RANDOM NEURONAL FIRINGS A roadmap for surviving MIT
“The ultimate lesson I learnt on my first day of international students’ orientation: Nothing at MIT can be done in a single try.” — This was my Facebook status a year ago when I had just arrived on campus. I admit, after running to the basement of the Student Center twice to get a photo taken for my ID and failing to find the right entry to the MacGregor convenience store, I was exasperated. Throughout my freshman year, I often needed help getting work done in a single try. And as it turns out, help will always be given at MIT to those who ask for it. So dear freshmen, here’s my advice to you:
Institute Double Take
In winter, melting snow reveals a layer of rich food mainly consisting of insects. This is an open invitation for the geese that have gathered at Briggs Field to take advantage of this delicious opportunity. While this is a feast for the geese, they make a mess on the field. Coyote decoys are occasionally installed to drive away these geese. This picture, taken in the winter of 2010, show geese alerted by the presence of a photographer.
PREFROSH Celebrating different
As the perfect summer days slide by, I’m beginning to notice with mild dissatisfaction that I’ve been on autopilot. Have you ever habitually smelled or tasted something, only to be jolted out of the reverie by some unexpected new sensory feedback? Just about every day in high school, I drank chocolate milk with lunch; consequently, when I unconsciously brought golden apple juice to my lips one day, I was shocked by the thin, acidic taste. “Bleh, what happened?” was my instant reaction. It took me a couple moments to remember that the cafeteria had run out of milk.
MAY CONTAIN NUTS SPF: Sun Plus Fun
For as long as I can remember, the sun and I have not had the best of relationships. When I was five, my mother would devise every scheme imaginable to excuse me from outdoor gym activities. The reason? She was fearful that my then-alabaster skin would become the burnt-beech color it is now. The notes she attempted to send (I shredded them frantically on the bus) to the gym teacher were priceless. “She has allergy to the sun,” was one of the more ridiculous statements.
VIDEO GAME REVIEW Demon’s Souls: Turning boys into men
Fail to dodge an attack. Die. Walk into an “atmospheric” fire. Die. Fall off a castle wall. Die. Beat a boss, then walk into a dark tunnel and get ambushed by dogs. Die.
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The roof of the Green Building (Building 54) offers a unique view of MIT, Boston, and Cambridge. The evening sun beamed light through the thick clouds, lighting the dome above Lobby 10 and creating a stunning view. The mountainous, green horizon separated the sky and the city. In post-processing, a graduated neutral-density filter was applied to balance the dynamic range.
Consumer Reports Best Sunscreen Buys of 2011
The following sunscreens were ranked as Consumer Reports Best Buys for 2011 in a May press release. They were ranked based on price, UVA and UVB protection, and protection while submerged in water. Prices shown are the retail prices from each distribution company. Descriptions are from their websites.
PREFROSH Settling high school affairs
The hallways of my high school have emptied, the Class of 2011 has graduated, and I have reached the plateau linking a conquered challenge and the beginning of an intimidating journey. But while everything academic from high school has come to a final, satisfying halt, I’m still trying to conclude an equally significant portion of my life for the past four years: extracurriculars. I’m the type of person who can’t sit still atop a colossal mound of ideas. I was always going out to organize events, start traditions, and sign up for activities, but now I am struggling to bid my favorite things farewell.
NERDY WITH A CHANCE OF RANDOM Why grades suck
“You know what really grinds my gears?” as Peter Griffin of Family Guy fame would say. Grades. Grades annoy me more than a textbook that continuously switches between unit systems for no apparent reason. A letter that supposedly reflects the mastery of a subject actually disallows students to learn to their full potential. And the reasons for this endless frustration are as follows:
Guide to Pikan food codes
Because of the many different dietary restrictions at pika, pikans have created a system of abbreviations to identify the ingredients in dinners. Here is a handy guide in case you find yourself dining at pika’s table.
A taste of pika
Ah, summer. Free from the flurry of p-sets, labs, and tests burying us in a pile of work, I finally have time to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of life: leisurely reading books instead of hastily cramming for a HASS paper, staying up until 3 a.m. watching Doctor Who without worrying about sleeping through an alarm, and having time to explore Boston with my friends while the temperature permits shorts.
Institute Double Take
Orange skies in the early morning are a spectacular view. In the month of June, the sun rises over the dome, while in the winter, it rises between the Hancock Tower and Prudential Center — quite a dramatic shift. The key challenge while taking this picture was the dynamic range — the sun is much brighter than its surroundings, and even more so when it rises higher. With a few iterations in the manual mode (and the knowledge of post-processing freedom), one can take a picture that is uniformly illuminated.
NOT RELATED TO TIGER My many lovers
As the sexy beast I am — chicks dig acne — it should be no surprise to anyone that I have had a number of lovers over the years. Here, I go through my past relationships and explain why they ended:
PREFROSH Happy endings and new beginnings
Wearing our school’s black graduation gown with my ceremonial decorations, I became one of our school’s 475 seniors to walk across the stage at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. With my diploma in hand, I felt a satisfying sense of finality coupled with optimism: I was ready to take on the world. Adding some amusement to the situation was the fact that I immediately had to return to the symphonic band to provide the ceremony’s live music — I played at my own graduation.
Institute Double Take
An empty hallway inside MIT Medical provides a study in texture and shape. The walls, ceiling, and floor are all different materials. One wall is brick, and the other consists of windows, though the texture from this perspective is dominated by the windows’ wooden borders. The floor is smooth tile, while the ceiling appears to be concrete. The image is thus split into four nearly triangle-shaped regions. The borders between these regions seem to converge to a single vanishing point, and would do so were the hallway infinite instead of abruptly truncated by a glass double door.
NOT RELATED TO TIGER Five things I hate
Reviewing my recent Tech pieces, I noticed that my columns have been very positive and upbeat. Trying to come up with a way to balance out all of this positivity, I remembered a video by ItsKingsleyBitch, one of my favorite vloggers, titled “Things I Hate.” It gave me an idea: I should write a “Things I Hate” column.
You’ve got a degree from MIT, but can you cook?
Congratulations, Class of 2011! You’ve made it through four years in TFP; a countless number of late-night p-sets, excruciating examinations, sessions of procrastination filled with AngryBirds and Facebook stalking, too many gallons of caffeine to count, and a vast canvas of memories too large to comprehend. In between those episodes of work and fun, there were Ramen noodles, Lean Cuisine boxes, Domino’s Pizza with the infamous cheesy bread, and stashes of free food that were collected from random locations on campus (but who cares, right? It’s free food!). But now, you’re at the end of your time at MIT. As you enter the “real world,” it may be necessary to start cooking. If the thought of holding a spatula makes you hyperventilate, take a few deep breaths — The Tech has you covered. Below are a few easy recipes that will make you look like a culinary genius while also ensuring that the fire alarm doesn’t get tripped off every time you get near a stove.
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.