders work
the FASET orientation program tirelessly to anticipate these new
still has lasting impacts for stu- student needs, and try their best
dents like providing lasting con- despite knowing that not every-
nections. Even if a student doesn’t thing about the Tech experiences
have the best experience, some is going to be covered in a two day
good can and will come out of the event.
weekend. For instance, second- Helping students get involved
year Samantha Allison, who even at Tech and form long-lasting
after feeling discouraged after FA- connections with other students,
SET, decided to become a leader. campus organizations, faculty and
“I kind of struggled my first upperclassmen is what FASET
year with getting used to college seems to do best and what the pro-
life and everything,” said Allison. gram will continue to do for years
Photo by Jonathan Pennie “My FASET leader really helped to come. And it makes FASET
me try to get more involved, so I worth it — even if we need some
wanted to be that source for the extra help using Buzzport later on.
// LIFE
ROCKET FROM PAGE 1
project, was the culmination of
each of their efforts. Each of the
students in attendance worked on
the satellite at different times, but
all were unified by the same sense
of accomplishment.
Kyle Scott, an Integration and
Technical Lead, sat in excitement
for his first launch ever. “I never
imagined I would build a satellite
before I came [to Tech], and that
feeling of shock and awe hasn’t to-
tally left.”
At 45 seconds, The SpaceX
Launch Director verifies a go for
launch, and the crowd hears in
approval.
Two years after shipping off
their satellite to the Air Force for
verification, any remaining doubt
disappeared. Once it was finally
in space, Prox-1’s mission was
twofold: managing five spacecraft
already in space and deploying
a solar-powered sailing satellite
named “LightSail.” The latter was
developed by the Planetary Soci-
ety, an independent space group
headed by the one and only Bill
Nye. 10 years in the making,
LightSail would unfurl a mas-
sive sail and attempt to become
the first spacecraft to be powered
solely by solar power.
“The thrill of seeing our work
launched into space never gets
old,” said Professor E. Glenn
Lightsey, one of the instructors
who oversaw the project. “It’s not
just the sense of accomplishment,
but also the sense of pride and
closure in a job well-done.”
Other satellites came from the
Defense Department, NASA,
the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric association and a number
of other private companies.
One of the NASA payloads
was a small satellite of test rocket
fuel designed to be more envi-
ronmentally friendly. Current
spacecraft use a propellant called
hydrazine, which is toxic enough
technique • June 28, 2019• 9
that perople near it must wear
protective Hazmat suits. Another
one of the payloads was the Deep
Space Atomic Clock, which if
tested successfully, woud help
navigate future missions in the
solar system.
The countdown of the last ten
seconds is assisted by the crowd,
and finally, the clock reads zero.
As the Falcon Heavy began its as-
cent, night became day.
Photographs don’t do justice
to the sheer power rocket launch.
The millions of pounds of thrust
could be felt by every sense. The
massive rocket jet almost burnt
itself into the eyes. The sound of
the rocket tearing through the
sky echoed through the night,
practically shaking the audience
and their bleachers. The sight was
a remnant of the space age before,
where the future had infinite pos-
sibility, and science and engineer-
ing were the pinnacle of human
accomplishment.
The rocket slowly disappeared
into the night to join the rest of
the stars, but not without leav-
ing behind its boosters. SpaceX
has been the first aerospace com-
pany to reuse its craft, the appeal
of which is to cut costs and make
future space travel more viable.
Each of the boosters unleashed
sonic booms across the cape as
they attempted landing. One
crashed into the ocean, but two
successfully landed on the com-
pany’s platforms in the ocean.
Hours into the Falcon Heavy’s
mission, Prox-1 would enter orbit,
concluding Tech’s first satellite
project.
And at almost 3:00 in the
morning, the Tech engineers re-
turned to their coach busses. Eyes
tired, there were smiles all around.
One came from Kevin Okseniuk,
BSAE ’16 and past Prox-1 project
manager
“Prox-1 will deorbit someday,”
he said, “but the lessons learned Top Photo courtesy of SpaceX, Above Photo courtesy of NASA Joel Kowsky
will stay in my heart forever.” The rocket was launched at on June 25, 2019 containing a satellite made by Tech students.

Entertainment
‘Chernobyl’ dusts off dated but relevant topic
TELEVISION
Chernobyl
NETWORK: HBO
WHEN: May 5
STARRING: Stellan Skarsgard
OUR TAKE: «««««
MAYA FLORES
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
It is April 27, 1988; Valery
Legosav, Soviet nuclear physicist
extraordinaire, bids farewell to his
cat before hanging himself in his
Kiev apartment.
