What you missed over the summer:
Campus life certainly slows down during the summer, but the Institute still keeps running. While you were soaking up the sun in California, working an internship in Manhattan, or exploring Europe, MIT saw its fair share of action in Summer 2011.
Two FDA panels to review safety of popular bone drugs
Two advisory panels of the Food and Drug Administration will consider on Friday whether to recommend requiring women who use popular bone drugs like Fosamax to take “drug holidays” because of rising concerns about rare side effects with long-term use, according to people involved in the review.
CORRECTIONS
Last Friday’s opinion column about South Sudan incorrectly cited 1983 as the year that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir came to power in Sudan. Al-Bashir assumed office in 1989.
EC sophomore found dead Sunday
Nicolas E. Del Castillo ’14 was found dead on Sunday in his East Campus (floor 4th West) dormitory room.
Closed in error on Google Places, merchants seek fixes
In mid-August, Jason Rule learned some surprising news about the coffee shop that he owns in Hays, Kansas: The place had closed for good.
Lee sets sights on Appalachians
The mountainous regions of the eastern United States may not appear to be a likely target for a tropical storm, but the remnants of tropical storm Lee will bring trouble to the area. Slow moving Lee delivered over a foot of rain to some places along the Gulf Coast when it was a tropical storm. Now the moisture associated with it will track along the Appalachian mountains from Georgia to New Hampshire and drop over 6 inches of rain in many places along the way.
Shorts (right)
NEW DELHI — One of India’s most powerful mining barons, whose political clout and wealth have made him a controversial national figure, was arrested Monday as investigators raided his offices and seized about $1 million in cash and more than 66 pounds of gold.
GOP presidential candidate hopefuls vie for Tea Party support
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The leading Republican presidential candidates spent Labor Day declaring their fealty to limited government as they sought to demonstrate credibility with a Tea Party movement that has seized the political energy of their party.
Iran offers inspectors ‘full supervision’ of nuclear program
WASHINGTON — Iran on Monday made its first counterproposal in two years to ease the confrontation with the West over its nuclear program, offering to allow international inspectors “full supervision” of the country’s nuclear activities for the next five years, but on the condition that the mounting sanctions against Iran are lifted.
Syria lets Red Cross visit prison as crackdown on protestors continues
BEIRUT — Syria opened its main prison in Damascus Monday to a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross for the first time since the uprising started in mid-March, amid hopes the move could begin to reveal the fate of thousands of political detainees.
Police accounts favor Mubarak in Egypt trial
CAIRO — The criminal prosecution of former President Hosni Mubarak stumbled badly Monday after four senior police officials denied that he had ordered Egyptian security forces to use live ammunition against demonstrators challenging his rule.
EDITORIAL Focus on what’s important
Being an MIT student gives you a voice that few other people have. Like it or not, the MIT name makes you a representative of modern science and engineering. It’s no small secret that the world turns to MIT for its understanding of science, technology and related policy — just pick up the science section of the New York Times for proof. We’re not exaggerating, then, when we say that the pulse of MIT’s campus has a substantial effect on the world beyond the Institute.
The dark side of an MIT brain
In the early 90s, a young man named Lead Wey ’93 arrived on campus at MIT, just like all of us have been these past few days. Like us, he was intelligent, driven, and had an entrepreneurial spirit. Like us, he experienced the rush of success after mastering a particularly difficult class or problem set, along with the humbling knowledge that everyone around you is just as smart as or smarter than yourself. His years at the Institute, which he attended for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees, were both rewarding and, at times, uncomfortable. Both the positive and negative shaped what this man would go on to do.
Nonsense, followed by begging
Frequent readers of this paper may recall a piece by MIT President Susan J. Hockfield and Harvard President Drew G. Faust in the Boston Globe, titled “Riding the Innovation Wave,” and this columnist’s negative response, “Voodoo Innovationomics.” Well, last Monday, President Hockfield was at it again, this time with a solo piece in the New York Times titled, “Manufacturing a Recovery.”
THEATER REVIEW How was the show, Mrs. Lincoln?
If you are at all familiar with American history, you will know that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln and that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy. You might even know that Charles Guiteau assassinated President James Garfield and Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley. But what about those who failed, like John Hinckley, Jr, attempted assassin of President Ronald Regan? Why did they do it?
Sports Shorts
The MIT Triathlon Club traveled to Lake George, N.Y., last weekend to compete in the first Northeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference (NECTC) race of their season. Race directors had canceled the previous weekend’s triathlon due to damage from Tropical Storm Irene. Several team members placed in the Olympic-distance race, which consisted of a 0.9-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike, and a 6.2-mile run. Shaena R. Berlin ’13 took third place in the female NECTC omnium with a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes. Samuel M. Nicaise G powered through to the finish with a speedy time of 2:25, and Zachary W. Ulissi G came in third out of 60 collegiate racers on the bike section with an impressive average of 23 mph. The club will continue to race nearly every weekend through the rest of the season, which culminates at the Mighty Man Conference Championships in Montauk, N.Y., on Oct. 1.
JAMES SERDY
Seventy-one-year-old James G. Serdy has been rowing with the MIT Rowing Club for the past four years. In addition to working at the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, he wakes up to go rowing on the Charles from 6–8 a.m. every morning. James has “always been fascinated to watch the art of rowing,” he said.
Events: Sept. 6 - Sept. 12
Events sept. 6 – sept. 12 Tuesday (2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Sloan Business Club Networking BBQ — Kresge Oval (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows X-Men: First Class — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) Film Screening - The Perfect Vagina — 6-120 Wednesday (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Back-to-School Vendor Fair — outside W20 (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Public Service Center Community Service Fair — Lobby 10 & 10-105 Thursday (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) From Settlers to Quarriors: Breaking up the Monopoly with Modern Board, sponsored by the CMS Colloquium Series — 4-231 Friday (4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Starr Forum: Top Secret America, book talk by Dana Priest of the Washington Post — E14-674 (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows X-Men: First Class — 26-100 Saturday (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows X-Men: First Class — 26-100 Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) MIT’s Heritage of the Arts of Southasia presents presents Malladis/Gundechas, North/South vocal duet — Kresge Auditorium (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Folk Dancing Beginner’s Night — La Sala de Puerto Rico Monday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) Nuclear and Particle Theory Seminar — 6C-442 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
