PDF of This Issue

Welcome, Class of 2009!

The Weather Today: Mostly cloudy, 81°F (27°C) MIT’s Tonight: Mostly cloudy, 64°F (18°C) Oldest and Largest Tomorrow: Showers, 77°F (25°C) NewspaperMonday Details, Page 2

Volume 125, Number 31 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Monday, August 29, 2005 Not ‘Just Visiting’: First-Years Here to Stay A Mission By Marie Y. Thibault STAFF REPORTER To Bring MIT students like a challenge, and navigating the maze of choices facing a first-year student provides a taste of things to come. Fortunately, Smiles help is on the way, and undergraduate and graduate orientations are designed to help acclimate new stu- To Boston dents. Freshman Orientation aims to By Jiao Wang make new students “feel like part of STAFF REPORTER the MIT community,” said Orienta- In a city marked by subway tion Coordinator Timothy D. Pen- bomb scares, high temperatures nington ’06. Orientation 2005 kicks and humidity, and the usual stresses off today with a new event, the Presi- of life, one dent’s Convocation, at 4 p.m. man stands This year’s Orientation has the Feature in the theme Technopoly, playing off the middle of board game Monopoly, said Julie B. Haymarket Norman, associate dean of Academic Square in Resources and Programming. Orien- the sultry tation paraphernalia sport logos that heat urging replace Monopoly’s Mr. Moneybags people to be with Tim the Beaver, complete with happy. top hat and cane, and freshmen re- “Smile, ceive Chance or Community Chest GRANT JORDAN—THE TECH smile, smile tickets for meal cards. Not realizing he is about to suffer the same fate, Jeremy A. Conrad ’06 (orange shirt) launches a success- …” says Ir- Graduate student events range ful strike on an East Campus resident. The annual West vs. East Water War, sponsored by the Dormitory ving Cherander, a 64-year-old, un- from karaoke at The Thirsty Ear Pub Council, was held yesterday at 5:00 p.m. in Kresge Oval. married man of medium build. to a cruise on Boston Harbor. Presi- at the Graduate Welcome Address. tion, freshmen travel around campus in past years, said Dormitory Coun- “Are these free?” asks a pass- dent Susan Hockfield and Cambridge in search of their preferred dormitory cil President Harvey C. Jones ’06. erby. Mayor Michael A. Sullivan will wel- REX 2005 shorter, more intense in Residence Exploration (REX). “What a stupid question. Why come the incoming graduate students During first few days of orienta- This year's REX is shorter than Orientation, Page 14 would I stand here and give away free things?” Dressed in a beige suit jacket, Grad Students MIT Student Zachary Weston Red Sox fan shirt, and blue jeans, Research Cherander stands next to his large Now Pay $17 Disappears on Mount Rainier black umbrella supported by a Associate By Beckett W. Sterner nautics and Astronautics) major, wooden stand and pole. Every once NEWS EDITOR started camping at the park on June in a while, a child who runs ahead For Off-Campus Mount Rainier National Park 22 and was last seen on Aug. 11. of his parents would wander under Shin-Kyu Rangers called off their search for Park rangers found tracks match- the umbrella to shade himself from Phone Service Zachary Weston ’07 on Thursday, ing Weston’s on a ridge separating the sun. Aug. 18, according to an Associ- two glaciers, but were unable to find Smiley buttons adorn the front Yang’s Death By John A. Hawkinson ated Press article. Weston was hik- him after searching for seven days. of Cherander’s jacket, adding radi- STAFF REPORTER ing alone and was reported missing Weston is not believed to have car- ance to the elderly man with blue Information Systems & Tech- when he failed to meet a friend. ried equipment for hiking on gla- A Suicide nology has moved graduate student Weston, 22, a Course XVI (Aero- ciers. Haymarket, Page 12 dormitory phones to a new service By Beckett W. Sterner model, which requires a $17 per NEWS EDITOR month fee for students to receive MIT research associate Shin- calls from outside campus and place Kyu Yang, 44, PhD ’99 committed calls to off-campus numbers. suicide on July 10. The change was Yang, a researcher in the MIT 300 made Monday, Aug. Center for E-Business, received Grad 22. Undergraduate masters and doctorate degrees dormitory residents from the Sloan School of Manage- Students will switch service ment, and was an assistant profes- Sign Up models on Sept. 12. sor at New York University’s Stern Allison F. Dolan, School of Business prior to his re- director of Telephony for IS&T, turn to MIT. said that 300 graduate students Yang was a “rigorous research- have signed up for the full service er” who brought “a really deep skill phones, with more than two-thirds with mathematics” to his work, said signing up only a couple of days be- Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the fore the switch. Center for E-Business and profes- Only 17 undergraduates have sor at MIT. signed up so far, she said. All stu- Brynjolfsson said Yang was “a dents must sign up before Sept. 12 very funny, outgoing guy” when he or pay a $25 activation fee. was a student at MIT. Yang’s thesis IS&T placed stickers and flyers on how organizations benefit from on phones to notify students of the information technology investment service change. “might be one of the best master’s The decision to charge students theses ever written,” Brynjolfsson for outgoing calls was made by said. Housing and IS&T. IS&T raised OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH Johann K. Komander ’09 demonstrates his tire-swinging skill to upperclassmen and freshmen alike. Shin-Kyu Yang, Page 13 Phones, Page 13 Senior House held its Tire Swinging competition on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Comics NEWS World & Nation...... 