VOL. 100, NO. 70© 2014 OU Publications BoardFREE — Additional copies 25¢

WEATHER CONTACT USPartly cloudy today with a high of 34, low of 23.

INDEX

N e w s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

C l a s s i f i e d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

L i f e & A r t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

S p o r t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5@OUDaily theoklahomadaily OUDailyFollow @AndrewGortonWX on Twitter for weather updates.

Sports: Both basketball teams were busy over the break (Page 5)

Opinion: Shop local to support your community during the holidays (Page 3)

L&A: Need a break from textbooks? Pick up this comic relief. (Page 6)

ACADEMICS

Double major students decreaseWhile students pursuing two majors increase nationwide, OU numbers fall

YA JIN/THE DAILY

OU Panda takes a stroll outside of the Honors residence halls. OU students have been posing in pictures with OU Panda on social media ever since he first appeared on campus.

CHRIS MICHIE/THE DAILY

Different types of fish are kept in jars and tubes to have their genes analyzed. Richard Broughton has devised a classification system for fish based on molecular data rather than anatomical.

MEET OU PANDA

Panda causes a stir on campusCostumed human interviewed via translator

PAGE JONESNews Reporter@pageousm

Squirrels aren’t the only furry critters that roam OU’s campus. This semester, a new animal has arrived, and he’s doing more than burying nuts outside — he’s

going to classes and runs a Twitter account, too.You may have seen him around. He’s black, white and goes

by the name OU Panda, or just Panda.Panda, a human dressed in a full-body panda costume,

made his first documented appearance Oct. 15 in the Oklahoma Memorial Union when, in the middle of the night, he decided to get some food from Crossroads.

This prompted OU students to tweet pictures of him. Although this was his first documented excursion, Panda said he’s been walking around on campus since the first weeks of the semester.

After the trip to the Union on Oct. 15, Panda created his own Twitter account: @OU_Panda, where he tweets about bamboo and retweets pictures taken with him.

I wanted to find out more about the infamous panda, so I contacted Panda on his Twitter account. He agreed to the interview but said that he had to bring someone with him to interpret because he could not speak English. He asked me to send the questions beforehand to his human, Britton

Thagard. I obliged.On the morning of his interview Panda arrived to The

Daily’s newsroom with Thagard. Panda was dressed for the occasion in a red tie.

Throughout the interview, Panda did not make a sound but made several physical expressions to the questions. Thagard verbally answered all of the questions, which I sent him beforehand.

THE Q&A*The Daily: Where does Panda get his bamboo?

Thagard: The first batch I had imported from China, but he took some of that and planted it on campus in a secret garden, and even I don’t know where that is.

The Daily: Which does Panda prefer, bamboo or the food from Couch Restaurants?

Thagard: He’ll eat from Couch [Restaurants] if he has to, but he prefers the bamboo.

The Daily: Panda’s only been seen at night. Is he nocturnal?

Thagard: He just feels like the campus is more alive at night. People are more fun and lively. He’s out right now, awake, probably a little tired.

SEE PANDA PAGE 4

Professor discovers new fish phylogeny

SCIENCE

Evolutionary tree established by OU research now accepted across world

KATE BERGUMAssistant News Editor@kateclaire_b

Students taking double majors are becoming more com-mon throughout the United States, according to a recent study, but they are less common at OU.

The percentage of students pursuing double majors is increasing slightly in the United States with steeper in-creases within select universities, according to a study re-leased by Vanderbilt University in 2012.

Inversely, the number of double majors at OU decreased

from 1,083 students during fall 2010 to 1,044 students during the fall of this year, according to records from OU Institutional Research and Reporting. This decline hit its lowest ebb last fall, when only 1,001 students took multiple degrees or majors, according to the data.

Junior Danielle Jackson is one of the 1,044 undergradu-ate students at OU pursuing multiple majors this semester.

Jackson came to OU as a management information sys-tems major and decided to pursue a second major in inter-national business, she said.

Many double majors who visit OU Career Services pur-sue majors in highly related fields, such as business and accounting or business and finance, said Bette Scott, di-rector of Career Services. Alternately, some students pur-sue very different majors that allow them to engage with a topic that really interests them, such as women’s and

JUSTINE ALEXANDERNews Reporter@caffeinejustine

Everybody knows that there are plenty of fish in the sea, but one OU professor wants to know how they are all re-lated to each other.

Biology professor Richard Broughton led a team to build a classification framework of bony fishes that is now used worldwide.

Although fish have been studied for over 200 years, little was known about their relationships to each other until now, said Broughton. For most of the last couple hundred years, fish classification was based on anatomical charac-teristics of the fish, which is an imprecise method.

“They’re all fish,” Broughton said of differing species like the flounder, tuna and puffer fish. “But beyond that, there are no similarities between any pair that would sug-gest a relationship.”

The older classification system saw many orders of fish, each containing hundreds to thousands of species, as nothing more than different branches of the same limb of the phylogenetic, or evolutionary, tree, Broughton said.

“There are a lot of cases like that where morphology just didn’t have the answers,” Broughton said.

