MIND AND HEALTH Relax your mind and focus
Meditation is a captivating but elusive practice, made famous for its benefits but frustrating for its intangibleness. Some describe it as not thinking about anything, but, then, what happens if you do think about something? If you admonished yourself every time a-triple-chocolate-chip-cookie craving came to mind, you’d soon grow exhausted. Others say a meditative frame of mind bids you to take the opposite approach, by making absolutely no effort to control the mind’s thoughts. For still others, meditation is intent focus on the present moment, for example, feeling the coolness of the air, and the dry crush of fallen leaves underneath one’s feet.
NERDY WITH A CHANCE OF RANDOM Letting the stream of life flow unimpeded
This past year, I turned twenty.
ASK CHACHA Does your recruiter “like” your status?
Hello students of MIT! Let me introduce The Tech’s new advice column, written by yours truly, Chacha. In the future, I’d love to respond to your requests, so go ahead and email your questions (about anything!) to askchacha@the-tech.mit.edu. As for now, here is my advice on how clean your social network should be for potential employers.
Events Jan 18 - Jan 24
Events Jan. 18 – Jan. 24 wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Bang Your Head! - Heavy Metal 101 — 14N-217 (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Investigating Sherlock Holmes — 32-141 Thursday (12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.) The Annual Hummus Taste-Off — 10-105 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Public Art at MIT — Bartos Theatre friday (11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Dear Diary – Before There Were Blogs presented by MIT Archives — 14N-118 (6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Hacker Movies: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Cowboy Bebop’s “Jamming with Edward”— E15-344 saturday (2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Association of Taiwanese Students Cooking Workshop — McCormick Dining (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Showing of De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) — 6-120 sunday (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) 16th MIT European Career Fair — Johnson Athletics Center monday (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.) The Great Recession in Historical Perspective — E51-335 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) The Internet Shouldn’t Work: Networking 101 — 4-237 tuesday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Dark Energy: The Greatest Mystery in the Universe — 37-252 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Screening of Shouting in the Dark — 56-114 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Events Jan 11 - Jan 17
Events Jan. 11 – Jan. 17 Wednesday (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Noam Chomsky on the Arab Spring and the future of the Middle East — NW86-120 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Harbison, Zinman, Murrihy, Symposium on Harbison’s Symphony No. 6 — Kresge Auditorium Thursday (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) The Current State of Health Care Reform in the US presented by Jonathan Gruber — E51-395 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Islam 101 — 1-277 Friday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Film screening of Bringing King to China — 66-110 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) FiLmprov: Film and Musical Improvisation Event — 14W-111 Saturday (9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.) Free figure skating and ice dance classes — Johnson Ice Rink Sunday (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Snow Quidditch — Briggs Field Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Drag Workshop: Drag 101 — Kresge Rehearsal Room B (6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Hacker Movies: The Wunderkids — E15-344 Tuesday (1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) How to Feel As Bright and Capable As Everyone Seems to Think You Are presented by Valerie Young — 34-101 (2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Poverty and Prosperity — E51-335 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Taking Steve Jobs off the GOATS list
I came up with the GOATs (Greatest of All Times) list decision-making process during my sophomore year at MIT. It quickly became my go-to guide for making tough life decisions. In the beginning, there were only three GOATs. Lady Gaga and Eminem were tier one, and Charlie Sheen was tier two. The GOATs process involved complex Bayesian analysis, but the basics of it were this: whenever I couldn’t decide what to do, I would ask myself, “What would Lady Gaga and Eminem do in this situation?” If they would do the same thing, I went with that. If there was no clear consensus, Charlie Sheen was the tiebreaker.
Editor's Note
Starting this issue, we will be running Newsday crossword puzzles from Creators Syndicate.
WELCOME 2012: New year, new look
Out with the old, in with the new; that’s what New Years is for. Having learned from the mistakes of the past, a new year is time for a new beginning. As a sophomore looking back at 2011, I noticed that my freshman enthusiasm had crashed into the reality of classes, p-sets, and the need to find a career lucrative enough to pay off my college debts. I holed myself in my room, without going to the student theater shows and lectures I had formerly enjoyed. Worse still, my increasing workload led to a stagnant routine: a while-loop of note-taking, studying, and sweating over exams. Surely there was more to college life than this. I was supposed to become a well-rounded adult, not a workaholic.
IN YOUR COMMUNITY Meet Professor Robert Langer
“When I first came here, after a year or two, a lot of people told me I should leave. They said I was never going to even get promoted past assistant professor. A lot of people in the scientific community didn’t believe in the science I was doing; they thought it was wrong. And so I got my first nine grants turned down,” recounted Professor Robert S. Langer ScD ’74.
Events: Dec. 13 - Dec. 15
Events Dec. 13 – Dec. 15 Tuesday (9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) MIT Student Art Association Ceramics Sale — Lobby 10 (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Large Hadron Collider Higgs Jamboree seminar, status revealed on the research of the Higgs Boson particle — 32-123 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Defeating Alzheimer’s: The science and business of solving neurodegenerative disease — 32-123 (8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet Free Comedy Show — 6-120 Thursday (2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) Cookies with Canines Study Break, take a study break and de-stress with a dog — Hayden and Barker libraries (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) I “Heart” Neutrinos: A Film Screening by Jennifer West — E15 (Bartos Theatre) Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
RANDOM NEURONAL FIRINGS 16 shots of coffee
As MIT students, who’s a better friend than coffee? When the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from Bosworth’s Cafe in Lobby 7 stimulates my olfactory neurons, I often get the urge to know more about coffee’s origin. Here are 16 fun facts about coffee:
TALK WORDY TO ME Deck the balls with jugs of bourbon
People in Boston always seem to be surprised by my affinity to bourbon. Maybe it’s not a girly drink, but I grew up in a town that borders Kentucky, which is all about bourbon. This includes the delightful treat known as a bourbon ball, which people frequently get as stocking stuffers around the holidays. The first time I heard about these was in middle school when my best friend swore she managed to get drunk from eating a box of these. So when I make these, I am very heavy-handed with the bourbon.