Then, it is 1 a.m. on April 26,
1986. A group of men in white
uniforms are carefully running a
routine safety test on Reactor #4
at the Chernobyl Powerplant in
Pripyat, Ukraine. Despite their
caution, something seems to have
gone seriously wrong.
“Chernobyl” premiered on
May 5 on HBO. The miniseries
spans five episodes, a perfectly
bingeable runtime, with each one
focusing on a different aspect of
the nuclear meltdown and the
way that the Soviet Union chose
to handle the resulting disaster.
Created and written by Craig Ma-
zen, of “The Hangover II” fame,
the series is wonderfully poignant
and captivating.
Anticipated ‘Game of Thrones’ finale disappoints
TELEVISION
Game of Thrones Season
8 R.R. Martin’s — author of “A
NETWORK: HBO
WHEN: April 14 - May 19
STARRING: Peter Dinklage,
Nikolaj Coster-Waldu, Lena
Headey
OUR TAKE: «««««
CHAITU KONJETI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The final episode of “Game of
Thrones” aired on May 19 and it
may have been one of the most
disappointing endings in televi-
sion history.
"Game of Thrones" has been
building up character arcs and
plotlines for over seven years, and
viewers have gotten extremely
attached to each one and every
of them. In hindsight, with the
number of plot lines that the writ-
ers needed to resolve, the final sea-
son was doomed to fail from the
start.
Arya has a hit list of people
that have done wrong to her or her
family, Jon Snow is a Targaryen,
the White Walker army is finally
reaching Winterfell and Daenerys
may finally be taking the Iron
Throne. The list goes on and on.
The world was finally going to see
everything the show had built up
over the last eight years come to-
gether in this hopefully epic, ma-
jestic final season.
However, David Benioff and
The historical nature of the
disaster provides a false sense of
security from the outset. Many
have cursory knowledge of the
Chernobyl disaster. Obviously,
the world did not have a global
nuclear crisis in the '80s, present
day Russia and Ukraine exist, and
nuclear reactors are still a major
source of energy. So, everything
will be okay, right? Mazen deals
with this assumption masterfully:
the meltdown feels as though it is
happening in real time.
The show follows Legasov, the
deputy director of the Kurchatov
Institute, who is brought into a
HBO’s mini-series ‘Chernobyl’ tells the tragic story of the titular Soviet nuclear reactor meltdown
in the 1980s. The events of the explosion and the resulting fallout are graphically represented.
D.B. Weiss (the HBO writers for
"Game of Thrones") effectively
took the intricacies of George
Song of Ice and Fire,” the series
that “Game of Thrones” is based
on — deeply thought out story
and ignored each and every thing
that made the show special in the
first place.
To be fair, there were some
positives amidst the abundance of
unforgivable inadequacies which
mar season eight. The visuals
were as crisp, colorful and jaw-
dropping as ever. The grand scene
where Dany’s dragon’s wings are
shown behind her as she walks in
King’s Landing is stunning and
powerfully symbolic. The hard-
to-see, dingy, gloomy visuals dur-
ing the Great War accentuated the
hopelessness that characterized
the battle. The pillars of fire and
the smoldering buildings during
the war between Daenerys and
Cersei matched the flaming fury
inside of Daenerys as she finally
got closer to taking her beloved
Iron Throne.
There were also a couple of
heartwarming scenes throughout
the season that amplified the love
that the viewers felt for those char-
acters. Brienne being knighted by
Jaime before the Great War had
to be one of the most emotional
scenes in the entire show. It prop-
erly tied together Brienne and Jai-
me’s journey throughout the first
seven seasons. Combined with
Podrick gallantly singing a song,
these two events made episode
two of season eight an acceptable
precursor to the fight against the
meeting of Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev’s advisory committee.
Legasov is chosen by the state to
advise them on an “under con-
trol” explosion in Pripyat. Of
course, said explosion is not under
control, and it is not long until
Legasov realizes Moscow is griev-
ously misinformed. In the 1980s,
the explosion of a nuclear reactor
was thought to be physically im-
possible. Legosav is paired with
Boris Shcherbina, Deputy of Gor-
bachev’s Council of Ministers,
and the two are sent to Pripyat to
quickly deal with the incident.
The show is gripping. The re-
Night King.
Sadly, these few, ephemeral
events in season eight came no-
where close to saving the atrocity
that was the rest of the season.