2 MIT researchers make ice cream The Tech reviews options for pur- Opinion ...... 4 with liquid carbon dioxide...... 12 chasing textbooks...... 14 Arts ...... 6 Kathy Lin reviews local grocery SafeRide stops for all four shuttle Daily Confusion ...... 15 stores...... 12 routes...... 14 Sports ...... 15 Page 10 Page 2 THE TECH August 29, 2005 WORLD & NATION Congress Is Feeling Heat As Hurricane Katrina Nears, From Public Over Iraq By Carl Hulse THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON Residents Flee New Orleans With lawmakers facing tough questions at home about the war in Iraq, Sen. John W. Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Commit- By Joseph B. Treaster bowl-shaped city from flooding. Ernest Paulin Jr., a 55-year-old tee, says he intends to summon Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Abby Goodnough That possibility was enough for unemployed welder from New Or- quickly for a hearing when Congress returns next week. THE NEW YORK TIMES many of the city’s 485,000 residents leans, said he looked around his Warner, a Virginia Republican who is one of the most important con- NEW ORLEANS to heed the mayor’s call to leave, par- three-bedroom, wood-frame house gressional voices on military policy, said mounting numbers of dead and Hurricane Katrina, one of the alyzing traffic along major highways where he has lived alone since the wounded Americans, the contentious process of drafting an Iraqi consti- most powerful storms ever to threat- from just after daybreak and into the death of his wife last year and de- tution and the economic cost of the war were adding up to new anxiety en the United States, bore down on evening. cided to head for the Superdome. in Congress. the Gulf Coast on Sunday, sending “I probably won’t have a house “I just didn’t want to take a “The level of concern is, I think, gradually rising,” Warner said in an hundreds of thousands of people when I go back,” Tanya Courtney, 25, chance,” said Paulin, who like many interview on Friday. “Our nation has given so much to the Iraqi people, fleeing the approach of its 175 mph who lives in the city’s French Quar- arrived with hastily-packed posses- and what are they giving us in return?” winds and prompting a mandatory ter, said Sunday in Gulfport, Miss., sions. He was carrying a small plas- Unlike some of his colleagues in both parties, Warner said he did not evacuation of New Orleans, a city where she and a group of friends tic bag containing his eyeglasses, see parallels between the current situation and the Vietnam era. perilously below sea level. bound for Atlanta stopped for a rest. medication and a paperback book, “We are facing a storm that most Many others in New Orleans, in- a Tony Hillerman novel, “The First of us have long feared,” said Mayor cluding stranded tourists, stayed be- Eagle.” Killing of Two Serbs Raises Fear C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans, who hind, with as many as 10,000 of them After crossing South Florida late issued the order to evacuate. “This is crowding into the Superdome arena, last week, killing nine people as a Of Ethnic Unrest in Kosovo a once-in-a-lifetime event.” which the city designated as a shelter weaker storm, Hurricane Katrina By Nicholas Wood The hurricane’s eye was expected of last resort. intensified over the warm waters of THE NEW YORK TIMES BELGRADE, SERBIA to make landfall around daybreak People five and six abreast waited the Gulf of Mexico, growing early Two Serbs were killed late Saturday in a shooting in Kosovo, police on Monday in southeastern Loui- in line for hours to get into the arena, Sunday morning into a Category officials said Sunday, ending a yearlong lull in attacks on the Serbian siana — possibly squarely in New clutching children, blankets and pil- 5 storm, the strongest step on the minority in the province. Orleans. lows, oversize pieces of luggage or Saffir-Simpson scale. Since records The men came under attack while traveling in a car near the Serb The low-lying city has avoided plastic bags filled with belongings. have been kept, there have only been enclave of Strpce in the south of Kosovo, which is administered by the a direct hit from a powerful storm “When you are on a holiday you three Category 5 storms to hit the United Nations. Two other men in the car were wounded, one of them since Hurricane Betsy in 1965. In ad- don’t really follow these kind of United States — Hurricane Andrew, seriously. The attack came as senior U.N. officials are preparing to rule dition to the dangerous winds, Nagin things,” Neil Coffey, 35, a tourist which ravaged Florida and Louisi- next month whether ethnic relations have improved enough to open ne- said, Hurricane Katrina could bring from Britain, said as he stood in line ana in 1992; Hurricane Camille, gotiations on the future of the province. 