Chemistry Graduate Student Is Dead after Collapse in Marathon
Peter N. Curtin, 23, a graduate student in Course V, died Saturday after collapsing at the 25-mile mark in the Baltimore Running Festival Marathon at around 11:20 a.m. He was immediately taken to the Union Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:11 p.m, hospital spokeswoman Debra Schindler told <i>The Baltimore Sun</i>.
Students Train To Climb an Everest of Digital Data
It is a rare criticism of elite American university students that they do not think big enough. But that is exactly the complaint from some of the largest technology companies and the federal government.
Study Finds a Higher Rate of Imprisonment Among Dropouts
On any given day, about one in every 10 young male high school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with one in 35 young male high school graduates, according to a new study of the effects of dropping out of school in an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging.
UA Summaries of Task Force Recs Generate Hundreds of Student Votes
Several hundred students voted online on Planning Task Force recommendations based on summaries posted by the Undegraduate Association. The UA selected the 22 most important recommendations, summarized them on their website, and allowed students to vote them up or down and enter anonymous feedback.
Algorithms Text CLRS Updated to 3rd Edition
The 3rd edition of <i>Introduction to Algorithms</i> by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein, better known at MIT as “CLRS” or “the 6.046 textbook,” came out last month. Leiserson and Rivest are professors in Course VI. In addition to 100 new exercises and 28 new problems, the new edition features a whole new section on multithreading.
East Campus Produce Market Will Hibernate in Stata
The MIT produce market will move to the first floor of the Stata Center on October 27th. The market, which started last spring, runs in the East Campus courtyard every Tuesday from 12 to 6. Students and faculty from around campus come to the market for fresh produce. “I get everything here,” said Elena C. Garza, an administrative assistant at MIT. The fruit is good, she said, and “really cheap.”
Congress Splits on Taxing High-Cost Health Plans
A proposed tax on high-cost, or “Cadillac,” health insurance plans has touched off a fierce clash between the Senate and the House as they wrestle over how to pay for legislation that would provide health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans.
Ads Are Taking On A Rosier Hue
The American economy is back or so some of the country’s biggest advertisers are saying in new campaigns.
Renewed Attention for Longstanding California Water Issues
In a sign that a deal addressing California’s longstanding water supply problems may be near, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a special session of the Legislature on Monday to revisit a package of water bills.
Shorts (left)
Caijing, a respected Chinese business magazine, has been thrown into turmoil after a dispute over its editorial direction recently led to the resignation of 11 high-ranking executives and nearly 70 other workers from the business staff, according to people close to the magazine.
Russia-German Pipeline Sparks Fears in Eastern Europe
With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.
Market Attack Shows Pakistani Militants’ Tenacity
Militants on Monday launched their fourth assault in a week on strategic targets across Pakistan, this time with a suicide car bombing against a military vehicle in a crowded market in the northwest, killing 41 people and wounding dozens more.
Shorts (right)
Many small and midsize American businesses are still struggling to secure bank loans, impeding their expansion plans and constraining overall economic growth, even as the country tentatively rises from its recessionary depths.
Grab Your Blanket
As winter approaches, the days and nights grow colder and colder as the sun’s position above the horizon gets lower and lower. At night, the temperature is also dependent on the presence of clouds. On a clear night, radiation from the earth’s surface escapes efficiently to space. On a cloudy night, the clouds act as a blanket that traps radiation. Tonight, as the clouds clear out, temperatures will plummet into the upper 30s°F, the coldest night we have seen yet this fall. Temperatures this week will be generally colder than average, as cold air from the north dominates our region.
The Real Danger of Qom
On September 25, at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, President Obama revealed to the world that Iran has been covertly constructing an uranium enrichment facility outside the holy city of Qom. Flanked by his allies Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama demanded that Iran disclose the entirety of its nuclear activities “or be held accountable.”
Obama’s Peace Prize — Political Posturing?
Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the 1904 Russo-Japanese war, in which 130,000 people died. Woodrow Wilson was similarly rewarded for his role in founding the League of Nations in 1919. Now, Barack Obama has become the third president of the U.S. to be awarded the Nobel peace prize — for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Spot the difference? Roosevelt and Wilson actually did something constructive (or prevented the destructive), but Obama has been applauded for his “efforts” — precisely because he hasn’t actually done anything yet.
Corrections
An Oct. 9, 2009 figure credit said it measured “the market value of MIT’s endowment in real dollars (not inflation-adjusted).” The market values are nominal (not inflation-adjusted). The market value in real dollars was not shown.
Curry College Nabs MIT Football Team in Strong Fourth Quarter
The football team lost its game against Curry College on Saturday 20-10.
Sports Shorts
The MIT women’s cross country team entered this past weekend with its highest national ranking in program history, as it rose to No. 4 in all of Division III. Competing against the tops teams in New England from across all Divisions, the Engineers more than lived up to their ranking, finishing fourth as a team. Jacqueline M. Wentz ‘10 led the way for the Cardinal and Grey with a third-place finish, the best individual result in Institute history at the All-New England Meet.
Brouhaha Rhythm
Depending on who you ask, reactions to the idea of talking during a movie tend to be mixed. Some people feel like it’s perfectly fine, others feel there should be a special level of hell for violators of the “Silence is Golden” theatre policies. Some people don’t mind so long as what’s being said is funny or subtle, and some people prefer watching movies at home for the exact reason that they’re at greater liberty to speak/eat loud snacks/go to the bathroom, among other things. Ask me sometime about my idea of splitting movie theaters into “making out” and “non-making out” sections so that the lip aficionados don’t interfere with the film aficionados, and vice versa.
Trapped in Paradise
“I need to use the phone,” I told the man behind the front desk of the Havana hotel where I was staying. “Sir, it’s $2 a minute to call the U.S.” I had $5, enough for a 2.5 minute call home (or to eat that night). “This is an emergency!” I screamed, “Now let me use the fucking phone!”
