IFC Elects Leaders; No Rush Chair Found Yet
On Wednesday, Alberto Mena ’09 and Reid C. Van Lehn ’09 were elected president and vice president of the Interfraternity Council, respectively. Mena said that one of his primary goals is to improve IFC transparency and communication.
MIT Launches Clean Energy Contest With $200,000 Cash Prize
If soaring oil prices don’t provide enough encouragement to develop alternative energy, MIT has come up with an extra incentive: $200,000 in cash.
OLPC Sued for Allegedly Copying Keyboard Design
A Natick-based company filed a lawsuit against the One Laptop Per Child Foundation last Thursday, claiming OLPC copied its multilingual keyboard technology.
10-250 Renovations to Begin During IAP
The lecture hall 10-250 will be closed for renovation during January’s Independent Activities Period and the spring semester. Large classes traditionally held in 10-250 will move to other venues for the spring.
Lebanon Presidential Vacancy Broken After Support Voiced for Army Chief
The political logjam over Lebanon’s vacant presidency was broken Thursday when a leader of the Syrian-backed opposition announced his support for the compromise candidate accepted by the pro-Western alliance. The deal follows Syria’s participation in the American-sponsored Middle East peace conference.
Shorts (left)
Food banks around the country are reporting critical shortages that have forced them to ration supplies, distribute staples usually reserved for disaster relief and in some instances to close.
Shorts (right)
Ben S. Bernanke PhD ’79, chairman of the Federal Reserve, acknowledged on Thursday that a “fresh wave of investor concern” had led to tougher credit conditions that posed new risks to the economy, reinforcing the view that the Fed is likely to cut interest rates again when it meets on Dec. 11.
The Day After Tomorrow
Yesterday, the first of two cold fronts passed through the New England area. The second rolls through today, accompanied by a blast of polar air. A strong upper level jet will fuel significant cold air advection, resulting in gusty winds on a very cold weekend. Make sure to bundle up when you go out Saturday night, as temperatures will plummet into the low 20s°F. High pressure and a lack of cloud cover means clear skies through tomorrow, so look forward to a brisk, sunny day.
Thousands Protest Thursday As Chavez Seeks More Power
Three days before a referendum that would vastly expand the powers of President Hugo Chavez, this city’s streets were packed on Thursday with tens of thousands of opponents to the change. The protests signaled that Venezuelans may be balking at placing so much authority in the hands of one man.
Broadway Bustling Again After Stagehands Strike for 19 Days
At “Chicago,” the cast had to do a run-through because the new leading man and two other stars joining the show — Vincent Pastore and Aida Turturro, of “The Sopranos” — had never rehearsed together.
Emergency Rule to Be Lifted on Dec. 16, Musharraf Announces
Hours after being sworn in to a second term, President Pervez Musharraf announced Thursday that he would lift his state of emergency on Dec. 16, leaving barely three weeks for election campaigning and setting the stage for further confrontation with his opposition.
In Slovakia, Three Arrested After Attempt to Sell Enriched Uranium
Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian were arrested Wednesday after trying to sell highly enriched uranium, Slovak diplomats and police authorities said Thursday. The quantity, however, was far too small to make a crude warhead.
UA Needs Transparency
You cannot make an informed decision without accurate, accessible information. If we, as students, wish to guide and inform decisions of our student and Institute representatives, we need information. While the MIT administration needs to increase its operational transparency to be held accountable for its policies, decisions, and spending, the adoption of transparent practices must start with us.
CONCERT LISTINGS The Best Shows of December 2007
The end of the semester is only a few weeks away, and if your workload looks anything like mine, I bet everything will pile up right about … now. This won’t stop me from going out to shows, of course, and I should hope you’ll be out doing the same. Lots of not-so-well known but totally fantastic bands are headed to Boston this month, so if you’re thirsting for something new, now’s the time to see what’s on the scene. You know, before Built to Spill starts touring for the fiftieth time this year.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★★ 1/2 Can You Feel the Love?
Noah Baumbach’s “Margot at the Wedding” is a broad, relentless portrait of a family perpetually strained to the point of breaking. But, oddly, it never does. It is a family whose members are racked by insecurities and self-doubt; they lash out at each other in ways that are almost incomparably cruel. Yet somehow you leave the theater knowing that the characters feel deeply for each other.
CD REVIEW An Experiment in Musical, Cultural Fusion
Yo-Yo Ma has pulled an ace from his sleeve with his most recent album <i>New Impossibilities.</i> Far from canonical, the pieces on the record are wild, living, breathing music. The title, although borrowed from a Mark Twain phrase, seems closer to the kind the writer Jaramillo Levi would use to crown one of his short story collections. In a very real sense, that is what Ma brings to us in his latest production: stories collected from the thousands of miles of the ancient and modern Silk Road. His language is articulated through bold musical sounds, and his subject is the deep continental Asia: Iran, China, and everything in between.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★★ ‘Beowulf’: Plot and Clothing Optional
If you think “Beowulf” looks like another one of those over-the-top epic-action-type movies, well, you’d be right. Not that this is a bad thing. Sure, “Beowulf” has a simplistic plot, negligible amounts of character development, and stilted dialogue, but it is also pretty exciting, visually stunning, and just plain entertaining.
Sports Shorts
Entering Wednesday night’s tri-meet as the top heavyweight in the New England College Conference Wrestling Association, Glenn J. Geesman ’09 continued his starlit prominence with a 4-1 victory over Daniel Dalle-Molle of American International College, though Tech’s top muscleman finally suffered his first defeat, 9-6, to Johnson and Wales University’s Sean DeDyn. Geesman improved to 10-1, though MIT (0-3) lost the team battles, 32-9 and 50-0, to American International and host Johnson and Wales, respectively, at the Harborside Recreation Center.
Disagreements Occur Over Postconcussion Guidelines in College
Last Saturday, Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard was struck in the head by an opponent so violently that his helmet was ripped off, his bare head snapped back and forth and his skull slammed to the ground with a thud.