The first two episodes of the
season were set up to be the final
reunion of all of the major charac-
ters. This was their last time to be
with the family that they still had
and to be happy before the Great
War. While the episodes are slow,
they are justified with the hope
that the War will bring the kind
of excitement and drama which
has made the show great.
Alas, when the Great War ar-
rives, it brings with it several glar-
ing flaws, the biggest being Arya
somehow plowing through the
White Walkers to come behind
the Night King and stab him
with a dagger.
This is a shocking writing
choice, as throughout the rest of
the series the writers set Jon Snow
up to be the one to kill the Night
King with immense amount of
foreshadowing. In the episode,
he runs to kill the Night King,
only for Arya to ruin all the build-
up and intensity by doing the
deed herself.
This was most likely a mis-
guided attempt by Executive
Producers D.B. Weiss and Da-
vid Benioff to try and make the
ending unexpected without put-
ting in the work and building a
proper backstory.
Episode four was easily one of
the worst episodes of the entire
series. Most of the episode essen-
tially does exactly what episode
one and episode two do — give
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
Josh Trebuchon
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR:
Maya Flores
entertainment@nique.net
percussions of the nuclear melt-
down are inconceivable, even 30
years later. It is genuinely difficult
to reconcile the show as reality.
Each episode provides a vi-
gnette of different Soviets experi-
encing the disaster. First, there are
the families of Pripyat gathered
on a bridge to watch the color-
ful flames. The first-response fire-
fighters tasked with putting out an
endless flame. The nurses in Kiev
prepared to treat burns but forced
to deal with radiation poisoning.
The coal miners transported to
the reactor to thwart continential
catastrophe. The soldiers charged
Photo courtesy of HBO
the characters another moment
of celebration after the Great
War. At the end of episode four,
Daenerys somehow forgets that
Euron Greyjoy’s fleet is near and
one of her dragons gets shot down
as a result. How Daenerys forgets
about a whole fleet even though
they were discussing the fleet ear-
lier in the episode is a mystery that
once again underlines the fact that
the writers gave very little thought
to the entire season.
We finally get to the last im-
portant battle of the entire show
— the encounter between Cersei
and Daenerys at King’s Land-
ing, the final battle for the Iron
Throne. While the first half of
this episode makes sense with
Daenerys easily destroying the
enemy fleet with her dragon, the
second half is a huge break in the
plot that the season builds for her.
Cersei surrenders by ringing
the bells but Daenerys savagely
continues to set the rest of King’s
Landing aflame. She burns down
the buildings along with the in-
nocent citizens who have done
her no wrong. While some may
argue that Daenerys has always
been excessive with her punish-
ments to her enemies, this intense
retaliation is a complete 180. The
revenge is not foreshadowed at all
during the first four episodes of
the season, and it seems to be an-
other lazy attempt by the writers
to create an exciting ending.
The series finale is scattered
with disjointed events that would
bewilder fans new and old. The
very first of these events that
comes to mind is the fact that
technique
10
Friday,
June 28, 2019
with clearing the poisoned region.
The Soviet bureaucrats who sit in
Moscow and have meetings.
Such a stark portrayal of the
disaster causes physical discom-
fort. First there is the carnal dis-
comfort caused by the suffering
of radiation victims. The special
effects are horribly believable, and
the unfortunate Soviets who got
too close to the collector decom-
pose while still alive. The feeling
returns as millions of Soviets give
their lives for a cause they have no
information on and for absolutely
no compensation. Then again in
the finale, when the true nature of
the explosion comes to light.
Though the series was con-
ceived and written in 2016, it
could not have aired at a more fit-
ting time. Watching Gorbachev
and his state attempt to hide this
disaster, then lie about it, then
cover it up is eerily reminiscent of
the politics of today.
The show not only makes a
statement about the current lead-
ership of the U.S., but it livens
up a dusty yet important topic.
Previously, media about the disas-
ter had not reached an audience
beyond baby boomer dads with
history kinks and strong anti-
Russian sentiments. Chernobyl is
something more than a dig at the
USSR; it is a reminder of the im-
portance of truth and the preva-
lence of lies in any nation.
Bran Stark, often regarded as
a boring and useless character,
is crowned King of the Seven
Kingdoms. Out of all of the char-
acters that survive to the final
episode, Bran is possibly the most
incorrect choice the writers could
have made.
Bran has had no influence dur-
ing any of the wars and does not
really affect the outcome of any of
the events. This disappointment
is worsened by the fact that the
fanbase wanted to see someone
as honorable and worthy as Jon
Snow rule the Seven Kingdoms
and alleviate all of its problems.