To remedy this confusion, Broughton devised a clas-sification system that is based on molecular data: clues from the sequences of 21 different genes from over 14,000 different species, many of which had never before been sequenced, Broughton said.

More recent studies using molecular data have investi-gated genetic relationships within an order or family be-cause the studies that tried to incorporate broader parts of the tree didn’t have enough individual gene sequences, Broughton said.

“What our project provided was the ability to analyze the whole tree all at once, a single comprehensive analy-sis,” Broughton said.

For the study, all fish that swim in the water and have bones were included, and each family of fish had any-where from one to 10 representatives in the study.

Broughton said other kinds of animals, including hu-mans, were also included in the tree to help decipher relationships.

Before the research team could start collecting any data, they first needed to identify the most informative genes to sequence.

Sportsbasketball teams were busy over the break (Page 5)

W W W . O U D A I L Y . C O M 2 0 1 3 P A C E M A K E R F I N A L I S T

M O N D A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 14

� e University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice since 1916

5Toptake-aways

this weekend’s gamesfrom

SEE FISH PAGE 4

SEE MAJORS PAGE 2

gender studies, Scott said.Jackson said she feels taking on two majors not only

might help her for a career in international business law, but it also allows her to take classes in a variety of subjects she enjoys, she said.

“I think almost everyone, including me, has more than one interest,” Jackson said.

Jackson’s two majors, in addition to minors in French and piano, keep her busy, she said. She typically takes be-tween 19 and 22 credit hours per semester so she will be able to graduate in four years, she said.

Though her schedule can be brutal at times, Jackson gets by with a lot of caffeine and the knowledge that she’s pur-suing her passions, she said.

Paighten Harkins, digital managing editordailynews@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-3666

oudaily.com • Twitter: @OUDaily

2 • Monday, December 1, 2014

NEWSOUDaily.com ›› Find out more about the D2L and other OU website outages this weekend online.

DEC. 1 & 2MONDAY Capitol Cart — 9 to 10 p.m. in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s First Floor Lobby Tell the UPB where you are on campus by tweeting #UPBCart to @UPBOU, and they will bring you a treat.

University Bookstore and Sooner Varsity Shop two day sale — 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the University Bookstore and Headington Hall’s Sooner Varsity Shop Buy fleece, outerwear and cold weather accessories for 25% off, and take an additional 25% off of clearance merchandise.

Free Blue Books — 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Oklahoma Memorial Union’s First Floor Grab some materials for your exams at this event, sponsored by the UPB. TUESDAY Stress Management: Success Series – 4 to 5 p.m in Wagner Hall, room 250 Find out how you can control your stress during finals week.

OU’s Annual Holiday Lights — 5 to 6 p.m. in David A. Burr Park Enjoy holiday music, lights, hot chocolate and remarks from President David Boren at this holiday event. All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend, regardless of religions and beliefs.

Victory Tour Late Breakfast — 8 to 9 p.m. in Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Will Rogers Food Court Enjoy pancake-wrapped sausage, mini cinnamon rolls and potatoes at this late-night breakfast.

Do you want to see your organization’s campus event here? Visit OUDaily.com/events/submit to add your entry.

MAJORS: Dual focus might not be for everyoneContinued from page 1

Additionally, her hard work has helped her with internships, Jackson said. Not only do employers note that her intense workload demonstrates her passion for the subjects she studies, but it gives her a more glob-al view of the world than some of her fellow interns, Jackson said.

While a double major might demonstrate a stu-dent’s work ethic, it certain-ly isn’t necessary to pursue more than one major to be successful, Scott said. Jobs that employ students out of college generally only care about one specified major, Scott said.

Even though her ma-jors and minors might not seem comparable, Jackson has used the skills she has gained in different depart-ments to help her in class, she said. For example, she puts her musical skills from her piano minor to use during some business proj-ects, she said.

Stephen Crynes, direc-tor of the Center for Major Exploration, said that it’s important that students pursue an additional major or dual degree for the cor-rect reason — and simply enjoying a subject is often reason enough, he said.

That said, i f students consider pursuing a dou-ble major simply to build their resumes, they should try to make their second major something specific or transferable to the area they wish to pursue as a career, Crynes said.

Students should also con-sider the cost of a double major if they are forced to

delay their graduation be-cause of it. A double major may not be the best option for students who have fi-nancial worries, Crynes said.

Students who plan to at-tend law school or medical school should also consid-er the effect a second major might have on their GPA, Crynes said.

An alternative to a double major may be pursuing a master’s degree in an inter-esting subject. Depending on the circumstances, this strategy can be more practi-cal, Crynes said.

R e g a r d l e s s o f t h e i r

situations, students consid-ering a second major should speak with their academic advisers and make sure that they can create a manage-able schedule, Crynes said.

Because each student has a unique situation, academ-ic advisers have no “one-size-fits-all” suggestions for students interested in ad-ditional majors, said Joyce Allman, associate provost for academic advising.

S o m e t i m e s, a d v i s e r s might re commend that students pursue addition-al majors or degrees if they seem really interested and have many credit hours in

a subject other than their major, Allman said.