15 inches of rain and a storm surge with a group of other tourists to get which cut a path through parts of Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since Yugoslav troops, of 20 feet or higher that would “most into the Superdome. “We were sur- Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia who were accused of committing widespread atrocities against the ma- likely topple” the network of levees prised. We don’t get hurricanes like in 1969; and an unnamed storm that jority Albanian community, were forced to withdraw in 1999. Kosovo and canals that normally protect the this at home.” hit the Florida Keys in 1935. formally remains a part of Serbia, but most Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population, want independence. A spokesman for the United Nations, Neeraj Singh, said the Serbian men had been fired upon from another vehicle. The mayor of Strpce Suicide Bombing Leads Israelis suggested they had been attacked because their car had outdated Serbian license plates, clearly identifying them as Serbs, according to Reuters. To Start Patrol of Gaza Border Injuries Are Rampant By Steven Erlanger The bomber asked a bus driver Gissin, an aide to Prime Minister THE NEW YORK TIMES for directions in a dirt parking lot Ariel Sharon. “As long as the Pal- On Women’s Tennis Tour JERUSALEM 100 yards from the Beersheba bus estinians don’t take decisive action By Liz Robbins A Palestinian carrying explo- station. The driver, suspicious, di- against terrorism this will continue, THE NEW YORK TIMES sives blew himself up during rush rected him to another bus and called and Abbas’ strategy of making po- An injury epidemic swept through the women’s tour this summer, hour Sunday morning in Beersheba, security guards, who chased the litical deals with terrorist organiza- hitting shoulders, chests, backs, knees and ankles, sparing virtually no the first act of suicide terrorism man and asked him for documents. tions will come back to haunt him,” one during the hardcourt season, which seemed to be focused less on since Israel pulled its settlers out of The man then detonated his explo- he said. “They smell that he’s weak, competition than on attrition. the Gaza Strip last week. sives, but he was not in a crowded and they’ll keep pressing.” Who is left? And what do they have left for the U.S. Open, the last Hours later, the Israeli Cabi- area. But Abbas pointed to an Israeli Grand Slam event on the annual circuit? net voted overwhelmingly to allow The militant groups Islamic army raid in the West Bank town of The questions are becoming more disconcerting for the WTA Tour Egypt to patrol its border with Gaza Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Bri- Tulkarem on Wednesday night that as it watches the bodies of many of its best players break down at an with 750 armed men, permitting Is- gades claimed responsibility for killed five Palestinians as “a provo- alarming rate. rael to withdraw the last of its sol- the attack, identifying the bomber cation,” after having earlier said “We do not see a pattern; it’s not like there’s one injury befalling diers from Gaza in the next month. as Ayman Zaaqiq, 25, of a village that the raid “intentionally seeks to tennis players like, say, ankle injuries,” said Larry Scott, the chief exec- In a statement issued by the near Hebron. But Shin Bet, Israel’s renew the vicious cycle of violence” utive of the WTA Tour. He added that it was clear that the Tour needed official Palestinian news agency, counterterrorism agency, said Zaaq- at a time “when the Palestinian Au- “to continue to improve the schedule to allow for appropriate rest.” WAFA, the Palestinian president, iq was in custody, so the identity of thority is trying to maintain calm.” Technology has made the women’s game more powerful, the sched- Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the the bomber remained unclear. That raid by Israelis was aimed, ule is more demanding, and the pressure to prepare off the court has bombing in Beersheba, 55 miles Israeli officials condemned the Israel said, at a cell of Islamic Jihad intensified. And all those factors have led to increased injuries. south of Tel Aviv, as “a terrorist bombing as “a wake-up call that that had planned the two most re- Three lower-seeded players withdrew last week from the Open be- attack.” Two security guards were brings us back to the reality of ter- cent suicide bombings, in Tel Aviv cause of injuries, two shoulder-related, one a sprained ankle. critically wounded and another 46 rorism after the euphoria of the on Feb. 25 and in Netanya on July people were hurt. Gaza disengagement,” said Raanan 12, in which 10 Israelis died. WEATHER All Eyes on Hurricane Katrina Situation for Noon Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, August 29, 2005