Accompanying these events is
a total lack of pacing. At random
moments, the show skips three or
four weeks ahead of the previous
scene. Similarly, much of King’s
Landing, which is burnt com-
pletely during the final episode, is
somehow quickly rebuilt without
any one ruler sitting on the Iron
Throne. These narrative breaks
leave the viewer feeling confused
and disoriented and takes them
out of the show’s universe.
Overall, this season is little
more than a series of bad writing
decisions. This level of disappoint-
ment is without even considering
the simple and frustrating mis-
takes that occurred, like having a
Starbucks cup in one of the scenes
— simple mistakes which none-
theless break the illusion for the
viewers.
The writers showed complete
disregard for everything that
George R. R. Martin has built up
and vandalized the beauty that
had been “Game of Thrones.”
// ENTERTAINMENT
Candler Park Festival offers relaxed alternative
MAYA FLORES
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Music festivals are a dime a
dozen in the summer. Atlanta
hosts quite a few of its own, but
one of the most low-key offerings
is the Candler Park Music and
Food Festival. This year the two
day festival kicked off on Friday
May 31. Tickets for the entire fes-
tival only run about $40 after fees.
The vibe of the festival was
distinctly laid-back, making it
unique to any other major music
festival in the city. Festivals like
Music Midtown and Shakybeats
are full of attendees trying to have
the wildest time they can, and as a
result those festivals have a frantic
feel to them. It is impossible to be
fully conscious of everything that
is going on when one is always
worrying about missing out on
something.
The festival at Candler Park
is very much the opposite. There
is only one stage, so everyone at
the festival is in it together. The
crowd is not pushy, making it
easy to weave through it to a spot
with a good view of the stage.
Groups of people always dancing,
others talking, and others were
even sprawled on blankets in the
crowd, picnic style.
This year’s lineup was wonder-
fully eclectic; the featured genres
included reggae, alternative, blue-
grass, folk and indie.
One of the best performances
of the weekend was Stephen Mar-
ley’s. These days, few people have
ever been to a reggae concert, and
most have probably never even
considered it. Marley’s set was so
much fun one would have trouble
not falling in love with the genre.
For the most part, Marley did
not even move around, instead
just sitting in the center of the
stage with his hand drum, belting
out his tunes. His band, on the
other hand were kinetic and lively,
and clearly had a good time listen-
ing and dancing to Marley’s mu-
sic too. And yes, Stephen Marley
is the son of Bob Marley.
Headlining the first night of
the festival was Greensky Blue-
grass, an aptly named bluegrass
group. As the sun had set, the
crowd seemed to find a little more
energy, and the band capitalized
on that. Their music, though
all acoustic, was full of energy
The Candler Park Music and Food Festival took place at the end of May in Atlanta’s very own Candler Park. The one-stage music festival featured a di-
verse music lineup and local food trucks and bar tents. Pictured is Greensky Bluegrass (upper right), Dispatch (middle right), and Stephen Marley (left).
technique • June 28, 2019• 11
and very banjo forward. They
strummed away and the crowd
loved it. Greensky is almost ex-
actly what comes to mind when
one thinks of a bluegrass band
— large men with long hair and
country twangs.
Dr. Dog’s performance was the
highlight of the second day, and
that show alone was worth a trip
from Tech’s campus to Candler
Park. The group has been around
for twenty years, and in that time
they have had some notable indie-
rock hits. Their music’s themes are
sometimes heavy and emo-ish but
the melodies are always upbeat
and fun to dance to, which the
crowd definitely did. Most notable
about their set was the sense of ca-
maraderie between band members
and the easy rapport they kept up
with the audience. They managed
to make the small festival feel
even smaller and more personal.
In the empty spaces between
sets, there was still plenty to do
within the confines of the festi-
val. Near the entrance there was
an artist’s market, selling the work
of local artists, jewelry, clothing,
and even records. The crowd of
attendees were the perfect market
for these vendors, and the lines
reflected that. Closer to the stage
there were classic lawn games like
cornhole, alongside giant versions
of childhood favorites like con-
nect four.
Staying true to the festival’s
name, there were about two dozen
food trucks off to the side, overing
everything from classic hot dogs,
to Indian street food, to pickles.
There were even some Tech favor-
ites at the event, including Bento
Bus and Yumbii. There were also
bar tents everywhere, but would-
be attendees beware — within the
confines of the festival a beer will
cost nine dollars.
Most festival-goers at Candler
were older millennials. This really
seemed to separate it from most
other festivals in the area, which
tend to attract a slightly younger
crowd, and probably also had a
hand in creating the refreshingly
laid back vibe.
