D-Lab goes to Ecuador
In orientation for my trip to Ecuador for D-Lab, an introductory international development class, we were told to pack mirrors — so that we could make candlelight brighter. Wait, I thought. There wouldn’t be electricity?
‘Iron Nerd’ wins website contest with social gym app
In the end, it all worked out for Daniel A. Whitlow ’10 and Jong-Moon Kim ’09. Last Thursday, the team won first place, and $4,000 in the third annual 6.470 Web Programming Competition. Their social networking site, “Iron Nerd,” lets users exercise with their friends.
‘Backdoor Bandit’ Nabs Most Mice in 6.270 Autonomous Robot Design Competition
They’re not furry, they’re not friendly, but perhaps they’re housebroken.
“My Archon Died BellmanFording the Stream” Beats Prof. Mordemort
In an e-mail sent out to campus, the fictitious Professor-Who-Probably-Should-Not-Be-Named announced to students the commencement of the iconic 6.370 BattleCode competition, which took place last Saturday in Kresge at 7 p.m.
Domeview, ∞ Projection Systems Merging, Now ‘Infinite Display’
Domeview, the digital display advertising system in the Student Center and the Stata Center’s Student Street is merging with the projected advertising displays in the Infinite Corridor to form a new system called “Infinite Display,” http://infinitedisplay.mit.edu/.
MIT Reduces Paperwork for Gender Changes
The Registrar’s Office has modified its requirements for students to officially change their recorded gender. Since last week, instead of requiring evidence of sex-change surgery, students now may provide documentation from a licensed health care professional to verify their gender with the Registrar.
MIT Community Joins In Haiti Relief Efforts; Students Raise Funds
After the magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti on Tuesday, January 12, the MIT community has responded quickly by raising funds and initiating relief projects.
DSL To Reassess MIT Dining, Reduce Large Annual Deficits
Facing an average annual deficit of $500,000 from the MIT Dining Program, the Division for Student Life will be working with MIT community leaders this spring in an effort to improve the current dining program. While there is no strict timeline for making changes to dining, Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo hopes to prepare a plan by the end the academic year that will reduce financial loss while preserving student choice. As of now, no changes to the dining program are being made.
93 Random Hall Residents Share One Washer
Random Hall, MIT’s smallest dorm, is unique from other MIT dormitories in that it provides residents with “free” use of its laundry facilities. But since finals week of last term, all but one of the washers has been out of commission, generating a stir among Random’s 93 residents.
Thirty Years After Therac-25, Rad. Problems Abound
In New Jersey, 36 cancer patients at a veterans hospital in East Orange were overradiated – and 20 more received substandard treatment – by a medical team that lacked experience in using a machine that generated high-powered beams of radiation. The mistakes, which have not been publicly reported, continued for months because the hospital had no system in place to catch the errors.
Pearl Art and Crafts Goes Under
Cambridge art and craft mecca Pearl Art is going out of business this week. The store is offering 75 percent discounts, and has been mobbed with customers waiting in lines at the register for more than an hour long last night.
‘Eleanor’ Gets Second Among Other Silicon-Paneled Cars in World Race
Meet Eleanor. Her sleek, reflective body spans the length of nearly 16 feet — encrusted with over 580 silicon solar cells and capable of generating an estimated power output of 1200 watts. Her streamlined curves and futuristic design make her an instant star of any roadway, whizzing past other cars at speeds of up to a potential 90 mph and boasting a drag coefficient of only 0.11.
‘Metaphysical Plant’ Takes Home Coin in Annual MIT Mystery Hunt
After nearly 42 hours of time-travel, riddle-solving, and very little sleep, team Metaphysical Plant found the much coveted Mystery Hunt coin, concluding the annual MIT puzzle competition. An estimated 1000 MIT students, alumni, and unaffiliated puzzle solvers formed the 37 teams who participated in the event.
At MIT, Ritalin Use on Par With Peer Schools; Formal Disciplinary Action is Rare
“If you’ve ever been like super ridiculous caffeinated and drank two Rockstars and didn’t have anything to eat, sort of get that brain fuzz and can’t look at anything straight and everything is peripheral vision; that’s how being on Ritalin feels to me.”
Recent Report Calls For More Awareness Of Faculty Diversity
The Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity released its final report on the minority faculty experience at MIT last Thursday after a two and a half year effort. Stemming from an effort to understand why a disproportionately small number of MIT faculty are members of minority groups, the report found that there are inequities in the minority faculty experience.
Achieving Meritocracy a Struggle, Race Report Says
Two colleagues admonished him once for drinking beer at his first faculty meeting, mistaking an energy drink for alcohol, he tells the interviewers. Another participant confesses that he deliberately places books in his office as evidence to visitors of his academic qualifications. Others complain that they are misidentified as custodians.