Institute Double Take
A thick fog engulfs the Harvard Bridge on April 26, obscuring Boston from view. As a photographic element, fog is often used to evoke emotions of serenity or mystery. To get the most dramatic effects out of fog, try to capture both a clear, crisp foreground in addition to a fading background to give the photograph a sense of depth while providing a direction for the viewer to follow. It’s usually best to capture fog at dawn or dusk — luckily this is when most fog occurs — as there is still enough ambient lighting from street, car, and building lights to shine through the fog, adding beautiful, diffuse light sources while the rest of the landscape is still barely illuminated by the sun.
TALK NERDY TO ME The lost and found tale of online identity
At the start of the semester, I blogged an image of an ad saying “penicillin cures gonorrhea in 4 hours” with the added quote, “‘And, if you happen to have a really bad hookup, you might need this organic compound the next day.’ —5.12 professor on reasons why you should study organic chemistry.” I knew that many of the people who read my personal blog would appreciate the dorky humor behind the joke. I didn’t expect it to fuel online trolls into releasing my work address, in addition to an incorrect work address for my dad. I also didn’t expect these trolls to misconstrue the quote as my discussing my personal life, let alone as an admission that I’ve contracted gonorrhea. I’ve never contracted gonorrhea — or any STIs, for that matter — but as the picture states, it is curable!
BROUHAHA RHYTHM From the Cradle of Liberty to the City of Angels
Has it been four years already? Good grief. It seems like just yesterday I was watching Looney Tunes and eating Cocoa Pebbles straight out of the box. I think it’s a sign I’m not quite ready to grow up — because that’s exactly what I was doing yesterday. I mean, sure, I’ve been living on my own for a good portion of the past four years, but in a relatively structured environment, with plenty of external financial support (thanks, Mom and Dad). To say that college is a better approximation of real life than high school would be like saying a defective toy boat is superior to a working one as an approximation of the RMS Titanic. Yes, it’s technically more accurate, but there really isn’t a substitute for the genuine article.
NERDY WITH A CHANCE OF RANDOM Fighting awkward with awkward
One evening as I headed home from the Student Center, I was standing in the elevator, minding my own business and thinking about electromagnetic waves and how they propagate in space. Then the elevator came to an abrupt stop. The door slid open, and a couple stepped into the confined space, holding hands. No big deal, right? That’s what I thought — until they started acting all couple-like, hanging onto each other like a pair of positively and negatively charged particles.
MIT150 Sparkle! Campus lights up for FAST event
“You would not believe your eyes / If ten million fireflies / Lit up the world as I fell asleep.”
Afterhours with Richard R. Schrock
Professor Richard R. Schrock somehow manages to do it all. He has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, teaches, does research, has a family, a woodworking hobby, and is starting his own company. At the undergraduate level, he’s taught 5.112 (Principles of Chemical Science). Here, he gives his thoughts on what actor he thinks would be able to fit this role in the movie of his life and explains how he got his start in chemistry at eight years old while making banana-scented esters.
CLUB CONNECTION This is not your grandmother’s spinning club
Fire. That bright orange blaze speaks to a nostalgic part of me, reminding me of toasting marshmallows and chilly nights alternating roasting and freezing. Both a danger and a delight, fire can be tamed and turned into a performance art by those brave and skilled enough to wield it — namely, the MIT Spinning Club.
Events: May 10 - May 16
Events May 10 – May 16 Tuesday (8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Blood Drive, sponsored by ARCTAN — W20, La Sala de Puerto Rico (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Legatum Lecture: Experiences in the Emerging Profession of Technology-Based Entrepreneurship (Speaker: Dr. Noubar Afeyan) — E62-233 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Music Society Student Concert — Killian Hall Wednesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk presents Windhammer, a woodwind quintet with piano — Killian Hall (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) AMCAS (American Medical College Application Service) Q&A Session — 4-231 Thursday (4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) GSC Acoustic Barbecue — Stata Center Amphitheater (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) MIT Improvisation Ensemble Concert — Killian Hall Friday (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Reel World: MIT, a look “behind the scenes” at historic and entertaining films from MIT’s archives — MIT Museum (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial — 26-100 Saturday (2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.) MIT Concert Band Spring Performance — Kresge Auditorium (7:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.) Social dance with the MIT Ballroom Dance Club — Walker Memorial Sunday (9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Swapfest — Albany Steet Garage and Lot (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) International Contemporary Ensemble presents works of Keeril Makan — Killian Hall (8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Flippin’ for Finals, aka Late Night Breakfast — W20 Lobdell Monday (7:00 p.m.) Professor Walter H. G. Lewin Physics Demonstration and Book Signing — 26-100 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Cheat Sheet aka that random stuff that never shows up on the test
The Tech: You like classical music, so if you had one composer you had to listen to on repeat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Institute Double Take
Browsing through my archive of photos, I was struck by the inherent contrast both in and between these two images. The former, shot on a sunny July 4, depicts the North Court in a state of construction-induced disarray. The photo itself, on the other hand, is clean and crisp — almost frozen.
