Ig Nobels Reward Quirky Research
Spermicidal cola, archeological armadillos, and lap dancers were the talk of the evening at last night’s Ig Nobels, where a weird ceremony feted the weirdest science of the past year.
Does Your Vote Count? It Depends On Who’s Counting Your Votes
While the debate over who America will vote into the Oval Office is in full swing, so too is the discussion about how the voting will happen. The November elections will feature unprecedented levels and varieties of electronic voting.
Study on Accuracy of SAT Prompts Schools To Accept Other Tests
For the 5,500 college admissions officials and high school guidance counselors who gathered here over the weekend, there were discussions, debates and analyses of things like the ethics of tracking student applicants on Facebook and “Why Good Students Write Bad College Essays — and How to Stop It.”
Many Colleges Wake Up to the Problems of Sleep Deprivation
It’s an age-old predicament: Caffeine-fueled college students cramming for exams and writing papers until the crack of dawn, then skipping or snoozing through classes. Sleep deprivation has long been considered a rite of passage, a point of pride, even.
Credit Crunch Limits Universities’ Access To Short-Term Funds
In a move suggesting how the credit crisis could disrupt American higher education, Wachovia Bank has limited the access of nearly 1,000 colleges to $9.3 billion the bank has held for them in a short-term investment fund, raising worries on some campuses about meeting payrolls and other obligations.
Grad Rat Redesigned for First Time Since 2003
MIT graduate students packed into Walker Memorial on Wednesday night to celebrate the unveiling of the first new Grad Rat ring design since 2003.
50 Years Ago, Smoot Made a Lasting Mark on Cambridge
After decades of cheering pedestrians during the long trek across the Harvard Bridge, the Smoot marks turn fifty tomorrow, and MIT students and alumni are gearing up to celebrate a tradition that spans generations with a shoreline cleanup, a concert by famed oldies group “The Platters,” and a 1950s-themed party.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between Sept. 4 and Sept. 30, 2008. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, or medical shuttles.</i>
News Briefs
Forty-one of the 74 women who registered for recruitment pledged the new MIT chapter of Pi Beta Phi. New members were greeted by sisters of other national Pi Phi chapters at a bid day celebration on Sunday.
Shorts (left)
Investors drove stocks sharply lower on Thursday as signs of the economy’s worsening health and a continued choking of credit unnerved investors ahead of a crucial vote in Washington on a financial rescue plan.
Shorts (right)
Microsoft said Thursday that it would set up research centers in Britain, France and Germany to improve its Internet search technology, describing the move as a vote of confidence in the European economy and in the company’s ability to close the gap with Google.
With High Stakes and Low Expectations, Palin Survives
Gov. Sarah Palin made it through the vice-presidential debate on Thursday without doing any obvious damage to the Republican presidential ticket. By surviving her encounter with Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and quelling some of the talk about her basic qualifications for high office, she may even have done Sen. John McCain a bit of good, freeing him to focus on the other troubles shadowing his campaign.
Bloomberg Finds Ally for Extending Term Limits
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said on Thursday that legislation to alter the city’s term limits law would be introduced on Tuesday, paving the way for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Quinn and more than 40 other elected officials to stay in office four more years.
Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law Becomes License to Abandon
The abandonments began Sept. 1, when a mother left her 14-year-old son in a police station here.
Pakistan’s Fight With Taliban Widens Into Full-Scale War
War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles, leaving Pakistanis angry and dismayed as the dead, wounded and displaced turn up right on their doorstep.
House GOP Leaders Wrangle Balky Caucus on Bailout
House Republican leaders struggled Thursday to persuade some of their members to reverse course and support the $700 billion economic bailout package, but both parties said that they were guardedly optimistic about winning final passage of the measure in a vote expected early Friday afternoon.
Fall Getting In Shape
New England has a few days in the year that we, people from more template climates, can properly call fall. These are those days, and they are the fair warning of the winter that comes ahead. Be quick to see the foliage as it will be a few weeks before snow comes in!
