FBI agents pore over bombing suspect’s trip to Russia in 2012
FBI agents are working closely with Russian security officials to reconstruct Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s activities and connections in Dagestan during his six-month visit last year, tracking meetings he may have had with specific militants, his visits to a radical mosque and any indoctrination or training he may have received, law enforcement officials said on Sunday.
Maseeh MHEC votes to secede from DormCon
Maseeh Hall Executive Council (MHEC) emailed the Dormitory Council (DormCon) last night to withdraw Maseeh from DormCon, citing budget-related and representation concerns. A 4-3 vote of Maseeh Exec passed the motion Sunday night. Previously, Bexley had been for years the only dorm not in DormCon, and it stopped paying its yearly $1,200 tax to DormCon in 2008.
Gorgeous week to come
High pressure controls New England this week, bringing lovely weather. In a high pressure system, air descends from above; since the cold air high in the atmosphere cannot hold very much water vapor, this descending air is dry and causes clear, sunny conditions. Due to the lack of clouds, the surface radiatively cools very efficiently at night, leading to cool mornings and a large diurnal temperature gradient. Low pressure systems have the opposite effect; moist surface air convects upwards, condensing and forming clouds at the altitude where the temperature is too low to hold excess water vapor. At least for this week, we shouldn’t see those sorts of clouds!
Shorts (left)
ATHENS, Greece — Eurozone officials on Monday approved the release of 2.8 billion euros, or $3.7 billion, in loans to Greece, the country’s Finance Ministry said, paving the way for the approval of an additional 6 billion euro installment at a meeting of the currency union’s finance ministers in mid-May.
Five are convicted in Kosovo organ-trafficking ring
PARIS — Five people were convicted Monday in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, in connection with an elaborate organ-trafficking network that lured poor people to the country and then sold their kidneys and other organs to wealthy transplant recipients from Israel, the United States, Canada and Germany, charging as much as $130,000 for each organ.
After Boston Marathon bombing, US ties with Russia improve
MOSCOW — After President Barack Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spoke by telephone Monday, a top Russian official said cooperation between the leaders’ intelligence services had “noticeably intensified in the past few days,” though he said Russia had not been able to provide valuable intelligence about the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Homophobia at home and abroad
On April 23, France legalized gay marriage. The measure passed 331-224 in the Socialist Party majority Assembly. However, the bill came at the price of the signers’ safety. The day before the vote, Claude Bartolone, the head of France’s National Assembly, received an envelope sealed with gunpowder and a death-threat letter, signed by the right-wing group of France, Interaction des forces de l’ordre.
Utilizing online learning on campus
MITx is touted as a revolutionary opportunity for thousands of students across the globe. But MIT is also committed to using MITx to transform the nature of education on its own campus. In order to do so, MIT — and all other institutions embracing digital learning — must answer the question of how best to structure their online learning platform. If online resources are to have the effect that advocates promise, it is essential that the online learning platform that is tailored to the needs and learning styles of the student body.
Battle for the Muri Cup; 6th ranked
Moving up to sixth in the most recent national rankings — the highest ever for MIT — the Engineers Women’s Lightweight Crew took on first-ranked Harvard-Radcliffe in the battle for the Muri Cup. Harvard took the Cup in the Varsity 8 race and also won 2V event, with the Engineers picking up a win in the Novice 4 competition.
MIT men’s lacrosse wins 11-5
Seven unanswered goals along with 14 saves from goalie Christopher B. Rullan ’13 in the first half helped power the MIT men’s lacrosse team to an 11-5 victory over Clark University in a Pilgrim Lacrosse League game on Saturday afternoon. For the second straight outing, Chris S. Cook ’15 led the way for the Engineers (4-9, 2-3 Pilgrim) as he generated a game-high four goals.
Events Apr 30-May 6
Events apr. 30 – may 6 Tuesday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) 11th annual Prokopoff violin music concert — 14E-109 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: The CWG Illustration — E62-262 Wednesday (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) One Democracy’s Gains and Pains: the US-Mexico Drug Entrapment, pizza provided — 32-141 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.) A Crisis in Civics?, talk by Director of MIT Center for Civic Media Ethan Zuckerman — NW-86 Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Sacrificing Freedom of Mind: How We Fall Prey to Cults and Controllers — 32-155 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Urban Films: Revolution ‘67 (2007) — 66-110 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) Media in Transformation 8 conference panel: Oversharing of private information using social media — E15-070 (6:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Les Miserables — 26-100 Saturday (11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Media in Transformation 8 conference panel: Surveillance by digital technologies — E51-115 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) MIT Anime Karaoke — Student Center Coffee House Sunday (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Tang Hall Egg Drop contest — Tang Hall, W84-24 (8:00 p.m. – 9:30) Techiya Spring Concert: The Hobbit – an unexpected Bar Mitzvah — 6-120 Monday (1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.) The Sequester: The Future of Science Funding and its Impact on MIT – Students, Faculty, Postdocs, and Research — 56-114 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
50 minutes of anxiety
Sitting in class, 50 minutes always seemed like a lifetime. I never thought it could feel longer after leaving undergrad.