While advisers should al-ways support students’ in-terests or goals, they might discuss students’ plans if they have financial or per-sonal concerns or if they struggle with classes within the area they are pursuing, Allman said.

“Academic advisers al-ways have the best inter-est of the student at heart,” Allman said in an email.

Kate Bergum kate.c.bergum-1@ou.edu

Number of double majors each fall from 2010 to 2014

1,000

1,020

1,030

1,040

1,050

1,060

1,070

1,080

1,090

2,000

1,010

NU

MB

ER

OF

STU

DE

NTS

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

FALL OF EACH YEAR

data from records from OU Institutional Research and Reporting

1,08

3

1,07

9

1,01

5

1,00

1

1,04

4

Kaitlyn Underwood, opinion editordailyopinion@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-3666

oudaily.com/opinion • Twitter: @OUDailyOpinionOPINIONMonday, December 1, 2014 • 3

The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum, the University of Oklahoma’s independent student voice and an entirely student-run publication.

Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and must be fewer than 250 words, typed and signed by the author(s). Letters will be edited for accuracy, space and style. Students must list their major and classi� cation. To submit letters, email dailyopinion@ou.edu.

Our View is the voice of the Editorial Board, which consists of nine student editors. The board meets at 2:30 p.m. Sunday and at 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall. Board meetings are open to the public.

Guest columns are accepted and printed at the editor’s discretion.

Columnists’ and cartoonists’ opinions are their own and not necessarily the views or opinions of The Oklahoma Daily Editorial Board.

To advertise in The Oklahoma Daily, contact advertising manager Jamison Short by calling 405-325-8964 or emailing dailyads@ou.edu.

One free copy of The Daily is available to members of the OU community. Additional copies may be purchased for 25 cents by contacting The Daily business of� ce at 405-325-2522.

Blayklee Buchanan Editor in ChiefPaighten Harkins Digital Managing EditorMegan Deaton Print Managing EditorArianna Pickard Online EditorJoey Stipek Special Projects EditorKaitlyn Underwood Opinion Editor

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contact us 160 Copeland Hall, 860 Van Vleet OvalNorman, OK 73019-2052

phone:405-325-3666

email:dailynews@ou.edu

Support local economy with seasonal shopping

OUR VIEW

TONY RAGLE/THE DAILY

Support local stores this holiday season by taking advantage of deals offered outside of the supermarkets.

CARTOONILLUSTRATION BY SAMA KHAWAJA

Our View: We encourage Sooners to shop locally for their holiday needs to find unique gifts, support the community and bolster Norman’s economy.

The madness of Black Friday has passed and Cyber Monday is well underway. As OU students navigate holiday shopping deals and check increas-ingly shrinking bank accounts, we urge Sooners to consider shopping locally over stocking up at big-box stores. Saturday was “small-business Saturday,” but we believe consumers should think local year-round for their shopping needs. Supporting small, local businesses benefits the com-munity, and we think most peo-ple would rather receive a unique, thoughtful gift from a local boutique than a low-quality, mass-produced item.

The holidays are a time for stress-ing over finals, relaxing over winter break, spending time with friends and family and giving and receiving gifts. Although college students aren’t known for having high disposable incomes, we believe it’s worth spending a few extra dollars at local businesses instead of combing the dregs at large retailers.

Sooners are in luck; Norman features a plethora of unique local businesses for all gift-giving needs. From boutiques on Campus Corner to cool shops on Main Street, there is no shortage of small business for OU shoppers to support. Rather than giving your art-loving mom a gift card to a department store, stop by a Norman business to pick out a one-of-a-kind piece by a local artist. We promise she’ll ap-preciate the sentiment more than a piece of plastic promising a stressful trip to the mall.

Beyond personalizing your gift-giving experience, shopping locally contributes directly to the well-be-ing of the community. There are several reasons to think local first for your shopping needs. Most im-portantly, shopping at local businesses supports the community’s economy and keeps your hard-earned dollars in your city. When you shop locally, more of your money is used to make subsequent local pur-chases from suppliers, farmers and service provid-ers, according to Sustainable Connections’ website.

Shopping locally also allows local businesses to provide jobs, and ensuring Oklahomans are em-ployed is always a good thing. Local businesses also typically have a much smaller negative impact on the environment than national retailers. Shopping local is less environmentally harmful, allows you to find unique items and supports your community. For those reasons, we encourage all Sooners to be patrons of small, local businesses.

Lastly, shopping locally is just a more enjoyable experience than battling lines at large retailers or hoping online retailers ship your purchases on time. Small businesses can provide better, more personal-ized customer service from employees who have the time to help you pick out the perfect gift. Shopping at local businesses also keeps the community unique. Rather than only hosting nationally owned retailers, Norman is home to funky shops and cute boutiques that add spice and diversity to the community.

It can be tempting to go for the cheapest deals during the holidays, but we urge Sooners to take the time to enjoy our local businesses and support the community that’s home to our beloved university.

