The ‘holy grail’ of hacks
153 windows, 153 pixels. Two weekends ago, the front of the Green Building lit up in a colorful display of the popular puzzler Tetris. The 17x9 pixel screen spanned over 80 by 250 feet — making it the second largest screen in the nation. Appearing mysteriously on Friday night, the Tetris hack was the culmination of over four and a half years of work by an undisclosed number of hackers. With the completion of the hack came the conclusion of a dream; the idea of transforming Building 54 into a working game of Tetris has been a fantasy of hackers for decades.
Occupy enthralls world of academia Social scientists study protests through survey data, oral history
If surveys of Occupy Wall Street supporters conducted in the fall still hold true, the crowds of protesters expected to turn out Tuesday for May Day events across the country will likely skew male, young, white, college-educated, underpaid and thoroughly disgusted with the U.S. political system.
4.75% increase in grad stipend
Graduate stipends will be increasing by 4.75 percent for the 2012-2013 school year. The recommended yearly stipend for research assistants will be $30,888 at the doctoral level, and $28,236 at the Master’s level. Graduate teaching assistants will receive $31,644.
Loyalist soldiers in Mali appear to seek countercoup
BAMAKO, Mali — Gunfire rang out over this West African capital Monday night as soldiers loyal to the president who was deposed in a coup in March appeared to be attempting a countercoup against the ruling military junta.
Shorts (left)
PARIS — Stocks fell modestly in Europe on Monday, after confirmation that Spain had slumped back into recession in the first three months of 2012. The Spanish economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the January-March quarter, the same rate of contraction as in the last quarter of 2011, the National Statistics Institute said in Madrid.
Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser defends drone strikes
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday offered its first extensive explanation of how U.S. officials decide when to use drones to kill suspected terrorists — a tactic that the government often treats as a classified secret even though it is widely known around the world.
Antagonists in Syria accuse each other of subverting truce
BEIRUT — Syria’s official media reported a series of attacks against government buildings Monday, including two bombings that targeted two key security headquarters in the northern city of Idlib and a small rocket assault on the Central Bank in downtown Damascus.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators who lead the intelligence and armed services committees took issue Monday with claims from Bush administration officials that the Central Intelligence Agency’s coercive interrogation methods produced information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden a year ago.
Rainfall to help alleviate drought conditions soon
The Boston and Cambridge areas will experience a soaking, day-long rainstorm today as a low pressure system moves in from the west and eventually heads out to sea. While the storm will make for rather cold and dreary conditions for those out and about today, it will also bring some much-needed precipitation to an area that has received an abnormally low amount of rain so far this spring.
Malaysian police to investigate violence at protest supporting free elections
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian police pledged Monday to investigate violence at a rally supporting free elections that spiraled out of control when protesters broke through barricades in central Kuala Lumpur.
Dispute over tiny island in Persian Gulf unites Iran
TEHRAN — For Iranians, whose country’s borders have shrunk in the past 200 years after wars and unfavorable deals by corrupt shahs, territorial issues are a delicate matter. So a renewed claim by the United Arab Emirates to the tiny island of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf has touched a raw nerve.
Fixing MIT’s failures in governance
I am deeply concerned by the management and governance of MIT. We need to reform how MIT makes decisions and how the Corporation oversees the President.
An unloved intellectual
Should a majority of the Russian middle class truly venerate such values and the deeply-rooted intellectual ideals that Western observers tend to attribute to them, one may also wonder why there seems to have been so little display of respect and remembrance for the late wife of Mikhail Gorbachev, Raisa Gorbachova, the highly active and first university-educated First Lady of Russia. She revolutionized (if only briefly) her position in the Russian system of governance, with her involvement in children and women’s issues and cancer programs, among others.
Notes from a women’s rights rally
Last Saturday, a rally was held at City Hall to protest the nationwide uptick in proposed and codified restrictions on access to abortion and contraception. The feeling shared by many women’s rights advocates is that the nationwide pro-life movement has become bolder, more extremist and, worst of all, more successful as of late. I attended the rally, one of many coordinated in cities throughout the country, and my reflections follow.
Gymnastics dominates
Having just won five out of their six meets, the MIT Women’s Gymnastics team was fully confident and prepared to enter the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs’ meet in Salt Lake City, Utah. The meet was at the Salt Lake City Convention Center, April 19–21, and over 50 gymnastics clubs from the United States entered the competition. MIT decidedly won the competition with 149.25 points overall.
Men’s tennis beats Springfield College
MIT took the first step towards defending its New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis title with a 5-0 win over Springfield College today in a semifinal match of the 2012 NEWMAC Tournament. MIT improved to 14-4 with the victory while Springfield fell to 8-8 on the season.
The nuts and bolts of getting help
It seems that at MIT, toughness is valued above almost all else. We take pride in stretching ourselves thin, whether taking an absurd number of classes, pulling multiple all-nighters, or doing well in a class we never actually attend. With our workloads, time is precious. When we’re tired, sick, or in a bad mood — we learn to cope.
Events May 1 - May 7
Events May 1 – May 7 Tuesday (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) How Can We Feed a Growing World and Sustain the Planet? Talk by Professor Jonathan Foley — E51-115 (6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Digital Media SIG Event: In-Store Shopping Goes Mobile, panel on mobile phones in retail stores— E51-149 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) MISTI Foreign film night: Pan’s Labyrinth — 4-237 (9:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Egyptian Cultural Night — NW86 Thursday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Renee Green: Endless Dreams and Time-Based Streams, book signing and film screening Friday (12:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.) UNBOUND: Speculations on the Future of the Book — E15-070 (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) 10th annual Prokopoff violin music concert — 14E-109 Saturday (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) American Teacher screening and discussion — NW86-161 Sunday (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Eastgate Garden Party — E55 (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) MITHAS Spring Series presents Kumaresh & Jayanthi, Carnatic violin and veena — E51 Wong Auditorium Monday (4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Starr Forum: Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis — E62-262 (4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) International Development Career Fair — 10-105 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
