Fifth week flags issued
This semester, 144 freshmen, or 12.9 percent of the Class of 2017, were issued fifth week flags. The proportion of recipients is down from almost a fifth of the Class of 2016 last year. Fifth week flags exist as part of an early warning system to encourage students to reevaluate their study habits.
NEWS BRIEFS
The Graduate Student Housing Working Group was formed to “focus on how we might best house our graduate students” according to the May/June faculty newsletter. In August, the group’s chairman Professor Phillip L. Clay wrote in an email to The Tech that the group planned to “issue a report in October.” However, Dean for Graduate Education Christine Ortiz, a member of the group, wrote that the group is “still deliberating” and offered no updates in an Oct. 28 email to The Tech.
Pelosi visits C-Mod, PSFC layoffs delayed
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi visited MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) Thursday, where she learned about MIT’s fusion experiments performed on its tokamak Alcator C-Mod, according to MIT News. The experiment faces an uncertain future and may fail to receive federal funding in FY 2014.
Shorts (left)
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s government acknowledged Monday that its top intelligence agency had spied on diplomatic targets from countries including the United States, Iran and Russia, putting Brazilian authorities in the uncomfortable position of defending their own surveillance practices after repeatedly criticizing U.S. spying operations.
Morsi calls trials ‘illegitimate,’ and case in Egypt is delayed
CAIRO — As Egypt’s new military-led government consolidates its power, Mohammed Morsi, the deposed president, went on trial Monday, facing charges of inciting the murder of protesters, but he rejected the court’s authority and proclaimed himself to be the country’s legitimate ruler.
As US weighs spying changes, officials want data sweeps to go on
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has told allies and lawmakers it is considering reining in a variety of National Security Agency practices overseas, including holding White House reviews of the world leaders the agency is monitoring, forging a new accord with Germany for a closer intelligence relationship and minimizing collection on some foreigners.
Shorts (right)
BERLIN — The German government said Monday that it had been informed months ago about a valuable trove of art discovered in a Munich apartment, which a German magazine describes as a collection of hundreds of works confiscated by the Nazis or sold cheaply by people desperate to leave Germany.
Bill on workplace bias clears Senate hurdle
WASHINGTON — A measure that would outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity overcame a significant obstacle in the Senate on Monday as seven Republicans crossed party lines and voted to begin debate on the bill.
SAC Capital agrees to plead guilty to insider trading
SAC Capital Advisors has agreed to plead guilty to insider trading violations and pay a record $1.2 billion penalty, becoming the first large Wall Street firm in a generation to confess to criminal conduct. The move caps a decade-long investigation that turned a once mighty hedge fund into a symbol of financial wrongdoing.
Warm week is a pause in approach of winter
We have entered November and thus have started to notice below-freezing temperatures popping up now and then in the mornings. At this time last year, we were receiving snow from Sandy’s Nor’easter encore. This year, to the contrary, we will be seeing local temperatures on the rise, until in fact seeing mid to upper 60s°F in the afternoon of Nov. 7.
CORRECTIONS
The Arts Events calendar in Friday’s issue listed the incorrect date for the Folk Dancing with Live Electric Balkan Music event. It was on Sunday, Nov. 3, not Saturday.
Butt out
In a characteristically paternal fashion, late last month, the New York City Council raised the minimum age to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products. To purchase a pack or even an electronic cigarette, consumers must now be 21 years of age. The justification provided by the City Council rests on the claim that by making the purchase of tobacco nominally more difficult, fewer young people will start smoking in the first place. The data suggests the move might be effective, just like stop-and-frisk. Still, there is a fine line between maintaining public health and trampling on the individual rights of Americans, and the Bloomberg administration has again chosen to jump right across it.
Last Seen by Sophie Calle
Red, the color of passion and emotional charge. That is what you see upon entrance into Sophie Calle’s Last Seen exhibit. Perhaps you may walk in expecting to see sumptuous pieces of art, rich in detail, with figures draped in the finest garments indulging in foods or acts that stimulate to the highest senses. Instead you see … nothing.
The Power of Duff
An ordinary anchorman leads a relatively ordinary life until one day when his father suddenly dies. Instead of closing one of his broadcast reports by traditionally thanking the audience for watching the news, he decides to break the norms and pray. The erratic decision receives glowing praise from the local community, and the story gets a special twist when the anchorman’s subsequent broadcast prayers come to life. With these new acquired powers, he decides that it is his duty to pray for other people’s sufferings and save the world.
Alien invasion movie
My mother bought me a copy of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game when I was in the third grade — I have been waiting for this movie ever since. The story is set on Earth, many years in the future. The planet is recovering from a devastating attack from the Formics, an alien race that appeared to try to invade Earth. In order to protect humanity, the world government trains brilliant children at The Battle School, hoping they will become new leaders of the International Fleet and save the world from another attack. The Fleet is looking for their next legendary commander, and they think that this is to be Ender Wiggin.
Arts Events Nov. 05 — Nov. 11
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: This arts calendar incorrectly lists the date of the Danish String Quartet concert as Sunday, Nov. 10. The concert happened on Wednesday, Nov. 13.
MIT takes down WPI
Nov. 2, 2013 was a beautiful day to play soccer as the players of MIT and WPI came onto the pitch to play the last regular season conference match. MIT had high stakes in the match. With a win, they would finish the first in the conference and host the playoffs. The match started off slowly as both teams tested each other and seemed evenly matched. As halftime drew near, Sean D. Bingham ’16 connected with a wonderful through ball and beat the keeper to pull MIT up 1-0. The first half didn’t see any more goals and MIT took the lead into halftime.
Water polo comes home
With the 2013 season slowly coming to a close, the MIT water polo team returned home for the first time since mid-October to host a weekend of games. On the first day of the three-game weekend, the Engineers defeated Fordham University in a low-scoring game by a score of 9-7. They then fell to St. Francis College later that day, 12-5. Tech is now 10-12 on the season.
Dean Obeidallah
“Immigrants work hard. Last year at this very time, we had Hurricane Sandy going on. In my neighborhood in New York, every American restaurant closed. What was open? Chinese restaurants. How do I know that? I look out my window, and the Chinese delivery guy I know is on his bike, delivering food because somebody ordered delivery during a hurricane. Ok, I ordered delivery. Because I knew he’d be there, and there he was!”
Events Nov. 05 - Nov. 11
Events Nov. 05 – Nov. 11 Tuesday (2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Feeding the world without consuming the planet, conference — E51-115 (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) MIT Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar: Is Syria Being “Lebanized” or is Lebanon Being “Syrianized?” — E51-376 Wednesday (10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.) No Exit from Pakistan: America’s Tortured Relationship with Islamabad — E40 - 496 Thursday (1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.) 8.02x Online & 8.02 TEAL Residential: how each course can be used to improve the other — Whitehead Institute Auditorium (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Sonia Livingstone: “The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age” — E14-633 Friday (3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.) Leo Marx’s Machine in the Garden 50th Anniversary: A Symposium, book talk Saturday (12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Girls Day, women in science in engineering — MIT Museum Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) MIT Sangam’s Diwali Night cultural show — Kresge Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
