Cambridge Bomb Squad Inspects Burton Third’s Concrete ‘Bomb’
On Friday morning, a dormitory hall’s publicity stunt bombed.<br> The Cambridge Bomb Squad responded to a heavy concrete block painted to look like a cartoon bomb, advertising the annual Dance Till You Drop party held by the Burton Third Bombers.
Burton Third Bombers’ Statement
We, the students of Burton Third, wish to issue a sincere and full apology for the events of the morning of April 24, 2009, for which we accept full responsibility. We understand that our actions have resulted in significant havoc for the Spring Weekend Committee, MIT Police, and community of Cambridge, and we regret wholly our failure to anticipate such an outcome. The offending object (a large concrete and sand “bomb,” modeled after the floor insignia and painted with the letters “DTYD XL” in black and orange) was created solely as a Hack to advertise an event to be held the same night. We did not intend to convey any threat or danger to the community. We pledge our full cooperation to the MIT police and administration to address any concerns pertaining to this issue.
MIT Avoids Norovirus; Campus Police Conduct Routine ‘Well-Being Checks’
<i>This occasional feature follows up on news stories long past their prime. In this edition: a contagious stomach bug misses the Institute but strikes close to home for one campus leader; don’t be alarmed if the police come knocking — they might just be checking that you’re OK; and a Walker Memorial bathroom has now been getting the same anti-gay graffiti for five years.</i>
Pistol & Gymnastics Among Eight Varsity Sports To Be Slashed
Eight of MIT’s 41 varsity sports will be cut at the end of the academic year — alpine skiing, golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, pistol, and wrestling.
2.007 Prof Gets Big Screw
Prof. Daniel D. Frey PhD ’97 received the Institute Screw on Wednesday afternoon, with $1128.51 in proceeds from the fundraiser going towards the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation.
Annual Baker House Piano Drop Commemorates Spring Drop Date
A 500 pound piano played its last song yesterday evening after it was launched off Baker House’s roof during the annual Piano Drop, which commemorates the spring term deadline for dropping classes.
Shorts (left)
In 1971, flush with the nation’s success in putting a man on the moon, President Richard Nixon announced a new goal. Cancer would be cured by 1976, the bicentennial.
Shorts (right)
A long-awaited U.N. report that was presented Wednesday to senior Iraqi officials proposes several options for Kirkuk province, including making it an autonomous region as a way to defuse simmering tensions between Kurds and Arabs over its oil wealth.
Record Warmth This Weekend
It’s that time of year again, when you no longer need your coat outside, but instead must wear it inside. I am referring to a series of warm, summer-like days, followed by the inevitable switch from heat to air conditioning in MIT’s buildings. This weekend looks to do the trick, with Saturday’s forecasted high of 82°F approaching the record high of 83°F (set in 1982), and Sunday’s high of 85°F challenging the current record of 85°F (set way back in 1872).
U.S. Questions Pakistan’s Will to Stop Taliban
As the Taliban tightened their hold over newly won territory, Pakistani politicians and U.S. officials on Thursday sharply questioned the government’s willingness to deal with the insurgents and the Pakistani military decision to remain on the sidelines.
Plight of Carmakers Could Upturn All Pension Plans
Decisions that the government will make soon on the future of General Motors and Chrysler could accelerate the decline of traditional pension plans, which have sheltered generations of workers from an impoverished old age.
Letters to the Editor
I think Mr Blascovich’s editorial Stop Whining and Start Cheering overlooks a few fundamentals.
The Schizophrenic-in-Chief
In hindsight it’s hard to believe, but there once was a time when I thought I knew where President Obama stood on free trade. Just a year ago he was on the campaign trail in Ohio, claiming that “one million jobs have been lost because of NAFTA” and pledging as president to “renegotiate” the treaty to the satisfaction of labor interests in the U.S. In front of crowds of unemployed workers in Ohio and Texas, his beliefs were as simple as they were hyperbolic: free trade agreements “ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart.”
Moving from “DAPER” To “DAR”
Many other letters have spoken passionately and clearly about the need for MIT’s varsity athletic programs and so I will try and constrain my comments to addressing solutions to DAPER’s budget gap.
UA Update
The Undergraduate Association Dining Proposal Committee has been meeting weekly and engaging in conversations with members of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Dining and representatives from peer institutions, such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. The Dining Proposal Committee’s report will be released today and will be made available at <i>http://ua.mit.edu/dpc/</i>.
Corrections
An article on March 17 about increases to graduate student stipends incorrectly stated that all graduate student stipends increased by 3.4 percent. Actually, the recommended stipends for science and engineering departments increased by that amount. Those stipends are allowed to deviate from the recommendation announced by Dean for Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72 and Associate Provost Claude R. Canizares. Any department stipends 15 percent above or 10 percent below the recommended amount must be approved by the school dean and the associate provost.
Vandalism of Pro-Life Bulletin Board Silences Debate
I was surprised to learn that there has been a small vandalism wave targeted towards specific advocacy groups along the Infinite Corridor. In the past two months, a display about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was removed, a Martin Luther King display was vandalized twice, the United Christian Organization (UCO) bulletin board was torn down and pro-life ads were completely taken down along with the entire pro-life Bulletin Board.
The ‘Next Big Thing’ at Spring Weekend
Man, don’t you wish you could have been at South by Southwest (SXSW) last month? While you were sitting in class, the Next Big Things were stamping out names for themselves, playing free shows in backyards at all hours of the day. Yeah, SXSW, the focal point of the entire music industry, is a pretty friggin’ sweet deal for any music fan.
The Return of a Master
Sometimes I wish I could write prose like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music. Maybe that’s a difficult lesson to learn in itself: Mozart’s music isn’t boring; it’s elegant. It’s the sheer simplicity that can be maddening, and Mozart isn’t an exception — the harmonic ease and clarity of melodic lines in Mozart’s music often seem bland or generic, and that, in itself, seems to be the sticking point: it’s not everyone who can write music so cleanly. After one listens to the music repeatedly, it somehow loses its blandness and realizes its — well — elegance.
Sports Shorts
The nationally-ranked No. 29 MIT women’s tennis team battled back from a 4-3 deficit to record a 5-4 victory over host Brandeis University on Tuesday. With the win, the Engineers improved to 12-6 on the season.
The Tech’s Athlete of the Week: Portia Jones ’12
After a record-setting performance at the Springfield Invitational over the weekend, Portia M. Jones ’12 has been named the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Track Athlete of the Week for the second consecutive week. The freshman was a part of one winning relay squad and helped set three school records on Saturday, as the Engineers took first place in the meet, their final tune-up before this weekend’s NEWMAC Championship. In addition, Jones was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Track Athlete of the Week for the first time this year.
Men’s Heavyweight Crew Tops Princeton, First Time Since ’75
This past Saturday, MIT’s varsity heavyweight crew defeated the Princeton University Tigers for the first time since 1975. Coming into the 76th Compton Cup, MIT was ranked 17th nationally with Princeton and Harvard University ranked 11th and fourth respectively. Since the inaugural Compton Cup race in 1933, MIT has historically trailed both crews by margins of 15 seconds or more. Over the lifetime of the cup, MIT has won once, in 1962, and has placed 2nd only a handful of times. The finishing times this weekend were: Harvard (6:00.3), MIT (6:08.6), and Princeton (6:09.4).
Ramblings From Hell
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how small I am — not only in stature, but in significance. I am a tiny person on a medium-sized planet in an even larger universe. In the scheme of things, I don’t matter. I am inconsequential.
