Learning how to say “no”
“Divya! You should come downstairs with your plate and fork. There’s a ton of food downstairs.” My friend looked at me with a sense of urgency as I walked into my room with Trader Joe’s grocery bags in hand.
Events Calendar
Events: Feb. 8 – Feb. 14 Tuesday (4:00 pm – 5:30 pm) Ronald L. Rivest speaks at 39th Annual James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture — 10-250 (12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MIT Produce Market — 32-TSMC Wednesday (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Nobel Laureate Peter Diamond PhD ’63 speaks at Sidney-Pacific Lecture Series: Search Frictions, Unemployment, and Vacancies — NW86 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Learn about the machine that will compete against two of the most successful players on Jeopardy. Watson on Jeopardy: The Turing Test Breaks the 4th Wall — 56-114 (7:15 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Join the Addir Fellows for Prof. Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One” From Interfaith 1.0 to Interfaith 2.0 — W11 Friday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) The Vagina Monologues — 32-123 (8:30 p.m.) iNight with the International Students Association — W20-202 saturday (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m) Professor Susan Reverby guest lectures at LUChA — 4-237 (7:00 p.m) LSC shows Red — 26-100 SUNDAY (6:30 p.m.) LSC shows Contact — 26-100 (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) International Folk Dancing — W20 Second Floor MONDAY (12:30–2:00 p.m) Japanese ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki speaks about US-Japan Relations: Where Are We Going? — E40-496 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
An even more modest proposal
In 2009, 43.6 million Americans were living poverty, a number compounded by the effects of the recession. Of all the hardships of poverty, the most tragic is the lack of food. It saps strength and leads to listlessness and apathy, not to mention stunting growth in our still-developing youth. In 2009, 50.2 million Americans were at risk of hunger, and 17.2 million of them were children.
Fitting fitness in your daily schedule
“Sleep, Grades, Friends — Choose 2.” I’m sure you’re well acquainted with that phrase. Unfortunately, from experience, I know that of the three, sleep is usually the most sacrificed option. And also unfortunately, in the wake of psets, exams, and extracurriculars, sleep is not the only health-related activity that takes a back-seat.
10 websites you might not have heard of
Every once in a while, you run into someone who’s lived in a particular city for a long time and knows her way around. She call tell you the best local restaurants, the coolest clubs, and which places to avoid at all costs (the real-life equivalents of 4chan.org). I like to think of myself as that person — except for the Internet. So I might as well show everybody around. Here are ten good sites that you’ve probably never heard of:
Editor’s Note
Campus Life will be adding new features this volume, and I hope you’ll like them.
Events for Feb. 1 – Feb. 6
Tuesday 1. TBP MIT Spring 2011 Career Fair (9 a.m.–3 p.m.) — Rockwell Cage 2. Sloan’s Africa Business Club hosts Georgina Theodora Wood, the Chief Justice of Ghana (5–7 p.m) — E51-115 (Wong Auditorium) Wednesday 1. Sidney-Pacific Lectures Series lecture by Prof. Peter Diamond (6–7 p.m.) — Sidney-Pacific Multi-Purpose Room 2. Dress For Success Fashion Show (7:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m.) — 10-105 (Vannevar Bush Room) Thursday 1. First performance of Dramashop’s Hydriotaphia (8–10 p.m.) — Kresge Little Theater 2. IPTV: The Scrum for the Last Six Feet with Mark Cuban (5:30–9 p.m.) — E51 (Wong Auditorium) Friday 1. Final day of APO Book Exchange (10 a.m.–5 p.m.) — W20-307 (Student Center, Mezzanine Lounge) 2. Technology Through Time: 150 Years of MIT History - Opening Reception (1:00–3:00 p.m.) — 14N-130 Saturday 1. Inside 150: Stories of the Institute (2–3 p.m.) — MIT Museum 2. Final performance of Musical Theatre Guild’s Jekyll and Hyde (8–10 p.m.) — W20-202 (La Sala de Puerto Rico) Sunday 1. Folk Dancing: Greek Night! (8 p.m.–11 p.m.) — W20-202 (La Sala de Puerto Rico) 2. LSC shows The A-Team and Megamind (7 p.m., 10 p.m.) — 26-100
A Boston holiday
I spent my holidays this year at a place few people on campus saw during break. Some people went home, others went on vacation. I stayed in Cambridge and Boston.
