Museum kicks off MIT 150 celebration
A pulverized piano. The MIT CityCar. The original Bose prototype speaker. These items, and 147 others, will be presented to the world in the MIT 150 Exhibition at the MIT Museum. The exhibit, which aims to chronicle 150 years of Institute history through 150 objects, opens this Saturday to kick off a semester-long celebration of MIT’s 150th birthday.
Mental health needs growing Colleges see more crises
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Rushing a student to a psychiatric emergency room is never routine, but when Stony Brook University logged three trips in three days, it did not surprise Jenny Hwang, the director of counseling.
Many weigh in on Stanford v. Roche, siding with Stanford
Things are looking up for Stanford in Stanford v. Roche, the university intellectual property case headed for the Supreme Court.
Corrections
An article on Friday, Dec. 10 about changes in the legal landscape for gene patents referred imprecisely to Universities Allied for Essential Medicines as a “national student organization.” UAEM is a worldwide organization.
UA Finance Board allocations for IAP/Spring 2011
Group Requested Operations Allocated Operations Requested Capital Allocated Capital Requested Events Allocated Events Requested P&P Allocated P&P Total Requested Total Allocated % Allocated Active Minds at MIT $1,720 $1,720 $650 $550 $2,370 $2,270 96% African Students Association $1,570 $1,570 $125 $125 $1,695 $1,695 100% AIRMUN $200 $60 $260 0% American Red Cross Team and Network $1,418 $1,418 $980 $980 $135 $135 $2,533 $2,533 100% Amnesty International $2,035 $1,985 $200 $2,035 $2,185 107% Asian American Association $168 $168 $140 $140 $790 $790 $60 $135 $1,158 $1,233 106% Asian Baptist Student Koinonia $206 $206 $100 $100 $130 $130 $180 $180 $616 $616 100% Asian Christian Fellowship $125 $125 $90 $90 $420 $420 $125 $125 $760 $760 100% Association of Puerto Rican Students $40 $4,142 $3,125 $102 $91 $4,284 $3,216 75% Association of Taiwanese Students $70 $70 $2,290 $2,290 $100 $100 $2,460 $2,460 100% Asymptones $200 $200 $55 $55 $255 $255 100% Baptist Student Fellowship $450 $450 $25 $25 $475 $475 100% Best Buddies $170 $170 $65 $65 $235 $235 100% Biological Engineering & Biomedical Engineering Society $1,450 $1,450 $120 $120 $1,570 $1,570 100% Black Women’s Alliance $150 $1,020 $940 $90 $90 $1,260 $1,030 82% Brain and Cognitive Sciences Society $602 $572 $6 $6 $608 $578 95% Braintrust $55 $55 $220 $220 $41 $41 $316 $316 100% Campus Crusade for Christ $400 $800 $500 $75 $75 $1,275 $575 45% Camp Kesem MIT $1,804 $1,804 $380 $380 $2,184 $2,184 100% Caribbean Club $20 $20 $2,400 $1,900 $50 $2,420 $1,970 81% Caving Club $515 $515 $1,424 $1,424 $500 $500 $40 $40 $2,479 $2,479 100% Chamak $200 $200 $200 $200 100% Concert Band $200 $200 $1,075 $1,075 $750 $750 $185 $185 $2,210 $2,210 100% Cross Products $105 $105 $70 $70 $104 $104 $279 $279 100% Curling Club $350 $350 $310 $310 $660 $660 100% EASE $30 $170 $120 $60 $260 $120 46% Engineers Without Borders - MIT $14 $14 $436 $436 $500 $500 $950 $950 100% Equestrian Club $1,550 $1,250 $1,550 $1,250 81% GaMIT $1,505 $1,505 $25 $25 $1,530 $1,530 100% Gilbert and Sullivan Players $240 $240 $240 $240 100% Global Poverty Initiative $956 $956 $120 $120 $1,076 $1,076 100% Habitat for Humanity $1,200 $1,200 $1,976 $1,976 $200 $200 $3,376 $3,376 100% Hillel $175 $175 $400 $200 $2,060 $2,060 $285 $285 $2,920 $2,720 93% Hindu Students Council $325 $25 $30 $30 $770 $770 $90 $90 $1,215 $915 75% Hong Kong Student Society $100 $100 $1,900 $1,350 $2,000 $1,450 73% Imobilare $100 $100 $100 $100 100% International Development Consultants $50 $180 $350 $350 $710 $200 $1,110 $730 66% Komaza $500 $1,600 $2,100 0% Korean Students Association $70 $70 $300 $400 $200 $100 $100 $870 $370 43% La Union Chicana por Aztlan $1,600 $750 $2,906 $915 $215 $115 $4,721 $1,780 38% Lab for Chocolate Science $50 $50 $600 $600 $50 $50 $700 $700 100% Live Music Connection $780 $780 $375 $375 $1,155 $1,155 100% MentorConnection $600 $650 $100 $1,350 0% Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) $200 $200 $150 $150 $371 $371 $450 $450 $1,171 $1,171 100% MIT American Medical Student’s Association $1,400 $1,400 $70 $70 $1,470 $1,470 100% MIT Anime $31 $31 $3,070 $1,070 $470 $470 $11 $11 $3,582 $1,582 44% MIT Assassin’s Guild $220 $220 $120 $120 $580 $580 $100 $100 $1,020 $1,020 100% MIT Bhakti Yoga $1,500 $120 $1,620 0% MIT Bhangra $3,200 $825 $4,025 0% MIT Black Student’s Union $8,900 $1,200 $8,900 $1,200 13% MIT Casino Rueda $800 $250 $250 $810 $820 $40 $40 $1,900 $1,110 58% MIT Chess Club $553 $513 $180 $180 $445 $360 $20 $20 $1,198 $1,073 90% MIT Chinese Ensemble $40 $40 $160 $160 $50 $50 $250 $250 100% MIT Chinese Students’s Club $270 $120 $560 $340 $5,240 $2,490 $200 $250 $6,270 $3,200 51% MIT Chinese Yo-Yo Club $300 $300 $300 $300 $100 $100 $700 $700 100% MIT Dance Troupe $120 $120 $120 $120 100% MIT Debate Team $2,280 $2,280 $2,280 $2,280 100% MIT Filipino Students Association $650 $650 $650 $650 100% MIT Go Club $500 $500 $230 $180 $30 $30 $760 $710 93% MIT Gospel Choir $350 $350 $200 $300 $300 $100 $100 $950 $750 79% MIT HAPA $800 $800 $800 $800 100% MIT Hawaii Club $130 $130 $900 $900 $100 $100 $1,130 $1,130 100% MIT Intervarsity $100 $100 $310 $310 $75 $75 $485 $485 100% MIT LDSSA $220 $495 $100 $815 0% MIT Lion Dance Club $10 $10 $90 $90 $225 $200 $10 $10 $335 $310 93% MIT Logarhythms $1,500 $1,500 $50 $50 $150 $627 $180 $2,327 $1,730 74% MIT Marching Band $75 $75 $125 $125 $75 $75 $275 $275 100% MIT Mocha Moves $100 $100 $1,324 $1,324 $100 $100 $1,524 $1,524 100% MIT Muses $50 $50 $50 $50 $100 $100 100% MIT Pro-Life $480 $480 $480 $480 100% MIT Quidditch $250 $250 $370 $370 $300 $300 $75 $75 $995 $995 100% MIT Rocket Team $400 $400 $400 $400 100% MIT Satellite Team $500 $250 $100 $850 0% MIT Starleague $200 $40 $240 0% MIT Students for Israel $760 $760 $25 $25 $785 $785 100% MIT Syncopasian $20 $1,070 $1,090 0% MIT Traditional Medicine Society $1,450 $700 $315 $255 $1,765 $955 54% MIT Undergraduate Biochemistry Association $590 $590 $45 $45 $635 $635 100% MIT-EMS $455 $455 $400 $450 $450 $380 $380 $1,685 $1,285 76% mitBEEF $50 $50 $1,750 $1,150 $150 $50 $1,950 $1,250 64% Movements in Time Dance Company $400 $400 $400 $400 $540 $540 $95 $95 $1,435 $1,435 100% Mujeres Latinas $2,280 $1,370 $250 $123 $2,530 $1,493 59% Musical Theatre Guild $822 $822 $1,000 $1,000 $1,822 $1,822 100% National Society of Black Engineers $1,700 $1,700 $540 $540 $130 $130 $2,370 $2,370 100% National Society of Collegiate Scholars $944 $944 $50 $50 $994 $994 100% Network of Sloan Undergraduate Women $1,300 $1,300 $365 $365 $1,665 $1,665 100% Nigerian Students Association $100 $100 $650 $600 $60 $60 $810 $760 94% NOBCChE-MIT $1,025 $50 $1,075 0% Oori $300 $300 $300 $300 100% Order of Omega $300 $300 $25 $25 $325 $325 100% OrigaMIT $165 $165 $210 $210 $350 $250 $65 $65 $790 $690 87% Pershing Rifles C-12 (ABN) $400 $400 $650 $450 $1,050 $850 81% Protestant Student Community $620 $620 $94 $94 $714 $714 100% Resonance $520 $520 $2,350 $1,450 $280 $280 $3,150 $2,250 71% Ridonkulous $320 $320 $260 $260 $580 $580 100% RUNE $2,050 $2,050 $2,050 $2,050 100% Science Fiction Society, MIT $1,500 $1,500 $1,500 $1,500 100% Shakespeare Ensemble $740 $240 $400 $400 $100 $100 $50 $50 $1,290 $790 61% Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers $100 $200 $500 $100 $900 0% Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers $851 $851 $100 $100 $951 $951 100% South Asian American Students $1,420 $470 $500 $100 $1,920 $570 30% Strategic Games Society $200 $150 $45 $395 0% Student Juggling Club $68 $68 $1,427 $1,427 $75 $75 $1,570 $1,570 100% Students for the Exploration and Development of Space $200 $200 $350 $350 $25 $25 $575 $575 100% Techiya $276 $276 $276 $276 100% Toons $500 $500 $600 $400 $578 $368 $1,678 $1,268 76% Undergraduate Economics Association $1,000 $400 $1,400 0% Universities Allied for Essential Medicines $530 $80 $4,903 $1,360 $194 $30 $5,627 $1,470 26% Vietnamese Students Association $40 $40 $100 $60 $1,105 $780 $30 $15 $1,275 $895 70% Voo Doo $200 $200 $1,750 $1,750 $1,950 $1,950 100% Western Hemisphere Project $500 $500 $50 $50 $550 $550 100% Totals $32,133 $21,813 $17,733 $12,328 $101,910 $71,999 $19,967 $14,113 $171,743 $120,253 70%
