News Briefs
Upon the closing of the sale of Hotel@MIT on Dec. 5, the name of the hotel was changed to La Meridien Cambridge.
Harvard Plans Major Increase in Student Aid For Next School Year
Harvard University announced Monday that it would significantly increase the financial aid it offers to middle-class and upper-middle-class students, seeking to allay concerns that elite colleges are becoming too expensive for even relatively well-off families.
Energy Initiative Plans for Minor Degree, Faculty Hires
The MIT Energy Initiative, officially established in September 2006, has made steady progress, with plans to create a minor degree program in energy and increase energy efficiency within the Institute.
Members Elected to ’08 Panhel Board
The MIT Panhellenic Association has elected new members to its executive board, which will serve for the upcoming year. This line-up of elects was approved by the five MIT sororities last night after two slates were previously rejected. One goal for the newly-elected executive board will be to add a new sorority to the five currently existing in Panhel.
Police Log
The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between Nov. 8 and Dec. 2, 2007. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, larcenies, or medical shuttles.
Course VI Eliminates Popular 6.170, Lab in Software Engineering
The Laboratory in Software Engineering class, 6.170, was offered for the last time this term and will not be offered in any subsequent terms.
ASA Allocates Student Group Space, Chooses Rooms for More Review
As a result of this year’s student group space allocations, a number of rooms in the Student Center and Walker Memorial have been marked as spaces that could “be allocated in more creative ways to better serve the student group community,” according to the Association of Student Activities.
A Spectrum of Precipitation
This month Mother Nature has provided us with the full range of winter precipitation, including snow, rain, sleet, and freezing rain. And she’s not done yet. Another weak round of wintry mixed precipitation is expected Tuesday night, followed by a more intense storm Thursday night. High temperatures for the rest of the work week will be in the mid-30s to mid-40s, with lows in the mid-20s to mid-30s.
CIA Had Its Lawyers’ Approval To Destroy Interrogation Tapes
Lawyers within the clandestine branch of the Central Intelligence Agency gave written approval in advance to the destruction in 2005 of hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting interrogations of two Qaida lieutenants, according to a former senior intelligence official with direct knowledge of the episode.
Putin Endorses Loyal Protege To Succeed as Next President
President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday endorsed as his successor Dmitri A. Medvedev, a protege with no background in the state security services and virtually no power base in the Kremlin.
GOP Voters Seem Uninspired By Presidential Candidates
Three weeks before the Iowa caucuses, Republicans voters across the country appear uninspired by their field of presidential candidates, with a vast majority saying they have not made a final decision about whom to support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Tensions Rise as American Tariffs Put Chinese Workers Out of a Job
When the aging state-owned Weifang East Steel Pipe factory here in China’s northern coastal plains fell into insolvency a few years ago, unpaid workers at first responded by blocking the factory gates and marching angrily on a nearby municipal building.
Shorts (right)
The dollar’s falling value is making European automakers eager to build more vehicles in the United States, even as American car companies continue to shift production to lower-cost countries.
Institute Wisdom Watch
<b>W1 (currently Ashdown House) will be fully renovated before it is opened to undergraduates in fall 2010.</b> — thumbs up
Letters to the Editor
Fixing childhood obesity by banning junk food from schools? Are you kidding? I’ll use good ol’ 14.01 (Principles of Microeconomics) to explain why I’ve got a problem with this.
CONCERT LISTINGS December Concerts
There are only a few weeks left to catch shows before the semester ends, so take note of these top picks. Special interest performances are noted with stars. Send future listing suggestions to <i>arts@tech.mit.edu</i>.
DANCE REVIEW A Night of Magic and Fantasy With the Boston Ballet
This winter, the Boston Opera House will host “The Nutcracker” during the 115th anniversary of the ballet’s premiere in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 80,000 people are expected to travel from all over New England to come watch this annual holiday tradition.
