Mass. Department of Public Health: Two ‘Probable’ Swine Flu Cases at MIT
Two MIT affiliates are considered to have had “probable” infections of swine flu, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health told MIT Medical on Friday.
Student Tested For Swine Flu; Results Aren’t In Yet
An MIT student was diagnosed with influenza yesterday, and samples taken from the student are being tested for the H1N1 swine flu. The test was routine and the student is not at high risk of having contracted H1N1 swine flu, an MIT physician said.
Many AP Test Instructors See Problems With Program
A survey of more than 1,000 teachers of Advanced Placement courses in American high schools has found that more than half are concerned that the program’s effectiveness is being threatened as districts loosen restrictions on who can take such rigorous courses and as students flock to them to polish their résumés.
Students Scramble to Pay Rising Tuition Bills
Each afternoon this spring, Brennan Jackson, an A-student who ranks near the top of his high school class, has arrived at his guidance counselor’s office to intercept the latest scholarship applications, as if they were a newspaper landing on his front stoop.
Dalai Lama Shares His Wisdom, Humor in Kresge Auditorium
For the second time in six years, the Dalai Lama spoke at MIT. But while last time he was a visiting guest, yesterday he was speaking to inaugurate a new center at MIT, the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.
Bizarre Assault Targets MIT Employee
Wednesday morning, a female MIT employee was confronted by a white male wearing sunglasses on the river side of Memorial Drive, opposite E52, according to a crime alert bulletin released yesterday by the MIT Police.
School Dining Halls Drop Cafeteria Trays To Cut Costs, Waste
John Belushi memorialized them in <i>Animal House</i> as he stockpiled edible projectiles for an epic food fight. Generations of college students in the Northeast have deployed them as makeshift sleds. But the once-ubiquitous cafeteria tray, with so many glasses of soda, juice and milk lined up across the top, could soon join the typewriter as a campus relic.
Dining Ideas Include $500 No-Food Option, Closing 3 Dining Halls
Two separate committees — one half-full of students, one all-student — have issued draft proposals about how to fix dining at MIT. So far, student reaction has been relatively mild.
Swine Flu Q&A
<b> What should I do?</b> Wash your hands. Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth when you’re out in public; you might touch something which a sick person touched or coughed on. Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze.
Video: Solar-Powered Subway Car Hack
MIT Hackers put a Boston MBTA Red-Line-style subway car on the wall around MIT's Great Dome on April 27, 2009, and it was solar powered. On April 28, 2009, with a large crowd watching and cheering, the subway car started moving.
Adela Maria Gutierrez, A Victim of Flu and Delay
Adela Maria Gutierrez fell ill on April 1 with what she thought was a bad cold. She tried aspirin and antibiotics, bed rest and moist towels, but nothing brought down her soaring fever, reduced her aches and pains, or boosted her energy level.
FDA Orders Warning Label For Botox and Similar Drugs
Botox and other similar anti-wrinkle drugs must now carry the most stringent kind of warning label, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
Shorts (left)
Heavy fighting raged for a third day in Pakistan’s northwest on Thursday as civilians flooded from the area and the Pakistani military reported some gains in pushing back Taliban insurgents.
There Is No Weather Machine!
Ever since the gorgeous weather during CPW, I have been receiving more “Nice job with the Weather Machine” comments than ever. As one of the few undergrad meteorologists, I usually just laugh it off. But recently, the rate at which I’ve been asked “Why did you make it rain all week?” has begun to annoy me. Let me set the score straight: the weather machine is a myth.
At Chrysler, Diverse Partners With Many Goals Cooperate
Before Chrysler can start building cars that more Americans want to buy, it will have to overcome considerable challenges.
NATO Expels 2 Russian Diplomats on Spy Charge
NATO has expelled two Russian diplomats from its headquarters in Brussels over accusations of espionage, officials said Thursday, threatening a new rift between the two sides just as relations were beginning to improve.