Comment online at OUDaily.com

When I reflect back on my time at OU, I think about a whirlwind of incredible, life-chang-ing experiences — getting involved in stu-

dent life, studying abroad in England, spending every fall Saturday cheering on the Sooners. But as I neared the middle of my senior year last fall, I also started thinking about the question that causes every college student anxiety — What in the world am I going to do with my education after I graduate?

But the question of what I could do after graduation actually had a second part — what should I do?

As overwhelmed as I felt, knowing I had so many post-graduate choices, I also understood that I was in-credibly lucky. I worked hard to get to and through col-lege and faced struggles along the way but I went to a high school where kids were expected to graduate. The question wasn’t, “Are you going to college?” but rather, “Where are you going to college?” Whenever I needed support, I never had to look far.

But I know that the same isn’t true of kids all across the country. Whereas the majority of my classmates and I went off to the colleges of our choice, among stu-dents growing up in our lowest-income communities, just 6 percent will graduate from college by the time they’re 25. This statistic in no way reflects kids’ capa-bilities — it’s a result of deeply entrenched systems of oppression that have denied low-income kids equal ac-cess to opportunity for decades.

I joined Teach For America because I wanted to help those kids access the same opportunities I had grow-ing up. Now, as a teacher at Jefferson Middle School, I know I made the right choice. Nahjae could be a star football player. Daniel wants to be a doctor to help his community. But because of factors far out of their con-trol — Nahjae has to miss football practice because of bus schedules, while Daniel doesn’t always get the rig-orous instruction he needs — they have to overcome much more than my classmates and I did to make their dreams a reality.

This work is incredibly difficult. But I always ask my-self: “If not me, then who?” After college, I could have applied to physical therapy school like I planned. But I traded that for a job that holds me accountable for the injustices that plague our communities because, al-though I did not create them, I have a responsibility as an educated citizen to fight against them.

Although this work is the hardest I’ve ever taken on, I have also never felt stronger. I have persevered in times when I thought I would fail. My colleagues and I have been life coaches, nurses, motivational speakers, coun-selors, role models, and problem-solvers — that’s what it means to be an educator. The work has its thankless moments. But when your students write a song about how you are the best teacher in the world or tell you that when they grow up, they want to be a teacher like you, it’s all worth it.

As a first-year Teach For America corps member, I am one of a network of more than 47,000 people working relentlessly to make access to opportunity equitable. It’s a network of leaders vastly diverse in background and experience, working across sectors to create change. But we are all united around the fundamental belief that a quality education is not a privilege — it is a right. No matter how much their parents make or what color their skin is, all kids should be getting an excellent education in America. We can fight to ensure all students get to enjoy that right. As you think about what in the world you’re going to do after you leave the University of Oklahoma, I hope you’ll join us.

Hana Johnson is a 2014 OU alumna. She currently teaches 7th grade science at Jefferson Middle School in Oklahoma City.

Our View is the majority opinion of The Daily’s nine-member editorial board

LETTER TO EDITOR

Teaching corps program helps students grow

SEE MORE ONLINEVisit OUDaily.com

for the counterpoint column

oudaily.com

Are you on Twitter? Stay connected with The Oklahoma Daily

@OUDaily, @OUDailyArts, @OUDailySports

Are you on Twitter? Stay connected with The Oklahoma Daily

1111

FIND A JOB

in the CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS

Instructions:Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Previous Solution

Monday- Very EasyTuesday-EasyWednesday- EasyThursday- MediumFriday - Hard

ACROSS 1 Prices paid 6 Matures, as

wine 10 Fjord

explorer? 14 Sneak ___

(glimpse) 15 Romanian

coins 16 “That’s clear

to me,” hippie-style

17 Dog found in the pound

18 New York canal

19 Grandma, affectionately

20 Easy ___ 21 A lift, in

Aspen 22 Alumnus, for

short 23 “Say ___”

(dentist’s request)

25 Pungent-smelling

27 Forrest Gump’s forte

31 Abstains from

35 By way of 36 Winter fall 38 Aid one’s

alma mater 39 Eat an ice

cream cone, e.g.

41 You can’t tell if she’s coming or going?

43 Strip in the Middle East

44 City of Light 46 Mischievous

type 48 Coop

resident

49 Affording a view

51 Monotonous in cadence

53 Comprehen-sion

55 Geological time

56 River border 59 Weaver’s

tool 61 Mended

temporarily 65 San Juan,

Puerto ___ 66 Emit

amplified light

67 Subtle sar-casm

68 “Back ___ hour” (shop sign)

69 Quarter-miler’s path

70 Launch a tennis ball

71 Bachelor’s party

72 Flogging memento

73 Some playing cards

DOWN 1 Dwelling in

Durango 2 ___ out

(withdraws) 3 Word in a

Doris Day tune

4 Little sack of leaves

5 Airport porters

6 Aid in crime 7 Pig, in the

Flintstones’ kitchen

8 Early 30-ton computer

9 Lead-in for “Madre” or “Leone”

10 Door opener?

11 Jewish month before Nisan

12 One of Columbus’ three ships

13 “Goodness gracious!”

