New class offerings on Haiti Project-based courses focus on providing aid
In response to the Jan. 12 earthquake, MIT has offered classes focusing on Haiti and how students can help. The Martin Luther King Jr. Design Seminar (17.920) over IAP created a Lobby 10 display and this spring, Special Topic: New Media Projects For Haiti (MAS.963) will study some of the issues Haiti is now facing.
N.E.R.D to play Spring Weekend concert
Hip-hop prevailed over nineties soft-rock in this year’s annual MIT Spring Weekend concert. The American funk-rock/hip-hop group N.E.R.D — known for edgy tracks like “Sooner or Later” and “Everyone Nose” — will headline the concert. Electronic mash-up group Super Mash Bros. playing the opening act. The concert will occur on April 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets will be available starting March 1.
New ‘GWAMIT’ Women’s Group
Though about half of undergraduates are women, among graduate students, women are outnumbered by men two-to-one. For these women, the campus can be an isolating place.
Serenade me, Valentine!
So you’re sitting in 18.02 lecture in your classy “I Heart Bio” t-shirt, nodding off as you peruse the latest edition of The Tech. Suddenly, a horde of teenage males wearing a riot of colorful shirts and ties burst into your classroom.
Cyberspying fears help fuel China’s drive to curb internet
BEIJING —Deep inside a Chinese military engineering institute in September 2008, a researcher took a break from his duties and decided — against official policy — to check his private e-mail messages. Among the new arrivals was an electronic holiday greeting card that purported to be from a state defense office.
Shorts (left)
<i>VAIL, Ariz.</i> —Students endure hundreds of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school in this desert exurb of Tucson, and stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing (over seats) and sometimes punching (seats or seatmates).But on this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops.
Shorts (right)
CAIRO —Iran’s president boasted Thursday that his nation had the capacity to make weapons grade nuclear fuel if it chose to, in a speech designed to rally the nation as it marked the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Obama has edge over GOP in NYT/CBS poll
WASHINGTON —At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Barack Obama enjoys an edge over Republicans in the battle for public support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Bill Clinton undergoes surgery to clear a blocked artery
WASHINGTON —Former President Bill Clinton was taken to a New York hospital on Thursday after experiencing chest pains and underwent a procedure to clear a blocked artery that, if untreated, might have led to a heart attack within days, aides said.
North Korea apologizes for currency change blunder
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —The North Korean government has made a rare apology for a policy blunder and lifted a ban on using foreign currency, South Korean news organizations said Thursday.
Sunny weekend ahead
Wednesday’s storm was a major disappointment for those hoping for significant snow accumulations here in Cambridge. While the storm dumped around a foot of snow along the I-95 corridor from Washington D.C. to New York City, it remained stalled off the Long Island coast for most of the day on Wednesday. We therefore only experienced light snow and some drizzly rain; Logan Airport recorded 1.2” of snow. It appears that warm air advection wrapping around the storm allowed the temperatures to increase enough to prevent significant snow accumulation in Eastern Massachusetts.
European leaders vow to aid Greece during euro plight
BRUSSLES —European leaders promised Thursday to safeguard their common currency, the euro, by aiding Greece during its debt crisis. But they offered no immediate assistance to the Greek government and remained silent on how they would respond if investors remain jittery about Greece and other nations with weak economies that use the euro.
Biodiversity: the invisible crisis
One hundred species will go extinct today. Another hundred tomorrow, and a further hundred the day after that. We lose roughly one hundred species of plants and animals every single day, and it’s all your fault.
Bomb ’em when they’re down
It shouldn’t be necessary at this point, but given the pockets of feigned disbelief that remain abroad, it deserves repeating: The Iranians are developing nuclear weapons. Rhetorically, they continue to maintain the pretense of pursuing peaceful nuclear power, but the structure of their program belies its true nature as a weapons development effort. Their near-exclusive focus on isotopic enrichment, their construction of clandestine facilities, and their recent decision to enrich uranium to levels higher than what is necessary for commercial power plants are all signals that should remove whatever doubt remains of Iranian intentions. What Iran has achieved to date amounts to a small but growing breakout capacity. If they continue on their current pace, by mid-2010 they will have enough low-to-medium enriched uranium to produce several atomic bombs and the centrifuge capacity to bring that material to weapons readiness within a few months.
One country, one set of standards
<i>This is the second in a three-part series on education reform in America.</i>
Corrections
The headline for the sports column “Saints beat Colts 37-17 for their first Super Bowl title” in Tuesday’s issue misstated the final score of the Superbowl game. The correct score was 31-17.
