Wednesday, November 19, 2014

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The University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

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LUNCH ON THE GO

Tapingo use increasing at OU Food-ordering mobile app allows users to skip queues at campus restaurants CAITLIN SCHACHTER News Reporter

Since its launch in August, thousands of students have registered to use Tapingo, a mobile phone app that people can use to order food at campus restaurants. The app serves nearly 4,500 registered users, said Amy Buchanan, spokesperson for OU Housing and Food Services. Within the last month, there have been nearly 1,500 active users per week, Buchanan said. Active users are defined as people who place at least one order through Tapingo on a given day, Buchanan said. Additionally, the app’s following is growing. An average of 200 new devices have registered for the app per week in

the last four to six weeks, MORE ONLINE Buchanan said. Based on information How do you from orders and sales, inpronounce dividuals use the app Tapingo? most often at Crossroads Restaurant, Starbucks in The Daily asked, and Oklahoma Memorial Union, you answered. See Quiznos, The Bookmark students’ responses a n d t h e Un i o n Ma rke t, online at OUDaily.com. Buchanan said. Musical theater junior Mary-Clayton Gilbert works as a campus Tapingo representative. As part of her job, she works to improve marketing for the app and gives the company student feedback, she said. Gilbert enjoys using Tapingo because she has time to

LEAVING A LEGACY

eat meals and snacks between classes when she otherwise wouldn’t be able to, she said. “My schedule is so rigorous that most semesters I don’t have time for lunch, which makes it really hard to stay energized throughout the day,” Gilbert said. “Thanks to Tapingo, that’s not a problem anymore.” Energy management junior Ramil Manora likes Tapingo because it saves him time, he said. “I like Tapingo because it’s convenient and faster than waiting in line,” Manora said. The app is even more handy because it allows users to save a payment option, Manora said. That way, he can buy food without carrying around money, he said. Caitlin Schachter caitlinschachter@yahoo.com

SAVING LIVES

OU trails OSU in blood donations Annual Bedlam Blood Drive will be held throughout rest of this week MEGHAN WHITING News Reporter @heyitsmeghanw

PHOTO PROVIDED

SGA president Matt Epting and vice president Sarah Campbell smile in front of the Bizzell Memorial LIbrary. The two leaders will step down this week as other students take their places.

Current SGA leaders step down President Matt Epting, vice president Sarah Campbell leave legacy on campus PAGE JONES News Reporter @pageousm

This week we usher in a new Student Government Association president and vice president and say goodbye to Matt Epting and Sarah Campbell. The new SGA president and vice president will be inaugurated at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Beaird Lounge. Epting and Campbell were elected in spring’s general election in 2014 following the former president’s sudden resignation. They entered their term and planned to do as much as

they could with their limited time. They started planning as early as they could. “They always say that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. But in this case it really was a sprint,” Campbell said. Both Epting and Campbell were continuously involved with student government during their time at OU. They were both on the Sooner Freshman Council together before Campbell decided to join the Campus Activities Council and Epting stayed with the main SGA body. Epting decided to run because he saw all the potential that SGA had and he wanted to put some of his ideas into action. “So I started to think of who I wanted to run with me and I had known [Campbell] from freshman year and Soonerthon,” Epting said. SEE SGA PAGE 4

SCIENCE

Online music synthesizer evolves like DNA Master’s student creates program that lets instruments change through time JUSTINE ALEXANDER News Reporter @caffeinejustine

If humans are bound by the principles of genetic evolution, why can’t instruments be too? Who says they can’t? Using a website that is the brainchild and thesis project of David Rice, a computer science master’s student, you can toy with the evolution of instruments yourself at GenSynth. ou.edu. “It’s taking an inspiration from biological evolution,” Rice said, “You have some basic ‘DNA’ that’s encoding the [art] and then that gets mutated or bred with other [art] to create more.” WEATHER Sunny today with a high of 54, low of 32. Follow @AndrewGortonWX on Twitter for weather updates.

Rice said the idea was a combination of his interests in art and computer science. In his occupation, Rice normally works with interface design and graphic artists. “I was starting to look more at [deviant] art and trying to create an artistic artifact through code,” he said. “There’s a subset that tries to evolve art.” The main flow of the platform is really similar to what Picbreeder does with images, showing their evolution from a single image to more, Rice said. Evolutionary art has not been done collaboratively before with instruments, Rice said. When you go to the GenSynth website, you are creating artwork by selecting the instruments that appeal to you, he said. In the past, there have been computer programs that select good instruments from a variety of candidates that then undergo generations of change by algorithm. Rice said he is taking a different approach called evolutionary interactive computation, in which different users guide the evolution of their own favorite instruments. SEE SYNTH PAGE 4

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OUDaily

After the snow day snuffed out the first day of the Bedlam Blood Drive at OU, OU trails OSU in number of successful donations. More than 180 OU students and faculty members signed up to donate blood Tuesday during the annual Bedlam Blood Drive. Of those 180, 155 made successful donations at OU. At Oklahoma State University, 307 people successfully donated, said Lindsay Hix, senior account manager at the Oklahoma Blood Institute. The staff of the Oklahoma Blood Institute hopes that about 1,000 people from the OU community donate during the drive. Pre-nursing freshman Lindsay Strunk had never given blood before she signed up to donate through her sorority, Pi Beta Phi, this year, she said. Undecided freshman Katie Egger also signed up to volunteer through her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi. Though Egger didn’t donate blood, she spent her afternoon helping direct donors to where they needed to go. However, for many volunteers, this wasn’t their first time at the Bedlam Blood Drive. Kate Hilmes, an employee of the Oklahoma Blood Institute, has worked the Bedlam Blood Drive for three years in a row now, she said. Another veteran volunteer, retired hospital clerical worker Wanda Sanders, volunteers for the Oklahoma Blood Institute frequently, she said. “After you retire, you need to give back to the community,” Sanders said. Sanders was amazed at how many young people volunteered to give blood, even if that meant standing outside in the cold while waiting for their turn, she said. She is sure that there will be even more volunteers Wednesday, Sanders said. Tuesday marked the first day of OU’s blood drive. The drive was supposed to begin Monday but was canceled due to inclement weather and the campus closure. Students, faculty and staff can sign up to donate from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. To schedule an appointment visit the Oklahoma Blood Institute’s website. The blood drive is set up in the ROTC Armory. Meghan Whiting Meghan.m.whiting-1@ou.edu

YA JIN/THE DAILY

A student donates at the blood drive Tuesday afternoon. The drive will continue throughout the rest of this week.

VOL. 100, NO. 65 © 2014 OU Publications Board FREE — Additional copies 25¢


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