24 Celeste or Ian

26 “Direct” ending

27 Insect feelers 28 “Sacro”

addition 29 Mother-of-

pearl 30 A tide 32 “Famous

potatoes” state

33 Thirteen, to some bakers

34 What the hillbilly batter did?

37 Vehicle at a stand

40 Empire State Building climber

42 Outfielder’s call

45 Title of respect

47 Stuck-up sort

50 Immature 52 Hunter, at

times 54 Dry white

Italian wine 56 Jewish rite of

circumcision 57 The “non-

existent” contraction

58 “Sweet 16” org.

60 Soften, as chocolate

62 Skin orifice 63 Green

feeling? 64 Pre-Easter

purchases

Universal CrosswordEdited by Timothy E. Parker December 1, 2014

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2014 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com

IN ON THINGS By Jerry J. Billings12/1

11/30

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2013 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com

11/24

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

© 2012 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com

11/24

Edited by Timothy E. Parker November 25, 2014HOROSCOPE By Eugenia Last

Copyright 2014, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

He who hesitates is lost. Jump in and try something youʼve been wanting to do for some time. Let your adven-turesome side take over and your past experience guide you through a year full of surprises and unexpected revelations. Show your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- Broaden your scope when consider-ing your professional goals. You can provide a service that is in demand if you look for the right buyer, client or outlet.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Be accepting and meet change with optimism. The best opportunities come when you least expect. Donʼt be too quick to judge or oppose something unfamiliar. Embrace life and live in the moment.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Discipline and focus will help you fi nish projects that need completing before the end of the year. Beginning the year with a clean slate will ease your stress.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- No matter what you are looking for, itʼs best if you are open and direct. Convey your wishes to people who have the power, knowledge or infl uence to help you out.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- There may be some minor upheav-als at work concerning someone elseʼs position. The changes will work in your favor if you take on any extra responsibilities without making a fuss.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Donʼt get drawn into a squabble with a friend or relative. If you allow your temper to fl are up, you will say something youʼll regret. Keep the peace.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You are feeling nostalgic for people or places from your past. Call up an old friend. You probably still have lots in common and certainly plenty of history to share. Plan a reunion.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- If you are feeling restless or bored, redo your living space for the upcoming holidays. Redecorating or refurbishing even a small area will give you a sense of accomplishment and pride.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Be neutral and respectful when dealing with people from different beliefs, cultures and traditions. You may not agree, but you mustnʼt judge or you will be judged.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Too much work and ongoing family issues have made you forget how to have fun. Whether you prefer to gather with friends or just do a solitary activity, take time out for you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Use your versatility and quick wit to add a little spice to your life. You will be the center of attention if you network and market your skills.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Listen to the voice of reason and experience. You can avoid grief and aggravation by following the advice of someone who has been in your shoes. Be open to suggestions.

4 • Monday, December 1, 2014 NEWS

FISH: Work could lead to biomedical advancesContinued from page 1

CHRIS MICHIE/THE DAILY

Dr. Richard Broughton stands in a lab in the Oklahoma Biological Survey room. Broughton has devised a classification system for fish that is based on molecular data rather than anatomical data.

PANDA: OU enigma explains his past, originsContinued from page 1

The Daily: Did Panda emigrate from China or did he es-cape from a zoo?

Thagard: He was in the Oklahoma City Zoo originally, but he got broken out by black market dealers, but then a rival gang came and started fighting over him, and I worked at the zoo at the time and got him out of there.

The Daily: Does he know any of the pandas in the U.S. zoos?

Panda: (shakes head)

The Daily: How old is Panda?

Thagard: He’s in the prime of his life.

The Daily: Where are Panda’s parents?

Thagard: He doesn’t know. His earliest memories are of being in a lab. We think he was genetically experimented on to make him like this.

The Daily: Does he know any other animals on campus?

Thagard: He actually knows an eagle, a gorilla and some sort of weird cat thing.

The Daily: Has Panda met the OU mascots, Boomer and Sooner?

Thagard: No, he has not but he would like to.

The Daily: Is Panda going to show up to any of the football games?

Thagard: He would like to, but OU doesn’t sell tickets to pandas.

The Daily: Why did Panda choose OU?

Thagard: He came with me after I saved him.

The Daily: What is Panda’s year and major?

Thagard: Freshman, undecided, but he’s thinking about agriculture so he can grow bamboo more effectively.

The Daily: Does Panda know Chinese, or is English his first language?

Thagard: He doesn’t speak English but he understands it.

The Daily: How do students react when they see Panda?

Thagard: Most of them are really excited when they see

him. They run up and want to take pictures with him. Some people are really weirded out by him.

The Daily: What is his favorite thing about being a panda?

Thagard: The love. He likes when people run up and want to take pictures with him.

The Daily: What is Panda’s craziest experience?

Thagard: Being broken out of the zoo.

The Daily: Is Panda affiliated with any Chinese restaurants?

Thagard: He’s not but he would be open to it.

The Daily: Where does Panda live?

Thagard: He actually lives in my house with me. It’s pret-ty comfortable so he likes it.

The Daily: How does Panda use Twitter if he has paws?