Why a budget is like a diet — often ineffective
What would you do if your wallet became harder to open as your spending approached or exceeded your budget? Would you think twice about where your money was going?
Tweeting at the ’Tute
It’s no surprise that Facebook accounts make up 78 percent of total social networking usage online, according to marketing firm Social Twist — but what about Twitter? An update of 140 characters or less may seem like an unlikely news source, but more and more companies and organizations, including media outlets, are jumping to add Twitter to their methods of reaching the masses.
Anna Tang returns home to Brighton, Mass.
The saga of Anna L. Tang continues: will she be committed to a mental institution, or can she attempt to lead a normal life? Tang is the mentally ill former Wellesley student who stabbed MIT student Wolfe B. Styke ’10 in October of 2007. She was found not guilty of attempted murder and home invasion at her trial on Wednesday, Dec. 8, because she lacked the capacity to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.
Police Log, June–December 2010
Editor’s Note: The Tech has fallen rather far behind on printing these Campus Police log entries, which are reported by the Police on their web site (http://web.mit.edu/cp/). We have devoted some effort to automating our production of this data, and expect to report it in a more timely fashion in the future. We are “caught up” as of today’s paper.
Wolfe Styke sues MIT for $50,000
Wolfe B. Styke ’10 is suing MIT and Russell J. Novello, a former Next House security guard, for $50,000 in a personal injury lawsuit filed in October in Middlesex Superior Court.
Turkish cultural and economic influence on the rise in Iraq
ZAKHO, Iraq — A Turkey as resurgent as at any time since its Ottoman glory is projecting influence through a turbulent Iraq, from the boomtowns of the north to the oil fields near southernmost Basra, in a show of power that illustrates its growing heft across an Arab world long suspicious of it.
Killing of politician Salman Taseer adds to turmoil within Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — The assassination of an outspoken secular politician by one of his police guards Tuesday plunged the Pakistani government deeper into political crisis and highlighted the threat of militant infiltration within the nation’s security forces.
Shorts (right)
BERLIN — For the first time in a decade, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is no longer the leading Web browser in Europe, ceding the position to Mozilla’s Firefox, an Irish research company that tracks web use said Tuesday.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are both looking for new chiefs of staff now. Those are the more prominent changes under consideration for a midterm makeover that so far suggests continuity more than a shakeup.
Many implanted defibrillators unnecessary, study finds
Doctors are implanting high-tech heart devices in thousands of people who probably do not need them, a new study finds. The procedures cost more than $35,000, involve surgery and anesthesia, and may unnecessarily harm some patients.
Birthright citizenship looms as next immigration battle
NOGALES, Ariz. —Of the 50 or so women bused to this border town on a recent morning to be deported back to Mexico, Inez Vasquez, eight months pregnant, stood out.
Qualcomm said to be near deal to purchase chip maker
Qualcomm, the pioneering wireless technology company, is near an agreement to buy the chip maker Atheros Communications for about $3.5 billion, according to two people with direct knowledge of the talks, in a deal that underscores the emerging dominance of smart phones and tablet computers. The transaction is expected to be announced on Wednesday morning, said these people. They added the negotiations were in their final stages but could still fall apart.