Overall, Candler Park Music
and Food Festival is a great way
to spend a weekend. Anyone look-
ing for an opportunity to hear
some great music in a relaxed at-
mosphere and not break the bank
should definitely check it out
when it comes around next year.
Photos courtesy of Andrew Najjar
12 • June 28, 2019• technique // COMICS

SARAH’S SCRIBBLES BY SARAH ANDERSEN PEARLS BEFORE SWINE BY STEPHEN PASTIS

LIO BY MARK TATULLI

LUNARBABOON BY CHRISTOPHER GRADY

IN THE BLEACHERS BY STEVE MOORE

// COMICS technique • June 28, 2019• 13

XKCD BY RANDALL MUNROE

SMBC BY ZACH WEINERSMITH

CHANNELATE BY RYAN HUDSON

SUDOKU PUZZLE

BY SUDOKUCOLLECTION.COM
14 • June 28, 2019• technique // SPORTS

Tech baseball sends 7 players to the majors

Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications
Tristin English was the first Jacket to be drafted into
the Major Leagues in 2019. English was drafted to
be a first baseman for the Arizona Diamonbacks.
EMILY DYKSTRA the big leagues. The total number
SPORTS EDITOR of players drafted while at Tech
as of July 2018 is listed at 169 on
The Jackets have a historied ramblinwreck.com, while ten of
success when it comes to the Ma- those players were drafted out of
jor League Baseball draft process Tech in the first round. Further-
with notable names such as Jason more, the Jackets have a tendency
Varitek, Mark Teixeira and most to sign players who were high
recently Joey Bart making it into school draftees who chose to at-
tend Tech over going straight into
the MLB, bolstering the prestige
of the program and trumpeting
the recruiting abilities of head
coach Danny Hall.
The 2019 Major League Base-
ball Amateur Draft was arguably
less exciting than that of 2018,
in which Joey Bart was picked
second overall and went out of
Tech with a bang. However, the
Jackets had a total of seven play-
ers selected for the opportunity to
pursue professional baseball this
year compared to only two players
during last year’s draft.
Tristin English, a redshirt ju-
nior, was picked up first out of
the Tech squad during the third
round. At pick 93, English was
chosen by the Arizona Diamond-
backs after having a phenom-
enal postseason. The pitcher made
waves on All-American, All-ACC,
and similar listings throughout
his time at Tech. He was only the
third Tech player to be named to
the All-ACC First Team roster
three times, alongside former stars
Jason Varitek and Eric Patterson.
During the 2019 season, English
was the first player at Tech since
2001 to hit for the cycle, which
requires a batter to hit a single,
double, triple and a home run all
in the same game. He has quite
the pitching prowess as exempli-
fied by two hitless innings leading
up to the ACC Championship
Game, along with a team-leading
71 RBI and a .313 batting average
this past year.
The next pick from the Jack-
ets was Kyle McCann who was
selected as pick 134 during the
fourth round by Oakland Ath-
letics. During the 2019 season,
McCann recorded the second
highest number of home runs in
the Atlantic Coast Conference at
a total of 23. Although McCann
was only named to the All-ACC
Third Team during his 2018 sea-
son, his most recent season was
full of accomplishments that blew
that listing out of the water. The
catcher was named as a finalist for
the Buster Posey Catcher of the
Year award and broke Mark Teix-
eira’s single-season Tech record for
most intentional walks, according
to ramblinwreck.com. McCann
will join former Tech catcher Joey
Bart in the Bay Area in a reunion
that is sure to be nostalgic for the
two Tech catchers.
Junior pitcher Connor Thom-
as was drafted next during the
fifth round at pick 155 by the
St. Louis Cardinals. He had 103
strikeouts during the 2019 sea-
son which ranked him fourth in
the ACC. With a variety of ac-
colades under his belt, such as
ACC Pitcher of the Week and
All-ACC First Team, Thomas
was a definite help to the Jackets
during their grind through the
championship season.
Atlanta native Xzavion Curry
was selected by the Cleveland In-
dians in round seven as pick 220.
His season ended early due to a
shoulder injury, but he was the
expected starter going into the
2019 season and opened with a
record setting number of wins in
three straight Opening Day ap-
pearances for the Jackets. Curry
joins Thomas with multiple ACC
Pitcher of the Week awards. The
Indians picked a good one in
Curry, assuming his shoulder
heals and he is able to reach his
maximum potential.