Thagard: Trade secret only he knows how. I don’t even know.

* = Some information in the Q&A could not be inde-pendently verified, and The Daily believes much of the in-formation, such as the secret bamboo garden or Panda’s origin story, is false, as Panda is a human dressed in a panda suit. Parts of the Q&A have been edited for space.

“We needed genes that have an appropriate amount of variability to be important,” Broughton said. “If a gene is too variable … it’s going to be mostly noise. If a gene is not variable enough, there sim-ply isn’t variation to help re-solve the branching patterns.”

Broughton said they also had to be careful to choose genes that manifested in the specimens’ molecular struc-ture to ensure a reasonable amount of variation.

“Of about the 25,000 genes in the zebra fish genome, those criteria narrowed our search down to about 250 genes that were candidates for the project,” Broughton said.

Broughton said he worked with about 20,000 nucleo-tides, which are the basic structures of DNA, for each of the 14,000 species.

In addition to OU, collabo-rators at George Washington University, Old Dominion University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks contrib-uted data to the sequencing project, he said.

“Now you’ve got a moun-tain of data and now you have to analyze it and figure out how to get a tree,” he said.

Broughton’s research group built their tree using

a computer algorithm that finds the maximum likeli-hood of accuracy, given the data and the model of evolu-tion, he said.

“If a group of fish all share a particular nucleotide, say an ‘A’ at a particular site, if everyone else has a ‘G’ at that site, then that suggests that the change from ‘G’ to ‘A’ happened in the ancestor of that group,” Broughton said. “It can define the group.”

When you’ve got 20,000 nucleotides to look at, you see a lot of changes, he said.

“It’s not the sort of thing

that can be done on a desk-top computer,” Broughton said. “We use supercomputer resources, including [the OU Supercomputing Center for Education and Research].”

When the algorithm had produced a genetic tree, Broughton’s team devel-oped a taxonomical system to classify the new evolution-ary relationships, Broughton said. Some fish were re-named as a result of the new classifications.

Broughton said the work is now recognized as the au-thority on fish phylogeny

and taxonomy. His sys-tem was adopted by the National Institutes of Health and will now be used worldwide.

The benefits of the tree may extend to biomedical research, as a lot of bio-medical research is done using fish model systems: zebra fish and stickleback. A better understanding of lab organisms could lead to more precise research.

“They’re great laborato-ry organisms,” Broughton said. “Because they’re vertebrates, almost every-thing they do is similar to what humans do: cardio-vascular systems, mech-anisms of development, nervous systems.”

Understanding the rela-tionships between fish can help to understand the fish as laboratory organisms and as the fish themselves.

“A good phylogeny ac-tually has predictive value. We can predict where we might see universal char-acteristics of organisms,” Broughton said. “Rather than just having 30,000 fish in the sea, we can now know how they are related and explain adaptations and more.”

Justine Alexander justine.l.alexander-1@ou.edu

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dailysports@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-3666oudaily.com/sports • Twitter: @OUDailySportsSPORTS

Monday, December 01, 2014 • 5

5Toptake-aways

Tournament-style play can be tough to deal with for a young team like OU. Having to play talented squads on back-to-back nights with very little time to plan is often the undoing for inexperienced teams in the NCAA tournament. The Sooners proved in the Bahamas that they are more than capable of competing in a March Madness-style envi-ronment. The Butler game, for instance, could have easily been a trap game for OU. The Bulldogs had just beaten No. 5 North Carolina and were surging with confidence, but the Sooners dominated them on both ends of the floor on their way to a 13-point victory.

1. They know how to compete in a tournament setting

It appeared after the first half against Wisconsin that the Sooners looked primed for a massive upset against the nation’s No. 2 team. After holding Wisconsin’s center and Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky, OU only found themselves down by one going into halftime. The start of the second half, though, spelled a return of the Final Four ver-sion of the Badgers. They outscored OU 16-2 coming out of halftime and never looked back, beating the Sooners by 13 points. The second-half sputter on offense against the Badgers is part of a disturbing trend as of late for OU. In a loss to Creighton, OU couldn’t seem to buy a bucket after the first half on its way to a heartbreaking collapse.

It is no secret at this point that OU is a very good team when it comes to perimeter shooting. But when they lose, it’s often because they tend to rely on the three-ball too heavi-ly down the stretch rather than getting easy points inside. Their performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis was no exception to this rule. The Sooners went a combined 17 for 75 from beyond the arc in their three games. In their two victories over UCLA and Butler, they shot 26 percent and 11.8 per-cent, respectively. This over-reliance on perimeter shooting allowed the Bruins and Bulldogs to get on runs during OU’s cold stretches, keeping the games closer than they should have been.

For Hield putting things into perspective was easy.“I wish I could replay it, but just being home with fami-

ly and friends — my mom, my brothers and everyone who came down and watched me play was special. So hats off to Coach Kruger and the staff for scheduling this event and allowing me to come play in front of my family,” Hield said.

