Café Spice to Reopen; New Dining Locations Planned for Campus
Several new dining locations are expected to arrive on campus in the new Sloan School, the new Koch Institute building, and Pritchett Dining, during next 18 months.
A Nuclear Advisory Panel Now Focusing On Waste Recycling
With a federal plan to handle nuclear waste in deadlocked disarray, an advisory panel that has spent 20 years studying a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain turned Wednesday to discussing ways of reusing the fuel instead.
MIT’s Post Office May Be Closed; Final Decision Expected in October
The fate of the MIT post office will likely be determined next month, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS). The office, slated for closure along with eight other Boston-area university post offices, has been on the chopping block since a July 30 USPS announcement. If the MIT branch is closed, its users will have sixty days to adjust their operations and redirect mail to the Kendall Square post office before the MIT branch shuts its doors.
Most Cut Varsity Sports Have Returned As CSC Club Sports This Season
Six of the eight teams stripped of varsity status last spring have been reinstated as club sports under the Club Sports Council. Two teams did not receive CSC recognition: women’s ice hockey, for which there already exists a club sport, and wrestling, which is still trying to regain varsity status.
Friends, Family Remember Hostess at Legal’s
Dozens of friends and family gathered at the Kendall Square Legal Sea Foods on Wednesday in memory of Anna McAllister, a beloved hostess at the restaurant who died recently.
DMSE Lab Construction on the Infinite Should Finish by Dec.
Sometime soon, probably early next year, passersby in the Infinite Corridor will look through glass windows to see a scanning acoustic microscope and cryogenic probe station in the Department for Materials Science and Engineering’s new Laboratory for Advanced Materials (LAM), currently under construction at the intersection of Buildings 4 and 8.
MIT Endowment Decreased by 20 Percent Last Fiscal Year, Ending 7 Years of Growth
MIT’s endowment has suffered during the recession, declining 20.7 percent in value since last year to $8.0 billion from $10.1 billion and ending a seven year period of growth, the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo) recently announced.
Terror Suspect Is Charged With Preparing Explosives
Federal authorities have charged a man jailed since last week with acquiring and preparing explosive materials like those used in the 2005 London subway bombings days before he traveled to New York City earlier this month, asserting that he and others were involved in a Qaida conspiracy to strike in the United States.
Obama Pushes To Update Global Rules on Nuclear Arms
President Barack Obama moved on Thursday to tighten the noose around Iran, North Korea and other nations that have exploited gaping loopholes in the patchwork of global nuclear regulations.
Twitter’s Market Capitalization To Reach $1 Billion
Twitter has trained people to compress their thoughts into 140 characters and given a public stage to both dissidents in Iran and voluble stars like Shaquille O’Neal.
AIDS Vaccine Shows Benefit, Pointing Way to More Study
Scientists said Thursday that a new AIDS vaccine, the first ever declared to protect a significant minority of humans against the disease, would be studied to answer two fundamental questions: Why it worked in some people but not in others, and why those infected despite vaccination received no benefit at all.
Energy Dept. Offers $10 Million Prize for Better Bulb
The ubiquitous but highly inefficient 60-watt light bulb badly needs a makeover. And it could be worth millions in government prize money — and more in government contracts — to the first company that figures out how to do it.
Shorts (left)
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that four New Jersey congressmen and its own former commissioner unduly influenced the process that led to its decision last year to approve a patch for injured knees, an approval it is now revisiting.
Shorts (right)
Gov. Deval Patrick today named Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former aide and longtime confidant of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, to Kennedy’s seat.
Who’s Eddy?
Many people are often foiled by the assumption that today’s weather will be the same as yesterday’s weather, finding themselves wearing shorts when things suddenly take a turn for the cooler side. Such quickly changing weather is a consequence of living in the midlatitudes, where the circulation pattern is dominated by what meteorologists call eddies.
‘Boston Globe’ Discovers 2007 MIT Project
When science reporters write about technology that isn’t really new, they should say so up front.
