Foolish and common
In this Sunday’s edition of the New York Times, Paul Krugman PhD ’77 has written a little piece called “Rare and Foolish.” In it, Krugman laments the concentration of rare earths mining industry in China, saying it has given them extraordinary leverage over other nations, and lambasts U.S. leaders (particularly Bush) for letting the industry slip away into foreign hands.
“It Gets Better” needs to do more
In an October 15 column in <i>The Tech</i>, Andy Liang expressed his support for the “It Gets Better” campaign, started in response to the recent suicides by LGBT youth. On the face of it, the campaign seems impossible to criticize — what could be wrong with giving hope to desperate and lonely gay teenagers across America?
Taste requires quality; nutrition is more about quantity
What were they, those three fundamental human requirements, now superseded by our busy working lives as we eat, sleep and drink on the job? A human being will typically sleep for approximately one third of their life, but when it comes to time spent eating, the time allocated to nutrition varies significantly between cultures and individuals. Personally, I spend maybe two hours a day cooking and eating, which is not much when split between three or four meals. I like to cook because I like to eat, not the other way around. For me, the cliché, “You are what you eat,” when interpreted literately, captures the importance of nutrition. If your typical diet consists of potatoes, beef and a dash of soy sauce, there’s no denying that physically, you’re a slightly oriental Irish Texan.
HDAG got lost in groupthink
In fall 2008, Chris Colombo became dean of student life of MIT. He was an experienced administrator, having worked at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University, but he did not understand MIT. He did not understand how the cultures of MIT dorms support students through a challenging undergraduate experience. He did not understand the independence of MIT students. Most importantly, he did not understand the profound financial plunge many MIT undergraduates take when they enroll. But he did have an idea when tasked with fixing MIT dining.
Now or never
The Republicans are going to take back the House of Representatives. With a little luck, and some defections by moderate Democrats (both “R-Nelson” and “R-Lieberman” have a certain <i>je ne sais quoi</i> about them), they could assume control of the Senate as well.
Global warming not worth the fight
Global warming is real. It is predominantly anthropogenic. Left unchecked, it will likely warm the earth by 3-7 C by the end of the century. What should the United States do about it?
Letters to the Editor
Editor’s note: This is an open letter addressed to President Hockfield.
Evanescent evidence — where’s the beef?
In a self-righteous screed published in <i>The Tech</i> on October 1st, the Executive Board of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) purported to clear up the “facts” concerning the expulsion of Phi Beta Epsilon (PBE) due to alleged hazing. The Executive Board of the IFC apparently wants the MIT community to believe that Review Boards of the IFC Judicial Committee know hazing when they see it, based on the definition in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 269, Section 17. That would be a more compelling argument if the MIT IFC Policy for Risk Management properly quoted the definition of hazing, shown below with annotations for correcting the Policy’s version to the actual statement of the law from the web site of The 186th General Court of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (i.e., the Massachusetts state legislature):
It gets better
In an ideal world, the “It Gets Better” campaign would not need to exist. In an ideal world, we would not see teen suicide reports happening weekly. In an ideal world, every child would grow up happy and healthy.
Red state rising
In the 1990’s, Christine O’Donnell dismissed evolution as “just a theory,” and compared masturbation to adultery. More recently, she claimed scientists “are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains,” and said China was plotting to take over the United States. She has lied about her education, misused campaign contributions, and has a history of tax problems. She is an incompetent reprobate with a world view that is as simplistic as it is atavistic. She is the 2010 Republican candidate for Delaware’s open senate seat.
The world’s imperceptible slide towards standardization
I’ve now spent two months seeing gas priced per gallon and I still can’t tell whether it’s good value compared to back home. You tell me that it is 70 degrees outside and I agree that what you say seems plausible — I’ve realized that you are talking the Fahrenheit language. I suppose I’m lucky here in the States, coming from an English speaking country, that communication is somewhat easier for me than for those who have learned the language at a later stage of life. And often, when I see others or when I find myself lost in translation, I ask, will mankind ever standardize communication?
Letters to the Editor
I am writing to clarify several assertions in the opinion piece by Ryan Normandin, published on October 5, 2010.
Another gay scandal in the clergy?
When I first heard about the Eddie Long scandal, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of: “Sheesh, another one?” Although the case has not yet been settled, it certainly looks like what we have on our hands is the same tired story. What does it say about our cultural and religious climate that this narrative, in which the closeted minister of excellent repute outs himself in scandal, has reached the status of cliché?
Being a freshman
I’ve wanted to write for <i>The Tech</i> for some time. I’ve wanted to find something to say or something to share. Something about being here, something about the experience of keeping our heads above water. This swim, which for whatever reason we willfully throw ourselves into, sometimes even letting the salty droplets get down into our lungs, because that pain can often be less than the pain of continuing to tread water.
‘You guys made the cyber world look like the north German plain’
The pundits have called it a superweapon, a guided missile, and the herald of a new age in warfare. It’s a computer worm called Stuxnet... and they’re right.
The market for questions
In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol became the first major international treaty, (although not quite completely international) to feature a cap and trade scheme. Yet the idea to extend cap and trade schemes to individuals has not been taken up widely. Ed Miliband, Britain’s new leader of the opposition, proposed a radical idea to introduce individual credits to pollute when he was head of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, but his idea has largely been ignored. Now, more than ever, MIT needs to set an example of radical policy by introducing a permit to ask questions.
The danger when renovations run late
Over the summer, MacGregor was extensively renovated, which is a good thing. It means that we can now turn our heat up or down, the shower feels like a firehose, and there’s no more asbestos killing us as we sleep. MIT also installed a completely new fire alarm system. And although the voice that tells us to evacuate the building is terribly annoying, I can forgive that small deficiency since it might save my life. But there is another problem that is a bit more troubling.