As disappointing as OU’s finish in the Bahamas was, the team did an outstanding job of keeping their heads up, knowing that a long season to prove themselves still await-ed. Perhaps no one for the Sooners did a better job of this than Buddy Hield. As a Freeport, Bahamas native, the tour-nament provided Hield the chance to come home to fami-ly and friends he virtually never gets to see, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Despite their rough week shooting the basketball, the Sooners were able to create separation at key points by scor-ing in the paint. Senior forward TaShawn Thomas looked every bit as advertised, using a variety of post moves as well as his athleticism to take advantage of the mismatches he consistently had throughout the tournament. Junior forward Ryan Spangler was able to stretch the floor and keep defend-ers honest with his physical presence in the post, creating kick-out opportunities. Even in their only loss to a very big Wisconsin team, OU still outrebounded the Badgers 35-32. Up to that point, Wisconsin had outrebounded their oppo-nents by an average of 10.1 per contest. If it hopes to com-pete for a Big 12 title, OU will have to find ways to exploit these inside mismatches.

JACQUELINE EBY/THE DAILY

Junior guard Isaiah Cousins goes in for the layup during the game against Northwestern State University on Nov. 23 at Lloyd Noble Center.

GO AND DOWomen’s Basketball Game

When: Tuesday, December 30 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: Lloyd Noble Center, Norman

from this weekend’s Men’s Basketball game

5. The Sooners rely too much on perimeter shooting

4. The Sooners have finally devel-oped an inside game

3. Slow second-half start dooms the Sooners

2. They know how to compete in a tournament setting

Before the Oklahoma men’s basketball team made the long trip back to Norman from this weekend’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, coach Lon Kruger spoke about progress.

“If you would have said Monday night that we are sitting here having learned all that we did and hav-ing experienced all that we did, we would be thrilled, absolutely,” Kruger said.

The Sooners made a lot of progress in the Bahamas, beating No. 22 UCLA and then locking down the scrappy Butler Bulldogs before losing the championship game to No. 2 Wisconsin. Despite coming up a little short, they learned some positive things about themselves that could pay dividends come March. They also learned, how-ever, that there is still progress to be made in key areas if they hope to make a Final Four run.

TRENT CRABTREE MEN’S BASKETBALL BEAT REPORTER

@TRENTCRABTREE

5Toptake-aways

Despite two losses and surrendering far too many turn-overs, OU had a good tournament run. It received a huge wake-up call from South Florida in its first of three games, but played resiliently in the final two outings, which both went to overtime. As mentioned in the past, OU’s offense will keep them in a lot of contests. OU had a chance to beat a top-10 opponent against Kentucky, but it was a chippy, hard-fought battle that ended in favor of a one-loss Wildcats squad. The Sooners redeemed themselves by beating an Illinois team, 78-76, the next day in a much more balanced performance from coach Sherri Coale’s squad.

1. Oklahoma’s offense is top of the line

The coach went with a different starting five for the first time all season against Kentucky last Friday. Sophomore guard Gioya Carter has struggled in her starting role, and Friday Coale replaced her with freshman guard LaNesia Williams. Williams scored 14 points off the bench against USF, but scored just nine points in her first career start and just six points against Illinois. Regardless, this shows Coale’s aggressive efforts to find a rotation that works with this young squad, and I’m sure it’s not the last time we’ll see a lineup change with different players getting hot on different nights

There might not be a huge takeaway from this tourna-ment but Oklahoma’s ceiling is high. OU lost a few games early last year, and dropping games to Kentucky and USF ar-en’t bad losses. The big key is for OU’s squad to correct the little things, because that’s Oklahoma’s biggest weakness —the little things. Staying out of foul trouble and limiting their opponents’ possessions is vital. OU’s defense has to find a way to lock down better, but their offense might be more po-tent than it was a year ago under the leadership of ex-OU guard Aaryn Ellenberg, OU has an array of scorers that will challenge the rest of the Big 12. OU is far from a perfect ball team, but Coale has a good group on her hands.

The senior averaged 16.6 points over the three-day span. She’s getting help from others, but it’s obvious how valuable she is to this team. Campbell-Olds is finding ways to score, and it’s mostly inside the arc. If she can limit the turnovers and find a shot from the perimeter, there’s no reason she can’t be an All-Big 12 first team selection. OU’s balanced at-tack on Saturday against Illinois might keep her from scor-ing big numbers every night, but it’s apparent Coale will continue to keep her at the core of her rotation.

Speaking of OU’s freshmen, we saw a few of them this past weekend. Williams has continued to be impressive in her first year in Norman. Freshman center Vionese Pierre-Louis also received a bit of playing time, but it appears Coale will continue to roll with junior forward Kaylon Williams and find ways to work in Pierre-Louis and fellow freshman cen-ter McKenna Treece as back-ups to No. 42. While OU doesn’t have much choice, these women are getting good experi-ence playing tight ball games, and losing to USF should have served as a lesson that OU can’t expect score to score 100 points every night. Their defense will definitely have to turn it up as the season continues, but these early contests should be good building blocks for the young OU team.