After the top ten rounds were
hashed out, three Tech play-
ers were selected in the follow-
ing days. Chase Murray, a junior
outfielder who battled injuries
throughout his time at Tech,
was drafted in round 13 by the
Pittsburgh Pirates. Junior pitcher
Amos Willingham was picked up
by the Washington Nationals in
round 17, while sophomore in-
fielder Luke Waddell was selected
during round 32 by the Arizona
Diamondbacks. Both Willing-
ham and Waddell could show
some serious improvement over
the next year or two, as Willing-
ham transferred from a commu-
nity college this past year and
Waddell still has time to mature
as a player for Tech.
Depending on how the players
like their respective teams, Tech
fans can expect to see significant
turnover across the starting lineup
next year. Led by Hall, the Jackets
have depth that should continue
to lead them to postseason ap-
pearances that hopefully turn out
better than their departure from
the NCAA tournament this year.
// SPORTS
STATS FROM PAGE 1
If Reiter’s book is not a direct
rebuke of the analytics-or-else
mentality, it is at least a strong
reminder that not every valuable
trait can be boiled down to a sta-
tistic. Astros general manager Jeff
Luhnow is a character who would
have fit into the “Moneyball”
script neatly. An Ivy League un-
dergraduate turned management
consultant turned entrepreneur, a
reader expects Luhnow to take the
Beane role - that is, to relentlessly
shepherd the Astros organization
towards big data and advanced
metrics, over the protestations of
behind-the-times baseball vet-
erans. Instead, Luhnow and his
team work tirelessly to meld ana-
lytics with the traditional scout-
ing approach. The approach does
not always work. In one case, the
Astros cut a player who tried to
convince them he had made sig-
nificant improvements over the
offseason. His career numbers,
they decided, did not suggest that
he could amount to much as a
major leaguer. Quickly picked up
by another team, he immediately
proved himself. The Astros lost
a budding young superstar for
nothing.
But in some cases, the approach
paid off in dividends. The Astros
signed a declining Carlos Beltran,
a grizzled veteran who was, by
virtually every metric, nearly out
to the pasture. He was the sort
of player “Moneyball” trains fans
to give a wide berth. Perhaps he
was once a good player, the stat-
isticians say, but to sign him to
any meaningful contract now is
to pay for past performance. By
signing Beltran, the Astros found
a key leader for a young team, a
player who knew what it was like
to win - and lose - a playoff series.
They found in Beltran a coach
who could spot and correct mis-
takes his teammates were mak-
ing in real time. And above all,
they found a stabilizing force in
the locker room. No existing sta-
tistic could account for the value
The Yellow Jackets crown Lucas Johnson after an incredible performance during a Spring game.
The crowning is a tradition that Coach Geoff Collins began this year to reward exceptional players.
that did not appear in statistical
analytics.
As I read “Astroball”, I was
reminded of how unlikely this
story seemed to nearly everyone in
2014. That June, Reiter made the
front cover of Sports Illustrated
with an article declaring the As-
tros 2017 World Series champion.
To many - especially Astros fans -
it felt like a cruel joke. How could
a team mired in such hopelessness
reach the top so soon? It urged me
to consider the misconceptions
we might carry with ourselves in
everyday life. One thought that is
particularly applicable at Tech is
the belief that some combination
of the hard sciences and engineer-
ing can solve every single prob-
lem. World hunger is a genetically
modified crop away from extinc-
tion. The skeleton of a perfect
dating site is hidden on an under-
Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications
graduate’s hard drive. But, what
good is all the food in the world if
we cannot distribute it? Isn’t a so-
cial network only as strong as the
people who use it? At the end of
the day, our problems are human
ones - in sports, in politics and be-
yond. Reiter shows us that regres-
sion models and probability tests
can only take us so far. The rest
must be solved through processes
that are as imperfect as we are.
technique • June 28, 2019• 15
On brand?
JOHN EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER
Which is the bigger brand
now – Geoff Collins or Georgia
Tech? It’s becoming difficult to
make the distinction between the
two, given how much Collins has
embraced his new program, but
Collin’s own profile looks to be on
the rise. Collins has been making
the rounds in media this month
promoting ESPN’s new service,
ACC Network - first appearing in
a marketing video imploring Tech
fans to request that their provid-
ers pick up the new channel this
week and then attending a Yan-
kees game to promote the network
in partnership with the Pinstripe
Bowl.