Shorts (right)
Maine could be the next New England state to embrace same-sex marriage after the state Senate voted Thursday to legalize the practice.
Gates Says U.S. May Need to Keep 100 Guantanamo Detainees
Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested Thursday that as many as 100 detainees would be held without trial on American soil if the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was closed, a situation that he acknowledged would create widespread if not unanimous opposition in Congress.
Letters to the Editor
I gradutated M.I.T. in 2000, just in time to see a thriving campus life undercut time after time by overzealous security measures enacted by spineless administrators in the face of mobs of Cambridge citizens and failed parents looking to the university system as a surrogate. I’ve seen the fraternity system whittled down and student freedoms trampled, their voices silenced on issue after issue, as former school bureaucrats move on to positions of power (or is that infamy) in certain (here unnamed) governments.
Arlen Specter Switches Parties
It’s not a happy time to be a Republican. After first losing control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2006, and then the White House this past election cycle, the Republican Party has lost a big name Republican senator from a blue state. Specter needed to switch to survive a primary challenge from right wing Republican Pat Toomey. Whatever the politics of the decision, it’s given the Democrats what they want: the opportunity for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Assuming Al Franken, Democratic Senator from Minnesota, who is facing a court challenge over the results of the 2008 Minnesota senate election from incumbent Norm Coleman, becomes seated, the Democratic caucus will reach the magic number 60 in the Senate required for shutting down the filibuster.
Democrats Need to Go Back to the Blackboard on Education Policy
Basketball-player-cum-Secretary-of-Education Arne Duncan recently outlined the president’s proposal to reform our nation’s schools, and for those who follow education policy, the plan was a frustrating let-down. Duncan’s plan consisted of two major points: increasing the resources put towards early childhood education and extending the school year. Both are failed strategies that will significantly raise educational costs without significantly improving results.
UA Update
Before the Senate proceedings last Monday, Vice Chancellor and Dean for Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72 met with students for a town-hall style meeting. Based on his experiences with the Institute, Lerman presented his perspective on how life at MIT has changed over the last decades, differences between undergraduate and graduate student culture, and the development of Athena. Additionally, he touched upon the bias that exists in the personnel aspect of the budget cuts due to administrators making the decisions, and he also mentioned the need for renovation both in dormitories and academic buildings.
Everyone Can Learn from Bombed Hack
Last Friday’s hack by Burton-Connor House and the subsequent investigation by MIT police, the Cambridge Fire Department and Cambridge Bomb Squad once again brought to the fore lingering questions regarding the relationship between MIT police and the hacking culture on campus. This most recent event especially highlighted the need for MIT students, administrators, and police to develop a common understanding of the obligations each group holds in our unique community.
CONCERT REVIEW The Dork-Punk Renaissance
The 50s had housewives and modular homes. The 60s had race riots and pot. The 70s had prog rock and wide ties. The 80s had punk and cocaine. The 90s had hip-hop.
MLB’s April Surprises: Mariners, Marlins Still Hold Division Leads
Two weeks ago, I made some comments and predictions about the young baseball season. Now, as teams wrap up their first month of play and we enter May, here’s the follow-up to that previous column, as promised…
The Tech’s Athlete of the Week: Samuel Harmatz ’12
The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) announced its 2009 Men’s Tennis All-Conference Team on Tuesday, with MIT picking up six first-team plaudits. Elia S. Harmatz ’12 was voted Rookie of the Year, marking the Engineers’ second straight selection and fourth overall.
Women’s Tennis Falls Against Bowdoin and Trinity Over Weekend
This past weekend the MIT women’s tennis team played Bowdoin College and Trinity College, losing to both in tough matches.
Squid vs. Whale
They canceled pistol. Really? I know desperate times call for desperate measures, but times must be really desperate if the Institute’s last resort was to anger a bunch of expert marksman. These guys can shoot the clubs out of a playing card from 20 yards, and you want to make them upset? Check the endowment. We must be more broke than Harvard. At least Harvard only had to evict some of the most preeminent biologists in the world to save money.