Interim elections and upcoming campaigns
The first Senate meeting of the Spring semester was held on Monday, February 8. Interim Senate Speaker and Vice-Speaker elections were held during the meeting: Tim J. Stumbaugh ’12 was elected Speaker of the Senate, and Tim R. Jenks ’13 was elected Vice-Speaker. Senate members discussed ways to unify the voices of undergraduate student leaders to clarify the undergraduate viewpoint in the eyes of administrators. Other discussion topics included the proposal for allowing second semester freshman to live off-campus, suggestions to improve the FSILG recycling program, the release of the final version of the Institute-wide Planning Task Force report, and reformatting the procedure for nominating undergraduates to Institute Committees.
A distinctly american tradition
I think we can all agree that the Super Bowl is much more than a football game. Over the years, Super Bowl Sunday has morphed into an extravagant American holiday deeply rooted in the modern media culture. Aside from the loud parties, copious amounts of beer and hot wings, star-studded half-time time shows, and (of course) football, this national day of celebration has also become an advertising gold mine.
CONCERT REVIEW Mehldau tells the story of pop
Acclaimed jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, on his penultimate U.S. tour date before heading to Europe, treated Sanders Theater to a solo performance last Friday. The venue’s Steinway filled the space, highlighting notes in the upper registers and allowing lower notes to reverberate appropriately. Mehldau entered minutes after 8 p.m. wearing a brown suit, and promptly began after switching the piano bench onstage with one he’d found backstage. “There was another gig before me,” he informed the audience, eliciting laughs and foreshadowing what would be an intimate night.
ALBUM REVIEW The Columbia crew goes to Cali
<i>Vampire Weekend</i>’s debut album in 2008 surfed the crest of the collegiate retro-pop wave (with the likes of <i>Chester French</i>, <i>This is Ivy League</i>). As everyone in the industry knows, a band’s image is as important as music. Although there have been many great musicians, those lacking a visual concept often find themselves eclipsed in popularity by bands with less talent but better taste in sneakers.
DOUBLE SOY LATTE, PLEASE! I’d rather be studying on Newbury Street
<i>If the Student Center has become your all-in-one dining hall, study room, and bedroom, allow me to suggest a simple lifestyle change. Coffee shops and cafés are no longer havens for artsy Mac users with thick-rimmed glasses who work from home. Toting my clunky Dell, visually aided by my contact lenses and armed with full-time student status, I’ll be writing about Boston-area cafés near MIT so that you’ll finally be able to get that Reading Room stench out of your clothes. </i>
ALBUM REVIEW An impressive step backwards
I was a little apprehensive when I first listened to Spoon<i> </i>s new album, <i>Transference</i> — there was just something unexpected about it. I’d identified the indie rock band’s sound to be defined by the cadenced drum beats, crisp piano/guitar pulses, and overall pathological catchiness à la “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” and “Don’t You Evah” from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007). Where was the hook that first drew me into the band?
Upcoming Home Events
Saturday, February 6 Men’s Volleyball vs. Regis College 11 a.m., Rockwell Cage Men’s Volleyball vs. Daniel Webster College 3 p.m, Rockwell Cage Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Coed Invitational 12 p.m., Johnson Track Men’s Basketball vs. Coast Guard 2 p.m., Rockwell Cage Monday, February 15 Men’s Volleyball vs. Lesley University 7 p.m., Rockwell Cage
Scoreboard
Men’s Basketball Thursday, 2/11 vs. Clark University W 59-52 Women’s Basketball Thursday, 2/11 vs. Wheaton College W 75-65 Men’s Volleyball Tuesday, 2/9 vs. Endicott College L 3-2 Thursday, 2/11 at Wentworth College W 3-0
ATHLETES’ CORNER
The MIT Alpine Ski Team had its last two regular-season races at Wildcat Mountain last weekend, wrapping up its inaugural season as a club sport.
Upcoming Home Events
Saturday, February 6 Men’s Volleyball vs. Regis College 11 a.m., Rockwell Cage Men’s Volleyball vs. Daniel Webster College 3 p.m, Rockwell Cage Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Coed Invitational 12 p.m., Johnson Track Men’s Basketball vs. Coast Guard 2 p.m., Rockwell Cage Monday, February 15 Men’s Volleyball vs. Lesley University 7 p.m., Rockwell Cage
And The Vibrator Goes To…
<b>V</b>alentine’s Day is this Sunday, and regardless of your relationship status, you should learn to “love” yourself properly.