JACQUELINE EBY/THE DAILY

Sophomore guard Maddie Manning dribbles towards the hoop during the game against Bradley on Nov. 21 at Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners beat the Braves 104-55.

from this weekend’s Women’s

Basketball game

4. The Sooners aren’t perfect, but the ceiling is high

5. The youth are learning fast

2. Coale isn’t afraid to tamper with her lineup

3. Sharane Campbell - Olds is this team’s rock

OU made a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands over Thanksgiving break. The Sooners dropped two games in the Paradise Jam tournament, but picked up a win in overtime in the final game of their three-day visit. Oklahoma had the chance to play talented competition, but the team is still continuing to find itself

early in the 2014-15 season.

JOE BUETTERWOMEN’S BASKETBALL BEAT REPORTER

@JOEBUET

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6 • Monday, December 1, 2014

LIFE&ARTS Kelly Rogers, life & arts editordailyent@ou.edu • phone: 405-325-3666

oudaily.com/life&arts • Twitter: @OUDailyArts

UPB

Be prepared for finals week with free testing supplies, snacks

These campus resources will help you get a smooth start to one of the most stressful weeks of the semester. Thanks to the Union Programming Board, studious Sooners will have access to free testing supplies as well as snacks to make dead week a little less daunting.

FREE BLUE BOOKS10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Visit the daily table in the

Oklahoma Memorial Union to get last-minute � nals materials, including free blue books for testing. The table will be located on the � rst � oor of the union.

CAPITOL CART9 p.m. – 10 p.m.

If you’re still in the union hitting the books, UPB will be rolling around their snack cart, answering the requests of hungry students. Tweet your location to @UPBOU with the hashtag #UPBCart and someone will deliver a free snack to you.

Kelly Rogers, Life & Arts Editor

REVIEW

YouTube star’s first book a treat

Macy Muirheadmacy_muirhead@ou.edu

LIFE & ARTS COLUMNIST

PHOTO PROVIDED

YouTube channel sensation Grace Helbig channels the internet’s beloved Grumpy Cat. Her new book, “Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up,” was released this October.

Becoming an adult is hard, but thanks to YouTube’s

sweetheart Grace Helbig, there is now a guide for every sarcastic over-sharer of the 21st century. In her first book, “Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up,” Helbig uses her blunders through early adulthood to help millenni-als like herself try to survive the transition to the adult world. If you’re looking for a book other than your textbook to keep you sane amidst all the studying, “Grace’s Guide” is just the comic relief you need.

Helbig has been making online videos for about six years on YouTube. She has essentially become an adult alongside her nearly two million subscribers. During her time online, she has tackled auditioning for and getting acting jobs, moving across the country, recov-ering from numerous hang-overs and carving her own path in the new media map. She understands more than most about what it means to be a young adult in the dig-ital age.

Helbig doesn’t claim to be an expert on adult-hood by any means. In the

introduction, she even ad-mits that she doesn’t have all the answers, but she does a great job of giving actual advice while maintaining a friendly, hilarious tone in “Grace’s Guide.” She has been quoted as saying “Grace’s Guide” is her at-tempt at a self-help book she wished she had had as a young adult, and, after read-ing Grace’s Guide, there will surely be a generation of clueless twenty-somethings thanking Helbig for prep-ping them for their transi-tion into adulthood.

The tongue-in-cheek self-help guide covers ev-erything from how to in-terview for a job to proper

techniques for executing a walk of shame. It is a mix of humorous anecdotes from Helbig’s life, some-what legitimate tips and even words of wisdom from Helbig’s mom. Using her distinguishing irreverent voice, Helbig teaches read-ers to embrace their awk-ward stumble into “the real world” and sincerely make the most of the lives they are living.

Each section is concluded with a silly acronym hashtag to hammer in the main points. Some examples in-clude “#FistBiscuit” when it comes to throwing an adult party and “#AsseyDadPop” for when it comes time to

break up with someone. If tweeting these hashtags isn’t enough, readers can also fill out the diary-like worksheets that are, in true Grace Helbig fashion, sprin-kled with sex jokes, procla-mations of love for alcohol and tangential spurts of yell-ing in text message slang.

“Grace’s Guide” reads like a casual chat between good friends. For fans, it will feel exactly like the cheeky tone that has led to her success online. She is just as open as she is while burping with no makeup on in her videos, except the book includes a rare look into her anxiety and romantic life — topics the new media superstar

rarely discusses online.For newcomers to the

Helbig Empire, her dis-tinct voice adds sincer-ity to the “just doing my best” feel of the guide and is sure to make you fall in love with the Internet’s “awkward older sister.”

At its heart, “Grace’s Guide” has a lot of valid advice to offer and could bring a smirk to even the grumpiest curmudgeon’s face. If you are a millen-nial trying to figure it all out or simply someone looking for a lighthearted read and a good laugh, “Grace’s Guide” is for you. At the very least, you’ll walk away knowing the beauty of visualizing hit-ting people in the face with sacks of bread when you’re upset.

Macy Muirhead is a broadcast and electronic media sophomore.

AT A GLANCE‘Grace’s Guide’

Author: Grace Helbig

Released: Oct. 21, 2014

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TONY RAGLE