Watch the Baseball Playoffs
It’s October and the most exciting time on the sports calendar has arrived — baseball playoffs. For the first time in a long while, of the two teams I’m a fan of, neither are playing for a title in the fall. To the non-baseball aware, this means I am not a fan of the Boston Red Sox, who are sneaking into postseason play as the American League (AL) wild card. My situation is like many students in Boston, who come to school with a team (or three) to cheer on. Many of the uninitiated will leave Red Sox fans, and while that saddens my heart, at least there’s another baseball fan out there.
This Is MIT?
I chose MIT because of the stories: the great cannon heist, the police car, the student-run live-action role playing club, the simple trust that was placed in the intelligence and competence of the students — in letting them choose their own living groups that kept up their own cultures, often decades old, in letting them have a voice in any decisions affecting them. I guess I was imagining a sort of Utopia — 5000 of the funkiest, most brilliant minds from the entire country and around the world molding a homeland of their own in which to learn and live.
The Institute of Perfection
I sat down on the end of a row just before the State of the Institute speech began, and quietly introduced myself to the woman next to me. She wanted to know what I was expecting President Hockfield to talk about. I guess I was expecting a mention of the supposed drop in student integrity, or the demise of the moral hacker, both of which were highlighted in that recent e-mail that caused such uproar among students. As I explained this, the woman next to me seemed surprised, and told me she was wondering about the status of the Stata leakage lawsuit.
Institute Wisdom Watch
<b>Chancellor Clay “celebrates community traditions” by chastising hackers.</b> Cognitive dissonance much? — thumbs down
CONCERT REVIEW A Secular Blessing
As with many things, this too started with Beethoven. It must have been a draining performance for both musicians and audience: the first three movements of the Missa Solemnis (Op. 123) and 9th Symphony (Op. 125) premiered all in one night on May 7th, 1824. These have both become monumental works that have revolutionized their genres. The Ninth Symphony is the more famous of the two because it was the first (or, at the very least, the most major) symphony to incorporate both choral and orchestral music into a symphony.
CD AND CONCERT REVIEW Experiment and Soul
A lot of single-instrument groups can be gimmicky — along the lines of, “How many tuba players does it take to make a coherent album?” Many of those efforts are well and good, even virtuosic, but the majority are relegated to narrowly devoted fan-bases — those who, no doubt, brake for vibraphones or are the proud parents of an oboe player — without much chance at breaking through to the larger musical scene.
GAME OF THE WEEK Women’s Volleyball Beats Coast Guard In Exciting Five Set NEWMAC Match
The MIT women’s volleyball team recorded a thrilling 25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 22-25, 15-11 victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) match on Tuesday night. With the win, the Engineers improved to 11-8 on the year and 3-1 in conference play while the Bears dropped to 5-8 overall and 2-2 in NEWMAC.
Well, the Season Is Finally Over. What’s in Store for Next Year?
The 2008 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season has finally drawn to a close. This season, which began 162 games (163 for some) ago in Japan, has certainly been an unforgettable one, filled with history, records, and milestones.
Late Goal Propels Field Hockey Over Endicott, 2-1MIT Names Barb Bolich Assistant Athletic Director/SWA
Jessica M. Oleinik ’11 scored her 11th goal of the season with 2:42 left in the second half to lift MIT to a thrilling 2-1 victory over Endicott College in non-conference field hockey action Tuesday. The loss snaps an eight game win streak for the Gulls.
Leslie Hansen Makes MIT History in Finals Of ITA Championship
The MIT Women’s Tennis Team started off a busy week by making history at the ITA New England Championships this weekend and went on to defeat Babson College 7-2 on Tuesday. Leslie A. Hansen ’10 is the first player in MIT women’s tennis history to be a singles finalist. Hansen blazed through the draw until she reached the semifinals, which any team member who witnessed the match would describe only as “simply amazing.” Hansen won in three sets with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Hansen then lost a tough match with a score of 5-7, 0-6 in the finals.