Interview MF Grimm Takes to the Ink
You may know him as MF Grimm, the limit-pushing MC who raps about gingerbread men and movie monsters, recorded a critically acclaimed album in 24 hours, released the first-ever triple-disc hip hop album, <i>American Hunger</i>, and feuds with former ally MF Doom. You may also know him as Percy Carey, a former Sesame Street star who later turned to drug dealing and was shot 10 times over the course of two murder attempts, overcame serious sensory damage but remains confined to a wheelchair, studied law to get himself out of a life imprisonment, and now works as the successful CEO behind his own company, Day By Day Entertainment.
CD Review Radiohead Brings the Chanukah Cheer
If our own Arts Editor Sarah Dupuis hadn’t claimed reviewing rights to Radiohead’s <i>In Rainbows</i> before I could, an entirely different story would’ve been told. In short, I would’ve torn Radiohead a new basement door for not living up to its own standards, or what I’d perceived them to be. I owe Dupuis a debt of gratitude for preventing me from making such a mistake. <i>In Rainbows</i> is, I’ll admit now, quite satisfying, and it was my selfish here-I-am-now-entertain-me attitude that kept me from understanding that. The album has an oceanic serenity that could be confused for dullness until you let the majesty of “House of Cards” or “Nude” permeate you. So much of it cannot be scrutinized and enjoyed at the same time before you’ve initially taken a more relaxed perspective.
Taekwondo Finishes Second in November Cornell Tournament
The MIT Sport Taekwondo team took second place at a Nov. 11 tournament at Cornell University. The team, coached by Daniel B. Chuang, remains in second place out of 18 schools in the Ivy Northeast Collegiate Taekwondo League, behind only archrival Cornell.
Women’s Hockey Suffers Rough Losses in Two ECAC East Games
The women’s ice hockey team fell to New England College and the University of Southern Maine in its final two games of the semester, held on Friday and Saturday. MIT will return to the ice after the holiday break.
Sports Shorts
In the inaugural meeting between both programs, the MIT women’s basketball team defeated Fisher College, 59-29, on Saturday. With the win, the Engineers improved to 3-4 on the year while the Falcons fell to 1-8.
Ask SIPB
This week, we will explore several ways in which to access MIT e-mail accounts and the advantages that various e-mail clients offer when compared to Webmail.
Through My Eyes
If you died tomorrow, would you have regrets? Would you be satisfied with your life? Would you be more than content?
Brouhaha Rhythm
Boy, when people sing about a winter wonderland around here, they ain’t kidding. I’d wager that with the first major snowfall of the year comes an increasingly enthusiastic populace with ideas aplenty as to what to do with it. The fact that many here are from toastier climes and may be unfamiliar with some key properties of snow (such as its effectiveness in projectiles) only adds to the potential for hijinks.
Practicing Poverty
I’ve always been interested in international development. Traveling to exotic places while saving millions of lives — what a double whammy! I call that the perfect job. My friend calls that a hero complex. Nonetheless, I signed up to take the D-Lab: Introduction to Development course (11.025J / SP.723) because it offered a once-in-a-life time opportunity to travel and make a difference. Little did I know that a small assignment called “Practicing Poverty” would change my perspective on international development.
How to Pick Up … at MIT
Everyone has, had, or will have this problem. Some have solved it. Others have given up. Colloquially, we refer to the problem as “picking up.” Here, one can’t help but draw a natural comparison to “picking up” hardware at a computer store. If only things were as simple as ordering to specification or as exciting as a buy-one-get-one-free sale. But perhaps the real dilemma lies in the vagueness of our colloquial talk. In light of the fact that MIT students are such unbelievable pset solvers, we might as well reformulate our problem in a more familiar language:
Cipher in My Cereal
<i>Solution to Dec. 4 Cipher: </i><i><Zoroaster, Zarathustra, Zartosht> </i>→<i> take out all repeating instances of letters </i>→<i> <Zartosheu> </i>→<i> anagrams to </i>→<i> <azure shot> </i>→<i> <the second word, shot> </i>→<i> <SHOT = Society for the History of Technology> </i>→<i> <they award the Dexter Prize> </i>→<i> <Dexter’s Laboratory> </i>→<i> <Cartoon Network></i>
