Shutdown is a big burden at Big Bend
TERLINGUA — As three wind-burned, graying Navy veterans rolled into town on their Harley Davidson motorcycles, they had covered nearly 2,317 miles of a trip of a lifetime. It was a journey to pay tribute to a buddy who died 30 years ago, and then cruise across Big Bend National Park to ride back home.
MIT is No. 1 in engineering, OCW is 10 years old
Times of Higher Education’s World University Rankings ranked MIT first in Engineering and Technology, second in life and physical sciences, tied for second (with Oxford) for social sciences. The overall ranking is an improvement from last year, when MIT was ranked 7th. Caltech was ranked first overall for the third year in a row.
Obama misses out on talks to deal with crisis
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Secretary of State John Kerry sat in the chair reserved for President Barack Obama at the opening session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting Monday, leaving China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as the dominant leader at the gathering, devoted to achieving greater economic integration in the region.
Coders forsake sleep at weekend hackathon
It was 4 a.m., and amid the empty food wrappers and power cables, still hundreds in Johnson Ice Rink were awake, their bloodshot eyes glued to laptop screens.
More freshmen vote in election
The Undergraduate Association announced the results of the 2017 Class Council elections in an email to the class on Friday night, after a week of voting. The freshman class elected Liana R. Ilutzi ’17 as president, Sophia Liu ’17 as vice president, Pragya Tooteja ’17 as treasurer, Larkin V. Sayre ’17 as secretary, Frederick O. Daso ’17 and Nicole Lu ’17 as publicity chairs, an Evan C. “Charlie” Andrews-Jubelt ’17 and Mohamed H. Kane ’17 as social chairs.
Shorts (left)
Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discovering the machinery that regulates how cells transport major molecules in a cargo system that delivers them to the right place at the right time in cells.
Libya condemns US for seizing terror suspect
TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s fragile interim government condemned the United States on Sunday for what it called the “kidnapping of a Libyan citizen” from this capital city a day earlier, and Libyan lawmakers threatened to remove the prime minister if the government was involved.
First black councilman can’t savor victory
Sidney Johnson — whose clandestine undercover work for the FBI helped convict five elected officials from his county for bribery — decided to try his hand at elective politics.
Airbus loosens Boeing’s US grip on Japan’s market
TOKYO — In selling planes to airlines, Boeing has long counted on the United States as its local market. Its big rival, Airbus, holds the home-field advantage in Europe. And the two compete head to head virtually everywhere else.
Boston weather inexplicably reasonable
It is now October, also known as that peculiar month when Bostonian weather somehow seems inexplicably reasonable.
Shorts (right)
WASHINGTON — After back-to-back terms ending in historic rulings that riveted the nation, the Supreme Court might have been expected to return to its usual diet of routine cases that rarely engage the public.
Netanyahu ridiculed after an appeal to Iranian youths
TEHRAN, Iran — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel tried to take his campaign against the Iranian leadership to Iran’s young population last week, saying that if they were truly free, they would be able to wear jeans, listen to Western music and participate in free elections.
Greek ex-minister convicted in bribery case
ATHENS, Greece — In a landmark verdict Monday, a former Greek defense minister and co-founder of the country’s once-mighty Socialist Party, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, was found guilty of setting up a complex money-laundering network to cover the trail of millions of dollars in bribes he is said to have pocketed from government weapons purchases.
CORRECTIONS
An article in Friday’s issue on the effects of the government shutdown misspelled the name of Mirim Yoo ’16. The article also misidentified an MIT Course 1E senior (Class of 2014) as an alumna.
SPORTS SHORT
It was a successful start to the 2013-14 season for the MIT rifle team as the Engineers downed the Wentworth Institute of Technology. The two teams competed in just the air rifle event, with MIT coming out on top by a score of 2,184-1,873.
MIT football falls just short of win over Curry College
MIT had a first and goal with just a little more than a minute to play, but the Curry College defense held the Engineers out of the end zone as the Colonels held on for a 26-21 win in New England Football Conference play this afternoon. Junior Justin Wallace (Palatine, Ill.) led MIT (2-2, 0-2 NEFC) with 104 yards on the ground while Curry (1-3, 1-1 NEFC) saw Phil Bigelow ’14 and Trae Weathers ’15 run for 86 and 85 yards respectively and a touchdown each for the Colonels.
Events Oct. 08 – Oct. 14
Events Oct. 08 – Oct. 14 Tuesday (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Truman Scholarship Info Session, sponsored by MIT Global Education and Career Development — 1-150 Wednesday (10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.) Boston Babywearers visit MIT, featuring Jenny the Juggler — 10-105 (Bush Room) (7:15 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.) Mastering the Multiple Mini-Interview (MMI), sponsored by Prehealth Advising (registration on CareerBridge required) — 12-172 Thursday (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Mathematics department shows The Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan — E25-111 Friday (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) LSC shows World War Z (tickets for $4 in Lobby 16) — 26-100 Saturday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Symphony Orchestra Concert (free in advance to MIT community, $5 at door) — W16 (Kresge) Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) International Folk Dancing — La Sala de Puerto Rico Monday (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Jason Adasiewicz, Garrison Fewell, and Eddie Harris featured on WMBR’s Research & Development program — 88.1 FM Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Sweaters
The summer weather is slowly fading away, as you can tell from the abrupt change in temperature over the past few days. You’re starting to pull out your warm garments in an attempt to avoid getting a cold. You might already have a few jackets and coats to fight off the cold, but they seem too heavy for early fall. And so I present to you the sweater, which is one of the best types of clothing that is both lightweight and warm.
Hacking Arts
“We believe that everyone is creative, inventive, and imaginative. We believe that everyone can create the future and change the world.” The motto for invention kit Makey Makey, created by MIT Media Lab students Eric R. Rosenbaum G and Jay S. Silver G, seemed to implicitly set the tone of Hacking Arts as Rosenbaum and his band of randomly chosen volunteers kicked off with an audience-pleasing live performance of MJ’s “Billie Jean.” How did random untrained people come together to spontaneously perform “Billie Jean?” By becoming human synthesizers, of course. Makey Makey, a tiny circuit board that connects to Arduino, allows you to transform anything even mildly conductive into a live keyboard. As people became instruments on stage, linked together with bright colorful wires that were connected to a tiny device transmitting to speakers blasting The King of Pop, all I could think was, “This is so MIT.”
Connecting the dots
Life is full of lessons, and not just those learned in lecture. There are some lessons that you acquire not within a classroom, but through experiences outside the realm of academics. With all the new encounters and hardships and rewards that college brings, these four years are an ideal time to start tackling the big questions — why are we here studying? What is really important in life? What is the meaning of Stonehenge? Little Life Lessons will muse on philosophical questions that college students may face at this turning point in our lives. Perhaps you’ve already contemplated these issues before; perhaps such matters have never crossed your mind. My hope is that this column serves as a springboard for the next step along your path of thoughts.