The app that ate my summer
I’m the Ash Ketchum of programming. I want to be the very best — which is why it pains me that I’m still nothing close to an elite coder. So when my parents bought me the new Sprint HTC Evo 4G last summer, I decided that I was going to write an Android app. I needed something fun to do while home for summer break, and becoming an Android developer would help further my progress toward the 10,000 hours of practice that Malcolm Gladwell insists I need to be really good at something.
Taking the initiative
Dating is hard these days for women like me. While nothing short of charming, women at MIT are a different breed of female: We’re stronger, more empowered, and generally smarter than your average girl down the street.
Google me — I dare you
I have become a fiercely private individual when it comes to my romantic life. These days, it takes me a while to warm up to people enough to even acknowledge whether or not I have a boyfriend. It’s not information I usually freely offer, and I don’t believe that undermines any of my feelings towards a romantic partner. Instead, I think it’s a greater testimony of my independence with my refusal to ever publicly acknowledge an intimate relationship.
A night in at the movies
Hosting a good double feature, like assembling a good mix tape, is an art form. Sure, you could theoretically pick any two movies based on random selection or convenience and watch them together, but if you’re going to sit down with your friends and spend four to five hours staring at the same screen together, you might as well take a little extra time to plan. You could take any of several different approaches in picking which movies to watch and what order to watch them in, depending on the situation.
VARIOUS STATES OF UNDRESS What what (in the butt)
I’m making no bones about this: My sex life has been pretty sucktastic lately. Two horrible hookups at the beginning of the semester did a lot to deter me from any carnal pursuits, at least for a while.
A diamond in the rough, miles underground
Seemingly in defiance of all logical conventions of game development, a computer game called <i>Minecraft</i> is quickly gaining popularity. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a big deal — statistically speaking, some games have to do well. What makes <i>Minecraft</i> unusual is that it’s still in development, with a dev team of approximately one. With some exaggeration — the core gameplay idea comes from <i>Infiniminer</i> by Zachtronic Industries, and the audio and art assets have their own designers — <i>Minecraft</i> is designed and programmed by Markus Persson and his company Mojang Specifications.
A tale of French bravery and American cowardice
I’ve always been perplexed by all the rules and conventions of dating the American way. I don’t understand how “it’s complicated” ever came to be a relationship status, and I don’t understand why people would pay to read books or see movies based around making women realize that guys are not that into them.
“Bars of Color”
It was the middle of September 2010, and I was still the wandering freshman beguiled at everything MIT presented — from the snake–y tunnels to the TEAL classes and even to the problematic problem sets!
Power Gig shakes up the rhythm genre
Seven45 Studios released <i>Power Gig: Rise of the SixString</i> released October 19, an indie developer’s first toe–dip into the rhythm game swimming pool. By far the most intriguing aspect of <i>Power Gig</i> is the revolutionary use of a bona fide electric guitar as the primary controller for guitar gameplay, a first at time of release with some serious implications.
Harmonix releases Rock Band 3
Harmonix Music Systems’ newest rhythm game releases today. Gamers eagerly awaiting the release of <i>Polka Band</i> will be tragically disappointed to know that the accordion–fest they had hoped for is still a long time coming. In the meantime, they’ll have to make do with the new <i>Rock Band 3</i>.
Love those turtlenecks
I recently received a call from a friend who had found herself in a tricky situation with a foreign male. You see, they were feeling a bit frisky and decided to get better acquainted, and her excitement quickly diminished once she was ambushed by the fella’s uncircumcised ween.