The Week In Brief

If those investment banking jobs fall through, economics majors may have a new career option: bookie. A recent study, "Who Wins the Olympic Games," by Meghan R. Busse of the Yale School of Management and Andrew B. Bernhard of Dartmouth's business school, shows how economists' skills can help with predicting medalists.

Busse's study, much publicized but not yet published, predicts how many medals a country will win at the Olympics. The numbers are based primarily on the country's gross domestic product. Other factors include a country's past winnings, whether it has home field advantage, and the "Soviet factor"—whether a country is trying to defend an ideology through their Olympic victories.

The method will receive its first real test at this year's Games, but has already proven accurate. For example, the formula retroactively found that the U.S. should have won 101 medals at Atlanta, which was exactly correct.

The study predicts that the U.S. will dominate this year's Olympiad with 97 gold medals but also projects a decline in the number of American victories in years to come. In fact, all of the large, rich nations have been steadily losing medals to "underdogs" since 1962, according to Busse and Bernhard's research.

It is the existence of underdogs that keeps the romance of the Olympics intact. The fact that the study does not make predictions about individual games also helps to keep alive the drama of competition. And while not an avid Olympics fan, Busse does take pleasure in these David-vs.-Goliath victories. "They're heartening and consistent with the Olympic spirit," she said.

—Nishant Kumar

Playground is a dream come true for local child

For most, recess—storming the school doors and racing friends to swing sets or the monkey bars—was the highlight of elementary school. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for Hannah Kristan.

Born with spina bifida, Kristan—now an eighth-grader at Harry A. Conte West Hills Magnet School in New Haven—has been confined to a wheelchair since she was two years old. Due to a lack of handicapped-accessible equipment, Hannah found herself left out on the playground.

When she was eight years old, Kristan started a campaign for a handicap-accessible playground, selling bracelets and baked goods door-to-door. In time, the community joined Kristan's crusade. Easter Seals Goodwill Industries collected $283,000, and the City of New Haven donated $50,000 and a local site.

Kristan's persistence and the comm-unity's generosity culminated in the Fri., Sept. 8 opening of Hannah's Dream Playground, now located at East Shore Park on Woodward Avenue. The 300,000 square foot facility, the second-largest of its kind in the U.S., is designed for disabled children but open to everyone. It boasts swings with extra back support and ramps wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs.

"Hannah had a vision and never lost sight of her goal," John DeStefano Jr., New Haven Mayor, said. "That a 12-year-old can accomplish such things is inspiring. She has set an example that we can all learn from and follow."

—Alexis Wolff

New social space planned for Science Hill

As part of Yale's $500 million science and engineering initiative, University officials have recently been discussing the possibility of constructing new social space atop Science Hill. The building proposal, which aims to create a close-knit science community, suggests adding new dining facilities and a common room to Sterling Chemistry Laboratory. Chemical Engineering Professor Kurt Zilm, a member of the committee planning the renovation of the University's chemistry facilities, emphasizes that the discussion has not yet yielded concrete plans for the social space.

Students and faculty were enthusiastic about the plan. Frederick Ziegler, a chemistry professor, commented that "the establishment of a science `clubhouse' [would] increase a sense of camaraderie and bring a refreshing change to the atmosphere of Science Hill."

Michael Ho, ES '03, and Garry Ng, ES '03, both science majors, believe additional dining facilities would be convenient, but they also agree that a new socializing environment is not as attractive as a more effective transportation system to and from Science Hill would be.

—Allison Yang

ITS introduces Web-based e-mail

For nearly a year, student computing assistants and Information Technology Services (ITS) staffers have been working on simplifying e-mail access for Yalies. The product of their work is a new system of web-based WebMail.

Previously, roaming computer users who wanted to access their e-mail from off campus had to use Pine, an outdated, telnet-based server. Students are now able to check their accounts from any computer in the world.

The new system, which has served 3,000 users already, boasts a friendly graphical interface, which makes viewing attachments easier. It also has modern security features that are lacking in older versions of telnet.

Yale's WebMail is already a success, but early planning for the system was marked by difficulties. "There were a considerable number of risks that needed to be mitigated to bring ITS Web E-mail into production," Lynna Jackson, ITS Manager for E-mail and Network Services commented. "Security, reliability, and support were among the top risks." Other web-based services such as Hotmail have been around for a couple of years, she explained, but added that "the security and reliability of this new web-based e-mail technology has not been appropriate for Yale's environment until now." The system is the culmination of several upgrades to e-mail made over the past year.

—Ken Shevlin

KATIE ALDRICH/YH "Like a Rock": True to shopping period tradition, students pack the YUAG auditorium to hear History of Art Professor Vincent Scully, JE '40, GRD '49, lecture about Mayan temples.

IVY LEAGUE NOTEBOOK

Brown

Much to the chagrin of its male population, Brown was recently ranked third on Men's Health magazine's top 10 "anti-male" college campuses list. The ratings were based on issues deemed integral to the average guy's college experience—sports, frats, and sexual regulations.

Another major factor that led to Brown's being labeled contra the Y chromosome was last year's "Vagina Events" festival, which dealt with women's issues. Brown also boasts an exceptionally strong women's studies department but is weaker in economics and the hard sciences, which are traditionally dominated by males.

In response, Brown is considering implementing a campus-wide Penis Fest, creating an institute dedicated to the study of Viagra, and actively seeking to hire The Rock as the university's next president. "We'll show them that being politically correct doesn't mean we're unfair to either gender," Ms. Ostling, a spokesperson for the university, said.

She then proceeded to spray any reporter whose microphone strayed too close to her with Mace.

Princeton

The latest statistics from Princeton are in. The shocking and unprecedented results indicate that 50 percent of all acceptances were issued to women. The even gender split in the Class of 2004 is the first since the university went coed in 1969. Furthermore, Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon announced that 35 percent of all acceptances went to minorities, a two percent increase over last year.

Following his announcement, Hargadon apologized profusely, stating, "We won't allow those kind of slip-ups here any longer." He went on to announce the instatement of a quota of 47 women and six minorities for the Class of 2005.

—Compiled by Michael Ettannani

HEARD

"What does that even mean?" "You tell me. You're juniors at the second-best university in the country." —Joseph Bizup, History and the Victorians "Don't read the back cover of the book. It's written by English majors who've gotten their PhDs but couldn't get jobs. Wait—no. Those people go to law school." —Bill Dereiscweicz, Modern British Novel "Please stay! Don't leave! I need to sell my booty!" —Ivan Szelenyi, Foundations of Modern Social Thought

YALE INDEX
1. Number of Yale singing groups	21
2. Number of coed groups	10
3. Number of groups with "Blue" in the name	3
4. Weeks of shopping period	2
5. Weeks of singing group rush	3
6. Ratio of singing groups to different intercollegiate sports	1.05
7. Average number of members per group	15.2
8. Members of group Rockapella	5
9. Rockapella singers who went to Brown	4
10. Rockapella singers who went to Yale	0
11. Yalies who will join Rockapella	0
12. Groups with an honorary week in Topeka, Kan.	1
13. Number of times the words "tradition" or "excellence" appear on singing group websites	11
14. Times the words "tradition" or "excellence" appear on Rockapella website	0

—Compiled by Brian Ginsberg

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13) counting; 6,7) division; 8, 10) rockapella.com; 9) astonishment; 11) hope and prayer; 12) Redhot & Blue flyer; 14) the natural order of things

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