PREFROSH — CLASS OF 2015 The road to comMITment
From that fateful moment on Dec. 16 when I was accepted to MIT, I knew that I was in for a very different four years than most of my friends, should I choose to attend. The shock of getting into the college that I had always considered my dream school didn’t wear off until several months later. However, as reality sunk in and I enjoyed the warm California winter and plentiful sleep of senior year, I started to wonder — was MIT truly where I wanted to go?
PREFROSH — CLASS OF 2015 Finding the right match
Click. Check. Click. In the span of a few seconds, I went from being an undecided high school senior to a member of the MIT Class of 2015. As the confirmation screen loaded, I optimistically imagined attending an insanely difficult — yet rewarding — physics class, seeing a Saturday night show in Boston, or just hanging out with friends in a floor lounge, debating an insignificant topic with intricate precision. I began to really look forward to college.
Institute Double Take
An abstract perspective of MIT’s Chemistry building, Building 18, viewed from the west. At night, the windows light up in a grid pattern; the yellow glow strongly contrasts the black outer walls.
Events: May 3 - May 9
Events May 3 – May 9 Tuesday (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Student Art Association (SAA) presents their Spring Ceramic Sale — Lobby 10 (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Inside 150: Computers, Calculators and Cybernetics — MIT Museum (4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MIT150 Symposium: Brains, Minds and Machines — 26-100 Wednesday (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MIT Chamber Music Society Student Concert — Killian Hall (5:15 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Science Trivia Challenge — Broad Institute (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Hackfest 2011 (2.007 Competition) Preliminary round — W34 Thursday (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Artists Beyond the Desk Bi-annual Crafts Fair — 32-100 (9:00 a.m – 2:00 p.m.), E62 (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) CMS Colloquium Series presents Race and Representation after 9/11 — 2-105 (6:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) Hackfest 2011 (2.007 Competition) Final round — W34 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) DanceTroupe presents: Flux — W16 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital: Nathan C. Haouzi ’11, piano — Killian Hall (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital: Ka Yan Karen Lee G, soprano — Killian Hall (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital: Stephen R. Serene ‘12, cello and Nicholas Joliat (G), piano — Killian Hall (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows The King’s Speech — 26-100 Saturday (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Piano Student Recital — Killian Hall (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Wind Ensemble — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Woodwind Student Recital — Killian Hall (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MIT Concert Choir — Kresge Auditorium Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Colorful characters unite at Anime Boston 2011
Last weekend, I returned to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) for my second convention of the year, after the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in March. As I stepped from the cab so graciously paid for by The Tech, I was surprised to see no one outside the building in costume or actually, anybody at all. I approached the doors and peered inside to see … no one.
Melody Ball proof that even nerds care to dance
Every year, Anime Boston hosts a costume ballroom formal. This year’s event was called the Melody Ball, and it was the highlight of my Anime Boston, as always. The Melody Ball enforces a formal dress code and plays almost exclusively ballroom music, which makes it the ideal event for tuxedo enthusiasts, amateur ballroom dancers, and Disney fairy tale cosplayers — all of whom, as it happens, were in attendance.
Convention dos and don’ts, from your friendly campus newspaper
Preregister for tickets so you pay less.
Afterhours with Beth Taylor
Elizabeth Vogel Taylor PhD ’07 loves her role as an instructor at MIT. Since MIT instructors don’t run their own labs, they get to focus all of their time on teaching, which Taylor does, both in the 5.111 (Principles of Chemical Science) classroom and also in her work developing chemistry teaching tools. She spoke with The Tech about why she enjoys teaching chemistry and trying to teach German to her baby daughter.
MAY CONTAIN NUTS Healthy, ‘well’-thy, and wise
“How you doin’?” The common answer is “good” — or “well” for the grammatically correct. But is this really the case? Perhaps in a superficial sense, yes. But from a health standpoint, the answer may not be so fitting. For me, I know that this semester has taken quite a toll on my sleeping and eating habits. I’ve succumbed to the age-old truth that you have to pick two: sleep, grades, or friends.
Cheat Sheet aka that random stuff that never shows up on the test
The Tech: What’s your favorite place in the world?