It’s remarkable the way in
which Collins has ingrained him-
self with the brand of Tech before
even overseeing a single, official
snap – and yet, here we are. Col-
lins is the indisputable face of Tech
football. And if we’re being hon-
est, all notions of football aside,
it’s difficult to find a better rep-
resentative for Tech football than
Collins – ever smiling, Waffle-
House cup in hand, always dress-
ing like he could be mistaken for
a tailgating dad, simply looking
like he’s having a blast the whole
ride. Regardless of how Tech foot-
ball shakes out for the near future,
make no mistake – Collins is not
simply the captain of the crew,
he’s also the masthead.
Sports
Fresh talent increases hope for Tech football
JOHN EDWARDS
STAFF WRITER
Geoff Collins and his staff
will not be the only fresh faces
taking the field against Clemson
for Tech football’s first game of
this year in August, also the first
game to be shown on the brand
new ACC Network channel based
out of Tech itself. In addition to
returning Jackets, Collins has
added several talented freshmen
for this year’s squad after a bru-
tal and hard-fought recruiting
season. After a late scramble fol-
lowing former head coach Paul
Johnson’s retirement, Collins
quickly assembled a recruiting
class of both home-grown and
across-the-country talent. Here
are the names to keep an eye on
to make an impact this upcoming
season.
Jose Alvarado, Junior at Tech and leader in scoring, assists and steals for the 2018 - 2019 season, assesses the court before going for a 3-point shot.
Toeing the line? NCAA changes 3-point standards
JOSH FORBES
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The NCAA Playing Rules
Oversight Panel recently approved
five proposals that had been sub-
mitted to the committee in early
May, the most notable of which is
the expansion of the 3-point line
to the International Basketball
Federation’s (FIBA) standard of
22 feet, 1¾ inches.
The current NCAA 3-point
line stands at 20 feet, 9 inches,
making the 16¾ inch push back-
wards a 6.80% increase in dis-
tance—a change that had already
been implemented in the 2018
and 2019 National Invitational
Tournaments (NIT). This adjust-
ment, along with the other land-
mark proposal of a shot clock re-
set to 20 seconds after an offensive
rebound (down from the full 30
seconds), was implemented in an
attempt to see an increase in both
offensive spacing and pace of play
as the NCAA aims to keep the
game contemporary and exciting.
Outside of the Orlando Magic
teams between 2008 and 2011
that were extreme outliers for
SPORTS EDITOR:
Emily Dykstra
sports@nique.net
JAMIOUS GRIFFIN
Griffin was Collin’s biggest
coup to date - the four-star run-
ning back was originally commit-
ted to North Carolina State, but
after a concentrated recruiting
effort by Collins, the Rome, Geor-
gia native chose to attend Tech
this fall instead. Griffin brings
to the table incredible breakaway
speed and instincts, talents that
were on full display as he racked
up touchdowns at Rome High
School. Even though Collins in-
herited a roster chock-full of run-
ning backs – Tech’s roster current
lists twelve running backs in to-
tal – Griffin is talented enough to
fight for snaps. Griffin, however,
has his eyes set on more than just
snaps – in an interview with Ri-
vals.com, the incoming player in-
dicated that he wanted to be in the
conversation for ACC freshman of
the year. The last Tech player to
their era, three-pointers in the
NBA had been objectively un-
dervalued until the recent “three
point revolution” that began in
the 2016-2017 season. It was in
the year of Curry and the 73-9
Warrior that the median attempt
rate broke the 30% threshold for
the first time—spearheaded by
the Houston Rockets’ previously
unheard of 46.2% attempts by
volume—and the tides of ana-
lytics-based offense make it dif-
ficult to envision a future where
things will ever go back to the
way they were.
A 3-point shot is worth more
than a 2-point shot (and the first
rule of that tautology club is the
first rule of the tautology club)
despite the fact that it’s not fifty
percent harder to make, so the
average points per shot attempt
(PPS) has always been higher for
3-pointers. Curiously enough, the
2016 season was the first time that
the average PPS for 2-pointers
went above 1, an upwards trend
that has continued to present day
as data-driven shot selection be-
comes more emphasized around
the league. Coaches prevent their
Geoff Collins, recruiting, and incom-
ing talent are the stars of the show
headed into the 2019 season.415
take home those honors? None
other than College football Hall
of Fame member, Calvin Johnson
also known as “Megatron” around
his old campus and beyond.
