UA leaders talk progress since election
UA President Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11 and Vice President Samantha “Sammi” G. Wyman ’11 ran together last spring with the slogan “We do things”. Their vision to improve UA interaction with students, the freshman advising system, and overall student life won them the election by a landslide margin last spring. How are their plans faring this year?
The road to getting tenure at MIT
Students are probably most familiar with the college admissions process. But a tenure review at MIT is quite different. It’s much more drawn-out and thorough, though it has some of the same elements: an application, recommendation letters, and a hierarchy of reviewers.
Many confess to crime even when completely innocent Researchers find that confessions of guilt just are not reliable, especially among mentally disabled
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eddie Lowery lost 10 years of his life for a crime he did not commit. There was no physical evidence at his trial for rape, but one overwhelming factor put him away: He confessed.
Corrections
A New York Times wire article on Tuesday about the effectiveness of various study habits described incorrectly the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in physics. The principle holds that the act of measuring one property of a particle (position, for example) reduces the accuracy with which you can know another property (momentum, example for not that the act of measuring a property of the particle alters that property.)
Yes, more cameras
Two cameras are being installed on top of the roof of Bldg. 54. Yesterday, camera housings were installed, on each of the south corners. One is pointed at Masseeh Hall (W1), and one is pointed at Harvard Bridge. Thomas W. Komola from the Security and Emergency Management Office said the footage from the cameras would be used under the Security Office’s standard policy: access to the footage is only available at written request of MIT Chief of Police John DiFava.
Chroniclers of<br />the atomic bomb
They risked their lives to capture on film hundreds of blinding flashes, rising fireballs and mushroom clouds.
At MIT, mysteries of the tenure game
<i>A version of this story was originally published on June 11. To find out where Hudson is now, see the epilogue.</i>
A technology sets inventors free to dream
SAN FRANCISCO — Businesses in the South Park district of San Francisco generally sell either Web technology or sandwiches and burritos. Bespoke Innovations plans to sell designer body parts.
Turkish constitutional changes pass by a wide margin
ISTANBUL — Turkish voters approved a sweeping package of constitutional reforms by a wide margin on Sunday, handing a major victory to the Islamist-rooted government that continued the country’s inexorable shift in power away from the secular Westernized elite that has governed modern Turkey for most of its history.
Shorts (right)
The European Commission significantly raised its growth forecast for the region on Monday because of strong output data during the second quarter, and said that the recovery was starting to broaden across sectors.
Shorts (left)
MEXICO CITY — In perhaps the clearest sign yet that economic change is gathering pace in Cuba, the government plans to lay off more than half a million people from the public sector in the expectation that they will move into private businesses, Cuba’s labor federation said Monday.
Clinton says deal is possible on settlements in West Bank
SHANNON, Ireland — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that she believed that the Israelis and Palestinians could work out a deal on Jewish settlements, leaving open the possibility that their fledgling peace talks could go forward even without an extension of Israel’s moratorium on settlement construction.
Igor, Julia churn in Atlantic
While relatively calm weather continues here in New England, a major hurricane is currently producing very strong winds in the Atlantic Ocean. Located about 700 miles (1,127 km) east of the Leeward Islands, Hurricane Igor was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 km/h) as of 5 p.m. yesterday. Igor is the ninth named tropical cyclone, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane in the Atlantic basin this year, and while it is too soon to say whether it will directly impact the United States, Igor could reach Bermuda by this weekend.
Gulf may have avoided direst predictions after spill
NEW ORLEANS — Marsh grasses matted by oil are still a common sight on the gulf coast here, but so are green shoots springing up beneath them.
Spinning away
The past twelve months have not been good for Iran. Domestically, the country still roils from the electoral chicanery of the previous August. Internationally, the United Nations has placed fresh sanctions on the regime for failing to comply with its resolutions. Economically, it seems recession has hit the nation, though it is hard to be certain — the government has ceased releasing numbers entirely.
The facts about Rush
I was very disappointed by the columns concerning Rush in the September 10 issue of <i>The Tech</i>. William Damazer’s opinion article was particularly insulting. Freshmen at MIT do not show commitment to their fraternity through hazing. MIT has a strict no-hazing policy to which the fraternities adhere, and to suggest otherwise without evidence is irresponsible. I also find William’s use of the phrase “cheap booze and women” unprofessional and unacceptable. One of the reasons rush is dry is so that alcohol is not a factor in a freshman’s decision, and in any case it’s not any harder to get alcohol on campus than it is at a fraternity. I am particularly appalled at the second half of the phrase, though. The women who spend time at my fraternity are our close friends; we respect and care about them a great deal. They are intelligent and self-empowered, and to suggest that they are here only to be some kind of sexual incentive for freshmen is deeply offensive to them, to the fraternity system, and to me personally. I think we are all owed an apology.
Make textbooks free
Textbook costs can run a thousand dollars a year per student, and thus are a big drag on education — not just at MIT but around the world.
Women’s tennis beats Smith in season opener Freshmen Quisenberry, Hsu lead Engineers to decisive 7-2 victory over Pioneers
This past Saturday, MIT women’s tennis played their first match of the season against Smith College. The match started off with the doubles matches. First off was the freshmen doubles team of Lauren C. Quisenberry ’14 and Julia C. Hsu ’14. They breezed through their match and won decisively, 8-1. Next off were Melissa A. Diskin ’11 and Katharine A. O’Neal ’14. They played a tough match but lost 2-8; this made the overall score tied at 1-1. The next team to finish was Jenny C. Dohlman ‘11 and Jennifer A. Rees ’11. They were down 2-4 in their match, but they quickly changed the momentum to win the next six games straight to take the match 8-4, giving MIT a 2-1 lead over Smith. Sonya Makhni ’11 and Hillary E. Jenny ’12 were the last ones on court. The match was close with both sides fighting for every point, but MIT pulled it out in the tiebreaker for the win, 9-8(5).
Playing games with metaphors
If you had told me five years ago that I would one day be interested in designing video games for a living, I would probably have freaked out that some crazy person claiming to be from MIT was trying to tell me information about my future, then laughed hysterically with skepticism. Back then, my interest in video games was almost exclusively as a player, and not an especially good one, at that. I barely even owned any video games growing up, and my awareness of the development process was limited to channel-surfing into X-Play occasionally and wondering to myself who those faceless people were that produced these parent-terrifying time sinks.
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD Fenway-Kenmore
I grew up in a small town in West Virginia, which is famous for its basketball players and health problems. Due to the hills that surround the area, it’s very difficult to rely on walking as a primary mode of transportation. Unfortunately, I fit the Asian female driving stereotype, and even though I have my driver’s license, for the safety of others, I rarely operate a vehicle. I also have no internal compass, and relying on other people to drive you around results in them trusting you to navigate. As a result, I completely rely on GPS or Google Maps on my iPhone to get my friends from point A to point B. However, for familiar areas, I am a landmark person.
