MIT Student Fights to Protect Activists’ Privacy
A New York City Law Department subpoena to an MIT graduate student over text messages has raised questions about how the First Amendment protects online speech, and whether the government is allowed to ask service providers for messages they store.
A Record Number of Students Attend Campus Preview Weekend
A record number of prospective freshmen — 1021 — have descended upon MIT for this year’s Campus Preview Weekend, according to Ben Jones, Associate Director of Admissions. The event, which ten years ago was meant to attract women and minority students to MIT, is now open to all admitted freshmen. CPW has grown explosively since then, increasing from 974 last year and 868 the year before.
Students Use MIT Skills For Indian Flood Relief
I arrived in Delhi, like most international travellers, in the middle of the night, when the temperature was a mere 70 degrees. I walked out of the terminal to see a melee of taxi drivers soliciting the custom of shell-shocked travellers with the latest Bollywood hits blaring out of tinny speakers. It was, you know, the usual spring break scene.
Sloan Group Received Homophobic Threats
A Sloan student was not expelled or suspended after sending a homophobic, threatening e-mail to members of the Sloan LGBT student group.
News Briefs
Wednesday’s issue of <i>Tech Talk </i>appears to violate federal law. A front-page article discussing Dan Ariely’s book “Predictably Irrational” included a color image of a U.S. $1 bill. The image is 5.125 long, 85 percent as long as a real $1 bill. Printed images of U.S. currency must be “of a size less than three-fourths or more than one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of any matter so illustrated,” according to 18 USC § 504, as amended by the Department of the Treasury under amendment 411.1.
Student Center Cleaners Closed by State
If students looked a little wrinkly this week, it’s probably because their dry cleaners have been out of a job.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between Feb. 27, 2008 and April 3, 2008. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, or medical shuttles.</i>
Warm Weather on Hold for Now
The calendar says it’s spring and the sun is high in the sky, so why you say are 30s°F and 40s F in the forecast? No it’s (probably) not some cruel weather modification prank for campus preview weekend, but instead an inescapable characteristic of spring-time in coastal southern New England. After a long winter, water temperatures near Boston are still only in the upper 30s F (water has a high heat capacity). High pressure areas to our north (with clockwise wind circulation) or low pressure areas to our south (vice-versa) can both orient wind from the Atlantic which subsequently cools down all of New England. The latter is expected for this weekend, the low pressure also bringing rain and leaving the first two Sox-Yanks games in doubt.
Bush Signals No Early Troop Reductions for Iraq Forces
President Bush said Thursday that the senior U.S. commander in Iraq could “have all the time he needs” before reducing U.S. forces there any further, but he promised shorter tours for troops and longer breaks for them at home.
New Fight for Sadr City Becomes Proving Ground for Iraqi Military
The Iraqi soldiers pushed their way up a main thoroughfare in Sadr City over the past week, but the militias who still prowl the Shiite enclave were sniping at them from the alleyways.
Top Olympic Committee Official Makes Rare Criticism of China
China faced rare criticism of its human rights record from the head of the International Olympics Committee on Thursday, even as calls for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the games grew louder in Europe and the United States.
Clinton’s Poverty Policy Brings Back Memories of Rift in 1996 Campaign
In the summer of 1996, President Bill Clinton delivered on his pledge to “end welfare as we know it.” Despite howls of protest from some liberals, he signed into law a bill forcing recipients to work and imposing a five-year limit on cash assistance.
Thousands Struggle With Mass Cancellations of Airline Flights
On Monday, Karin Peyregne was in Mobile, Ala., kissing her husband and two young sons goodbye, on her way to a base near Chicago for basic training in the Navy.
Shorts (left)
Portions of the sky above, the water around, and streets all over New York will be sealed off next week when Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the city.
Shorts (right)
In the midst of yet another controversy about whether vaccines cause autism, the federal government will hold its first ever public meeting on Friday to discuss a government-wide research agenda to explore the safety of vaccines.
CONCERT REVIEW Sasha and Digweed Melt Faces, Shake Booties
April in Boston can be a rough time for electronic music fans. For those who couldn’t make the pilgrimage last month to Miami for the Winter Music Conference, the perpetual mist and bluster of the northeast might leave the heart yearning for the warm beaches and thumping bass of more hospitable party scenes.
CONCERT REVIEW Three Nights of Da Dirty Jicks
Disregarding the aching belly of my slim wallet, I shelled out to see Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks three times on their North American tour (well, okay, one night was compensated, but still). Had all three New York dates not sold out almost instantly, I’d probably have bought tickets for them, too. Did I do it out of fanaticism? For the sake of x-treme journalism? Or did I just have nothing better to do with my time? Regardless of motives, I got to catch three great concerts, each one markedly different from the last despite the unavoidable similarities.
MOVIE REVIEW ★★★ 1/2 A Bold Red Balloon
In Hou Hsiao-hsien’s <i>Flight of the Red Balloon</i>, the balloon in question seems to drift into every corner of a melancholy-tinged Paris; it drags through a quiet skyline and is glazed onto the side of a building, it sits within oil paintings and computer screens. Most prominently, the balloon occupies an unspoken space in a small network of Parisian lives: it sparks their perception and weighs on their memory.
The Dilemma: Supporting Your Fantasy Team or Favorite Team
March Madness has ended and baseball season has just begun, prompting plenty of trash-talking about brackets and fantasy teams. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Duke basketball (relatives live near there) and Boston Red Sox (family grew up here) fan. You can imagine my chagrin, then, when I objectively picked the University of North Carolina to win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament rather than my beloved Duke. It’s the same feeling that I had last year when several groups of my friends asked me to join their fantasy baseball leagues, and I ended up with several Yankees players, including Alex Rodriguez.
GAME OF THE WEEK Men’s Lacrosse Wins Overtime Thriller on Garvey’s Late Goal
Corey Garvey ’10 scored with 1:44 left in overtime to give the MIT men’s lacrosse team an 8-7 win over host University of Massachusetts Boston on Tuesday. With the win, the Engineers improved to 2-6 on the season while the Beacons fell to 1-6 overall.
Garthwaite, Peterson, Wojcieszynski, Blankstein Enter Institute Top Eight
The lightweight crew team finished their indoor winter training season with four men breaking into the Institute’s top eight 5k records. Co-captain William R. Garthwaite ’08 and Andrzej “Woj” P. Wojcieszynski ’08 earned second and seventh in the record books with times of 17:17.4 and 17:31.8, respectively. Meanwhile, Raphael “Raffi” R. Peterson ’10 earned fifth with a time of 17:23 flat and co-captain Aaron M. Blankstein ’10 took eighth with 17:38.3.
sMITe Finishes Seventh in Yale Cup After Wins Against Brown, Williams, Vermont
The MIT women’s ultimate frisbee team “sMITe” came in seventh out of 16 teams at the Yale Cup tournament last weekend in New Haven. The tournament brought together top teams from the Northeast that MIT will be playing throughout the spring season in the competition to go to Nationals.
Men’s Volleyball Team Reaches Quarterfinals
The men’s volleyball team competed in their fourth consecutive North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Championship Tournament this past weekend at Ramapo College. The team earned a berth into the tournament after finishing the regular season with a 9-2 record in the New England Division of NECVA. The winner of the tournament advances to the Molten Division III Final Four.
WMBR Top Ten Albums of 1990*
Brought to you by Ben Shanks and Dugan Hayes from WMBR 88.1 FM