Events: Dec. 06 - Dec. 12
Events Dec. 06 – dec. 12 Tuesday (7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Fresh Songs: First-year songwriters at Next House — Next House TFL Wednesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents: The Meridian Singers — W15 (MIT Chapel) (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Reinventing the City @ MIT: A Planet of Civic Laboratories: The Future of Cities, Information and Inclusion — E14 - 633 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Visions & Projections — An Evening Celebrating the Legacy of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) — E15-001 (MIT Cube, Wiesner Building) Friday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) HSA Speaker Series: “Beware of Greeks bearing debt” presented by Professor Miron — E51-315 (7:00 p.m.) LSC shows Elf (free admission) — 26-100 Saturday (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Association of Puerto Rican Students Christmas Dinner — W20-491 Sunday (12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Salsa/Rueda Dance Workshop — Student Center Room 407 (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Unforgettable: ADT Fall 2011 showcase — W20-La Sala de Puerto Rico (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Muses Fall Concert — 6-120 Monday (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Black Students’ Union Study Break — 50-105 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
RANDOM NEURONAL FIRINGS Winter weather for dummies!
The red and yellow leaves beautifying trees around campus not long ago have started falling. Most trees now stand bare, reminding us of the Boston winter that is slowly creeping in. Boston is pretty windy, rainy, and snowy — MIT even closes down sometimes due to snowstorms. But we can’t just lock ourselves in our dorm rooms, right? We need to combat the cold and the wind and finish our p-sets and graduate. Check out the tips below and see if you have everything ready!
Events: Nov. 29 - Dec. 5
Events Nov. 29 – Dec. 5 Tuesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) The Music of Ethiopia and Eritrea — 2-105 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) The Street Just Out of Sight: A reading and talk with Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic — 6-120 Wednesday (12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.) Lunchtime Gallery Talk by Professor Caroline A. Jones — E15 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) DISCUSS.it with Pranav Mistry, creator of Sixth Sense — 3-422 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) List Visual Arts Center Gallery Talk by Art Historian Martha Buskirk — E15 (6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) MISTI Foreign Night Film series: The Green Dumpster Mystery — W31-301 Friday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) Thai Festival of Light — 50-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) MIT SAAS: Brownies On Ice — W34 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Logarhythms Winter Concert — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) RAMBAX Senegalese Drumming Ensemble — W20 Lobdell Saturday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) 150 Alive: The Most Studied Brain — MIT Museum (8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Trashion Show — Next House TFL Commons (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Concert Choir, William Cutter, Music Director — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Techiya Fall 2011 Concert — 6-120 Monday (7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Elijah Wald Presents the History & Early Blues’ Traditions — 4-231 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
THANKSGIVING A tale of two turkeys
Once upon a time, there were two turkeys, which I shall refer to as Turkey A and Turkey B, in order to avoid garnering any sympathy for them. Fortunately for them, they lived a charmed life on a small family farm, unlike their debeaked relatives on overcrowded farms. Instead of being the industrial Broad-Breasted White breed, too broad-breasted to reproduce without artificial insemination, they were a slower-growing heirloom variety with a more robust flavor.
TALK WORDY TO ME 21W @ MIT
When I first came to MIT, I was very insecure of the fact that I wanted to study humanities at a technical school. It didn’t help that I surrounded myself with people that were premed, and these individuals always said I was taking the easy way out. It also didn’t help that my sister majored in writing, and I witnessed firsthand how difficult it was to for her to secure adequate employment without pursuing further graduate studies.
Overheard@MIT
Boy: What’s your shirt say? “OK Go”? What’s that? Girl: Umm, it’s the name of a band. Boy: Oh, so it doesn’t mean you’re easy.
Events: Nov. 15 - Nov. 21
Events Nov. 15 – Nov. 21 Tuesday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Business Etiquette — Manners, Meals, and Mastering business interactions — 5-217 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Mimi Ito: “Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World” — E14-633 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Jay Keyser discusses Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows — 14N-118 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Legatum Lecture: Chocolate Symposium with Kopali Organics — E62-233 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) We Still Live Here — Film Screening — 1-190 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Genome Engineering and the Construction of New Genetic Codes — NE20 (Broad Institute Auditorium) Friday (8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.) Roadkill Buffet’s improv comedy show — 6-120 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Chorallaries Fall Concert — 10-250 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble — W16 (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) MIT Musical Theatre Guild Presents: Chidlren of Eden — W20 La Sala de Puerto Rico Saturday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) Captain America: The First Avenger — 26-100 (2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) MIT-China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (MIT-CHIEF) — 32-123 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Chorus, William Cutter, Music Director — W16 Kresge Auditorium Sunday (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Chorus, William Cutter, Music Director — W16 Kresge Auditorium Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) The Returns to Hospital Spending: Evidence from Ambulance Assignment — E51-151 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MTA Composer Forum features John Harbison — 14E-109 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Institute Double Take
Located at the stairwell of Building 3, Dis(Course)4 is a Festival of Art, Science, and Technology (FAST) installation created by graduate students Craig A. Boney G, James R. Coleman G, and Andrew J. Manto G in Course 4 in April 2011. The structure is composed of hundreds of aluminum pieces that are fastened by zip ties and supported by steel cables. This photo emphasizes the repetition of the elements through the use of point lighting and symmetry. A small aperture is chosen to ensure a large depth of field. The white balance is intentionally skewed to add warmth to the otherwise white installation.