A Snowy December
According to the National Weather Service, this December was the 9th snowiest December on record for Boston, MA, with 22 inches of snow recorded. A significant portion of that (18.2 inches) was due to a single storm, the December 26–27 storm. This snowstorm tied for the 10th greatest snowstorm total for Boston, and was also the greatest 24 hour December snowfall amount. We won’t need to wait long for our next chance at significant snowfall. Following a high pressure system that will have control over the area until Friday, the forecast models are predicting the development of a strong coastal or offshore low pressure system that would impact our area Friday–Saturday. There is still much uncertainty surrounding this system, both in terms of the timing and track (which of course affects the snowfall total), but there is a good likelihood for precipitation in our region.
The next great American crisis
The recent collapse of the financial sector was only felt by most after it happened. Today, we face yet another financial crisis that is quietly creeping up on us. And I’m not talking about a double-dip recession or a renewed threat from Wall Street. I’m talking about college loans, especially when combined with the current 9.8 percent unemployment rate. Like mortgages, the financial product that played a large role in the more recent collapse, college loans are widespread. Approximately two thirds of all college students graduate with college loans, and in 2008, The Project on Student Debt estimates that 206,000 students graduated with debts of $40,000 or greater. And the situation is not improving; total student loan debt in the United States is increasing at a rate of about $2,853.88 every second.
Ms. Hockfield, tear down this wall
The past few years are not a fluke: a four-year MIT education is in high demand. From 2004 to 2010, the number of applicants to MIT’s undergraduate program has gone up 48.5 percent, from 10,549 to 15,663, and early application numbers suggest this year will reveal a further 7-8 percent increase. This is not merely a matter of students applying to more colleges — the matriculation rate of admitted students has gone up, not down, from 58.7 percent to 64.6 percent.
MIT’s Libertarians
Last October, The Tech surveyed the undergraduate and graduate population about their political views, and 2,145, or 20 percent of the total student population, responded. We promised to provide follow-up analysis after our original overview in the November 2, 2010 issue of The Tech. Some readers wrote in and requested a breakdown of specific survey questions. Here, we take a look at how students responded when asked if they consider themselves libertarians.
FILM REVIEW On loss and words
Rabbit Hole is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire of Boston. I discovered this fact after watching the movie, but I was not surprised. What kept me captivated and what makes Rabbit Hole a movie worth watching is the dialogue. Rabbit Hole is a movie constructed of words uttered by characters — subtle, like human expressions.
FILM REVIEW Living up to its legacy?
In Tron: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski presents the sequel to the classic 1982 science fiction film Tron. Tron: Legacy was produced by Steven Lisberger, the original Tron’s director, and features Jeff Bridges, reprising his role as the protagonist hacker and game developer Kevin Flynn. Despite a shallow storyline, which mainly feeds on ideas from the original movie, Tron: Legacy is epic thanks to its amazing visuals and the fantastic soundtrack, composed by the French duo Daft Punk.
FILM REVIEW A voice for the King
It’s post-World War I England and George V (Michael Gambon) is an aging monarch with a domineering personality. David (Guy Pearce), the immature successor to the throne and the future King Edward VIII, will later abdicate in order to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Bertie (Colin Firth) is his younger brother, the Duke of York. When the time comes for Bertie to take up the title of George VI, the reluctant king must overcome his debilitating stammer and lead his people into war.
Taking advantage of one of Boston’s unique thrills
Many Bostonians have been to Fenway Park to see the ever-popular Red Sox play. The sounds of the roaring cheers that engulf the stadium following a solid crack of the bat or the whiff of a 95 mph fastball, not to mention the excitement and anticipation present whenever David “Big Papi” Ortiz steps up to the plate or when Tim Wakefield seemingly defies projectile dynamics with his crazy pitching style on the mound, are experiences few fans would be willing to give up.
Sports Shorts
The MIT Men’s Basketball team lost to Harvard on New Years Eve, with a final score of 84-58. Ranked 19th in Division III, The Engineers struggled from the beginning, quickly falling behind the Crimson as they took a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes. The Engineers took the lead, at 11-10, with thirteen minutes to go in the first half. After a few strong plays, Harvard regained the lead, ending the first half leading MIT 44-26. The Engineers continued to fight in the second half, with forward William Tashman ’13 helping keep up a strong pace, but Harvard maintained a solid lead for the remainder of the second half. The Crimson led by 34 points with eight minutes left in the second half, finishing the game with 95 percent of free throws completed and a 26 point lead over the Engineers. After an eight game winning streak, the Engineers are now 9-2 for the season.
Upcoming Home Events
Wednesday, January 5 Women’s Basketball vs. Clark University 6 p.m., Rockwell Cage Men’s Basketball vs. Tufts University 8 p.m., Rockwell Cage Saturday, January 8 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Alumni Meet 9 a.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Babson College 2 p.m. Rockwell Cage