DYLAN DEVENY
While Tech’s first recruit in
the tight end position almost a
decade will almost surely ride the
bench for much of his first season
in favor of experienced graduate
transfer Tyler Davis, do not sleep
on Deveney. After committing to
local program Rutgers for much
of December, Collins and his
staff convinced Deveney to flip
commitments with just two days
to spare before the signing dead-
line, marking Deveney as Tech’s
first tight end recruit since Austin
Barrick in 2006, per 247sports.
com. Deveney is relatively inexpe-
rienced on the field, having only
played since 2017, but averaged
players from taking “bad” shots
that headlined the late 1990s and
early 2000s hero-ball era of post
backups and contested deep two
and fadeaways. Since the average
3-point percentage has remained
constant throughout the past two
decades, higher-value shots being
converted at a higher rate has led
to a scoring surge in the NBA un-
heard of for years and years prior.
Per historical data, NCAA
teams have always shot 3-pointers
at a significantly higher clip than
their NBA counterparts over the
past 20 years; the NCAA median
percentage of shots taken from
deep in the 1997 season stood
over double that of the NBA
(29.9 vs. 14.2), and despite up-
ward trends in both leagues over
the years, the gap still remains
between the two leagues as of
the most recent season (38.4 vs.
34.8, respectively). For reference,
the 1997 NBA season was when
the NBA reverted its shortened 3
point line back to what’s now the
standard distance of 22 feet in
the corners and 23 feet, 9 inches
at the top of the key. Part of this
feels intuitive – the NBA line has
23.5 yards per reception his final
year of high school. Deveney is
the definition of athletic – in ad-
dition to being a top-ranked tight
end prospect, Deveney fielded
NCAA Division I offers in bas-
ketball and baseball as well.
WESLEY WALKER
Walker fielded offers from pro-
grams such as Notre Dame and
Louisiana State University, along
with places closer to home, like
Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Yet the
three-star cornerback is attend in-
gTech this fall in another recruit-
ing victory for Collins. Walker
has played all over the field in
high school – like Tech’s ever-
versatile and talented Juanyeh
Thomas, Walker has seen time on
the field both as a defensive back
and returner during kick-offs, and
served as a wide-receiver during
his freshman year of high school.
always been further back than the
NCAA’s, shots further away from
the basket are theoretically harder
than shots closer to the basket,
therefore there should always be a
higher rate of attempts.
The NCAA 3-point line had
been even closer to the basket
prior to the 2008 season, where it
was moved back from 19 feet and
9 inches to the current 20 feet and
9 inches. This change predictably
created a dip in attempt percent-
age, though the difference was
marginal within 1.5 percentage
points and only lasted until the
2015 season. Leaving more space
in the lane will open up the game
more for the more drive-oriented
players to operate, allow for NBA
scouts to get a better assessment
of how shooters will perform
when moved back to the NBA
3-point line, and the further aver-
age rebound distance will go up
as the longer shot attempts will
lead to more erratic bounces on
missed shots.
And yet, all this has been seen
before. The 2008 NCAA season
may have temporarily stemmed
the tide of 3-point shooting, but
technique
16
Friday,
June 28, 2019
Walker has the hands and height
to serve as an excellent cornerback
for the Jackets.
JAMAL CAMP
It runs in the family – Camp’s
name might look familiar to Tech
fans. Tech wide receiver Jalen
Camp has dazzled under the run-
heavy triple option – his brother,
a defensive back from Cumming,
Georgia will join the senior Camp
brother under Collins during this
upcoming football season. As
a consensus three- star recruit
coming into college, the younger
Camp was a standout defen-
sive back at South Forsyth High
School as a three-time letterwin-
ner. Camp’s instincts and size will
help him dominate on Tech’s de-
fensive line, which is undergoing
an overhaul following the depar-
ture of Johnson-era defensive co-
ordinator Nate Woody.
Photo by Taylor Gray Student Publications
until the change is drastic enough
to seriously devalue the 3-pointer
compared to the 2-pointer, ana-
lytics will push for more and more
shooting in both leagues. Outside
of the rim-running Clint Capelas
and Rudy Goberts of the world
that can convert 2-pointers at a
rate greater than 66%, the incen-
tive to take 2-pointers is generally
nonexistent outside of scenarios
that make the percentage trend to
the point of being worth greater
than 1.2 PPS (e.g. uncontested
shots, dunks, open-lane layups).
The more interesting change will
be the new OREB clock reset that
models itself more in the style of
the NBA’s clock reset rules.
Rate of play has always been
a sticking point for the NCAA’s
appeal. Collegiate athletes can-
not hope to keep the same pace
as professionals, but by putting a
system in place that forces teams
to be more aggressive when at-
tacking off of rebounds, the
NCAA acknowledges the need
to keep the game active and
will hopefully offset the loss in
scoring volume from the moved
3-point line.