In Defense of the Art of the Pen
Both articles I’ve read about the change to the admissions essays have been so wishy-washy I find myself wondering if John Kerry is a ghost writer for <i>The Tech</i>. In an age where e-mails are being replaced by texts, magazines are being replaced by blogs, and blogs are being replaced by Twitter, MIT seems to have hopped on the shortening bandwagon with their recent decision to eliminate the long admission essay — and the biography-loving, multisyllabic-word-using, still-writes-with-pen-and-paper writer in me screams in indignation.
To Bomb Or Not To Bomb
Once again, tensions in the Middle East are running high. Many of the controversies swirl around Iran, which has made headlines recently for a variety of reasons — none of them positive.
UA Update
The voting period for the UA Senate, 2013 Class Council, 2011 Class Council Treasurer Elections has changed. Electronic voting at <i>vote.mit.edu</i> now begins tomorrow at 12:01 a.m. and ends on Thursday, October 1 at 11:59 p.m. Paper ballots will still be available in Lobby 10 on Friday, October 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The results will be posted on Saturday, October 3. Any questions should be directed to <i>ua-elect@mit.edu</i>.
Corrections
A front page “In Short” item in Tuesday’s <i>Tech</i> about a talk to be given by Noam Chomsky gave the wrong date for the event. The talk will happen on Tuesday, September 29, not Tuesday, September 22.
EXHIBIT REVIEW ‘Acting Out’ Is Raw and Humanizing
Video has become a trendy form of art. For one, seemingly ridiculous YouTube productions can silently generate millions of views, transforming the meaning of “expression” and “reality” along the way. And now, five artists from around the world confront this hot new medium by using it as an apparatus to study human interactions and cultural inclinations. The product of their combined efforts is <i>Acting Out</i>, a collection of social experiments captured on video and filtered through an artistic lens. It’s now playing on the fourth floor of Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA).
CD REVIEW From Harpsichord to Piano
Of the three sets of keyboard pieces J.S. Bach published between 1715 and 1730, the <i>Partitas</i> are, by far, the weirdest.
BOOK REVIEW Our Favorite Harvard Code Breaker Is Back
The famously controversial author of <i>The Da </i><i>Vinci Code</i> has succeeded in crafting a fascinating and suspenseful adventure brimming with new secrets, new twists and turns, and a refreshingly interesting — if not far-fetched — concept. Released on Sept. 15, this newest installment, <i>The Lost Symbol</i>, takes the reader on a harrowing thrill ride to uncover secrets in ancient mysticism and Masonic tradition. Despite some small imperfections, it delivers with a true Dan Brown “can’t-put-the-book-down” style mystery.
MOVIE REVIEW Brazilian Film an Ode to the Lonely
“Wherever you are, look to the sky and your star will guide you where you need to go… whatever happens or comes your way, you have your star to thank, more than you know.”
TELEVESION REVIEW For the High-Schooler Inside
Snobby cheerleaders? Check. Corny mantras? Check.
MIT Women’s Rugby Team Wins First Division Game Against Tufts
Rugby season is here once again, and the women from MIT have wasted no time in getting back to work on the pitch. After capturing the Division III championship at the annual Beantown College Tournament, where they blanked all four of their opponents, they were ready for the first test in their new Division. Last Saturday, the Tufts University team visited Briggs field to kick off the season with MIT.
Five Engineers Earn NEWMAC Weekly Accolades MIT Tops Springfield; May Records 1000th Kill
Following a highly successful week by a number of MIT teams, five student-athletes earned Athlete of the Week Awards from the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) on Monday. Hemagiri Arumugam ’10, Leslie A. Hansen ’10, Emily Kuo ’13, Kelly E. Schulte ’12 and Jacqueline M. Wentz ’10 were each tabbed as the league’s top performer of the week in their respective sports. Garnering Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week honors, Wentz helped MIT capture first place at the UMass-Dartmouth Invitational, a meet that featured many of the top squads in New England, including a number of NEWMAC schools. Wentz was the top overall finisher, a feat she accomplished twice as a junior, breaking the tape 19 seconds faster than her nearest competitor with a time of 17:40.
MIT Grad Student Competes in Pool Trick Shot Contest in Vegas
MIT graduate student Timothy E. Chin G, the 21st ranked player in the nation, placed third out of twelve competitors in the Ultimate Trick Shot Challenge, a pool trick shot tournament held in Las Vegas this past August.
