News Briefs
MIT's mail system experienced its third outage in the past month on Sunday, April 1. The post office server po12.mit.edu was down for several hours between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Unlike the outages of po14 and po10 in early March, some incoming e-mail to the affected 250 users was bounced, or returned to its sender, with a cryptic error message. Information Services and Technology did not inform affected users of the outage, other than with a general notice on their outage announcement system, <i>http://3down.mit.edu</i>. IS&T was not able to estimate how many messages were affected and declined to provide information as to the cause of the outage or how likely it was to recur.
Lincoln Lab Not Guilty of Fraud, DoD Says
A Department of Defense investigation into long-standing allegations of fraud in a Lincoln Laboratory-led review of national missile defense tests has concluded that neither the review team nor Lincoln Laboratory management is guilty of research misconduct. The DoD investigative report, released Friday, pointed out problems with how the review’s results were presented — namely that critical information was omitted in the study — but said that these actions “did not rise to the level of research misconduct.”
OCW Gives Students Overseas Education Without MIT Degree
Lucifer Chu, a 31-year-old from Taipei, Taiwan, is as good an example as any of the shrinking distances between East and West.
MIT Sweeps Putnam, Team Takes Third Place
MIT’s team took third place in the 2006, 67th annual William Lowell Putnam Math Competition, behind teams from Princeton University and Harvard University. The University of Toronto and University of Chicago rounded out the top five.
Tech Reporter Takes Flight Over Massachusetts Town
While many students battled long lines at airport security checkpoints en route to spring break vacation destinations, I was strapped in and cleared for takeoff in the cockpit of a single-engine Warrior III airplane at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass. A complete novice in the area of aeronautics, I maneuvered the aircraft into position on the tarmac, my palms more than a little sweaty.
Two Student Life Deans to Leave MIT in June Newly Announced Position Will Combine Duties of Deans For FSILGs and Residential Life Programs
Two student life deans will leave MIT on June 30, 2007 as their positions are merged. The decision to combine the positions of Dean David N. Rogers, assistant dean and director of Fraternities, Sororities, and Independent Living Groups, and Dean Andrew J. Ryder, assistant dean for Residential Life Programs, comes in the wake of an earlier reorganization of the Division of Student Life.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between March 8, 2007 and March 26, 2007. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, larcenies, or medical shuttles.</i>
April Showers
The saying goes "April showers bring May flowers." We will certainly get to experience those April showers this week, as we return to work after the break.
Top Shiite Cleric Opposes U.S. Plan Concerning Baath Party
The most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq has rejected an American-backed proposal to allow thousands of former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to government service, an aide to the cleric said on Monday.
EPA Has Power to Regulate Gases, Rules Supreme Court
In one of its most important environmental decisions in years, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate heat-trapping gases in automobile emissions. The court further ruled that the agency could not sidestep its authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change unless it can provide a scientific basis for its refusal.
Shorts (right)
Gov. Deval L. Patrick of Massachusetts has ordered the state Department of Public Health to register the marriages of 26 out-of-state same-sex couples whose licenses were kept from state records by the former governor.
Shorts (left)
A day after members of an American congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad's central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans' conclusions.
South Korea, U.S. Agree on World's Largest Bilateral Free Trade Deal
U.S. and South Korean negotiators struck the world's largest bilateral free trade agreement on Monday, giving the United States a badly needed lift to its trade policy at home and South Korea a chance to reinvigorate its export economy.
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Detainees' Habeas Corpus Case
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear urgent appeals from two groups of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The 45 men sought to challenge the constitutionality of a new law stripping federal judges of the authority to hear challenges to the open-ended confinement of foreign citizens held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba and designated as enemy combatants.
From the Editor
After receiving comments from some readers, we would like to clarify the role of <i>The Tech</i>'s opinion section, which includes letters, opinion columns, and editorials.
Corrections
The photo of Storm Troopers marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade on page 9 of the March 20 issue was incorrectly credited to Kristina M. Holton. It was actually taken by Christine Moran.
INTERVIEW Blink and You’ll Miss It
Starting this week, third year MIT graduate student Daniel G. Pressl G will be presenting some of his impressive high-speed photography work at an exhibition in Austria entitled “2fast4U.” Pressl has set up booths in the Infinite Corridor and Stata Center that will allow MIT students to interact with people at the Austrian exhibit. I was able to sit down with Pressl, and he told me about his project and how people in the MIT community can get involved.
Zimmerman Earns All-Around Title at NCGA Championships
Julia C. Zimmerman '09 became just the second women's gymnast in MIT history to win the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) All-Around title on Friday, March 24 when she earned first-place in the competition with a score of 38.175
NCAA Regionals Provide Drama, Entertainment Behind the Scenes
The NCAA basketball championships involve more than Florida's quest for a repeat title or Ohio State's 19-year-old center, Greg Oden, who looks old enough to run for president.
Red Sox Nation Rejoices as Season Begins
The Red Sox lost their season opener to the Royals, 7-1, last night. Hopefully, the late-night glimmer over Fenway that returns on April 10 will mean no more losses to teams like Kansas City. Here are the events leading up to what should be a promising season.
Baseball Shatters Records With 29-5 Victory
The Tech baseball team shattered a single-game program record with 33 hits en route to a 295 victory over Middlebury College in the Greater Phoenix Invitational. Despite the loss of four key starters and a completely revamped lineup, it took only three games for MIT baseball to once again assert its position among the top teams in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).
