Letters to the Editor
The article “Proposed Minor Asks: How Does Technology Alter the Environment?” (September 29, 2009 of The Tech) leaves readers with the impression that the new undergraduate Energy Studies Minor emphasizes traditional forms of energy supply and treats renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental impact as marginal concerns. This portrayal is not accurate.
MIT Alum Clears the Air about High Frequency Trading
While the national media has focused much attention on the field of high-frequency trading (HFT), there continues to be a great amount of confusion surrounding the practice. Indeed <i>The Tech</i> recently ran a <i>New York Times</i> article erroneously headlined “SEC Seeks To Ban High-Frequency Trading,” which was quickly corrected to “SEC Seeks To Ban Flash Orders.” As a recent MIT graduate working for Jump Trading, a major player in the HFT world, I wish to share my first-hand exposure to the industry and clear the air surrounding some of the claims the media has brought up. In this article I discuss what high frequency trading is, the role of flash orders, and the false perception that HFT firms have an unfair advantage over the rest of the market.
Letters to the Editor
I appreciate the interest and the concern expressed recently regarding the Admissions Office’s decision to change our freshman application essay requirements by replacing one 500 word essay with three 200–250 word short answer questions. I thought it might be helpful to offer our thinking in making this change.
‘Boston Globe’ Discovers 2007 MIT Project
When science reporters write about technology that isn’t really new, they should say so up front.
In Defense of the Art of the Pen
Both articles I’ve read about the change to the admissions essays have been so wishy-washy I find myself wondering if John Kerry is a ghost writer for <i>The Tech</i>. In an age where e-mails are being replaced by texts, magazines are being replaced by blogs, and blogs are being replaced by Twitter, MIT seems to have hopped on the shortening bandwagon with their recent decision to eliminate the long admission essay — and the biography-loving, multisyllabic-word-using, still-writes-with-pen-and-paper writer in me screams in indignation.
To Bomb Or Not To Bomb
Once again, tensions in the Middle East are running high. Many of the controversies swirl around Iran, which has made headlines recently for a variety of reasons — none of them positive.
UA Update
The voting period for the UA Senate, 2013 Class Council, 2011 Class Council Treasurer Elections has changed. Electronic voting at <i>vote.mit.edu</i> now begins tomorrow at 12:01 a.m. and ends on Thursday, October 1 at 11:59 p.m. Paper ballots will still be available in Lobby 10 on Friday, October 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The results will be posted on Saturday, October 3. Any questions should be directed to <i>ua-elect@mit.edu</i>.
Corrections
A front page “In Short” item in Tuesday’s <i>Tech</i> about a talk to be given by Noam Chomsky gave the wrong date for the event. The talk will happen on Tuesday, September 29, not Tuesday, September 22.
Dropping the Long Essay: Change for the Better?
MIT Admissions’s recent decision to drop the long essay in favor of three short ones on the 2009–2010 application is something of a mixed bag. Like Admissions says, it could give MIT a more multifaceted and genuine picture of potential students. But at the same time, it may deny students the opportunity to write beyond a short-essay prompt and beyond a 200 word limit. Both options have their merits, and clearly, it remains to be seen how effective the new application will be.
Letters to the Editor
As a campus group that spends a great deal of time and energy considering the challenges of how we eat (as a global population, as a city, and as a campus), we were struck by the stark juxtaposition in Tuesday, September 15th’s paper between an article about the Clover food truck and a McDonald’s advertisement. Beyond the deep irony of placing an article about a food truck that provides our campus with fresh and healthy lunches next to an advertisement for the very symbol of the food system that we are working to improve, we see a host of challenges.
Corrections
Because of an erroneous headline provided by the New York Times News Service, a headline in the World and Nation section of Friday’s <i>Tech</i> incorrectly summarized the article that accompanied it. The article was about the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to ban flash orders, a practice often associated with high-frequency trading, not high-frequency trading in general.
The Good, the Bad, and the Clever of The MIT Budget Task Force Report
As many are aware, MIT commissioned a task force to investigate how spending can be cut in response to last year’s global economic meltdown. In addition to the cuts already made, the Task Force has looked at a wide variety of ways for saving MIT even more money. Some of these ideas are common sense, some are quite clever, but there are one or two that are just plain bad. Not even moderately bad. Awful bad. Dining-system-reform-from-bad-to-worse bad.
Corrections
An article on Friday, Sept. 4 about MIT professors working in Washington provided incorrect information about Professor Deborah J. Lucas and her work, and omitted a word from a quotation. Lucas is a full tenured professor of finance at MIT in Sloan School of Management, she is not a visiting professor. Lucas’s work at the Congressional Budget Office does not involve providing budget estimates, but rather refining the methodologies used to produce those estimates. Lucas said she had noted in 2001 insufficient attention to “federal financial obligations,” not to “federal obligations.”
UA Update
The first Undergraduate Association Executive Meeting for the 2009–2010 academic year was held on Wednesday, September 9. Key issues that the UA will be tackling this fall were outlined. These issues included the Institute-wide Planning Task Force recommendations; communication with students, faculty, administrators, and alumni; and possible dining changes. The Institute-wide Planning Task Force’s preliminary report can be found at <i>http://ideabank.mit.edu</i>, and the UA welcomes your feedback (e-mail <i>ua@mit.edu</i>). Full minutes are available at <i>http://ua.mit.edu/exec</i>.
Daily Confusion: The Central Issues
The striking thing about the letters to the editor regarding vulgar items published by <i>The Tech</i> in the Daily Confusion (Aug. 31) is that nearly all evince fundamental misunderstandings of, variously, newspapers, editorial content, advertising content, editorial discretion, censorship, free speech, and harassment. <i>The Tech</i> should not have published the vulgar items because as the Editors’ Note (Sept. 11) declares, they violated <i>The Tech</i>’s internal standards for appropriate content. But <i>The Tech</i>’s policies are the only legitimate issue here. Much of what the letters raise, on both sides of the debate, is mistaken and obfuscatory.
Money Spent on Rush Is Reasonable
This column is in response to Mr. Normandin’s piece on September 11, 2009 on the need for reform of fraternity rush. I will begin by asserting exactly what our Greek community provides here, not only at MIT but across the country. I will also clear up some errors that were made in points Normandin raised related to fraternity expenditures and then provide a better context such that it can be understood why rush is how it is and what is done to control it. While Normandin is certainly entitled to his own opinion on fraternities, in addressing these points I will refute his strong indictment of fraternity life in general.
Letters to the Editor
MIT has a stated commitment to the dissemination of knowledge. The Institute has pioneered the adoption of OpenCourseWare and the faculty has adopted a policy that all journal articles are open access by default. The MIT community is known for being hyper-integrated electronically, and with the increasing capabilities of Stellar and other online platforms, it is becoming ever more so.
The Dark Side of Rush
Orientation is finally over. It’s the end of the mandatory events that about 50 percent of freshmen don’t go to and the end of the leftover free food that is left sitting near Kresge for days afterwards. But the end of Orientation does not mean the end of free food. For with the end of the first week comes the beginning of the second, known as rush. During this frenetic time, the 26 fraternities battle it out to recruit as many freshmen as possible.