By Cegeon J. Chan 130°W 125°W 120°W 115°W 110°W 105°W 100°W 95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W 75°W 70°W 65°W 60°W STAFF METEOROLOGIST 40°N As of late last night, Katrina, a category 5 (the highest on the Safﬁr-Simp- 1008 � son scale), still packed maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. One of the 1011 �

�

most astonishing characteristics is the extremely low pressure. Yesterday eve- �

�

ning, an observation indicated 902 mb, the fourth lowest on record in the �

�

� �

Atlantic basin. Most hurricanes do not maintain an intensity this strong, but � 35°N

� � �

with warm sea surface temperatures and a lack of any large-scale features that �

�

� �

could weaken Katrina, computer models show Katrina will make landfall be- � 1016 �

�

� �

�

� 1008 �

� �

�

tween the eastern half of Louisiana and Gulf Shores, Alabama by the morning �

� � �

�

� � �

� �

�

� �

hours at least as a category 4 hurricane. � � �

�

� �

�

� �

�

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � Since Katrina is massive (hurricane force winds extend outward over 70 �� 30°N miles and tropical storm winds extend up to 230 miles) and with Katrina’s 1020 wrath being forecasted along densely populated areas, this hurricane could likely break the record that Hurricane Andrew ($31 billion) caused in damage in 1992. Back in Boston, although most of the day should remain dry, any 1004 outdoor Orientation activities are in jeopardy as a band of pesky rain showers 25°N will linger along the coast causing the rain to turn off and on. �� Forecast: 996 Today: Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers. Patchy fog in the morning. Hu- mid with highs in the low 80s°F (27°C). Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers in the evening, then showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms after midnight. Humid with lows in Weather Systems Weather Fronts Precipitation Symbols Other Symbols the mid 60s°F (18°C). Snow Rain Fog High Pressure Trough Tomorrow: Showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms. Humid again. - - - Showers Thunderstorm

Highs in the upper 70s°F (25°C). � � � � Warm Front Light Low Pressure Haze Tomorrow Night: Mostly cloudy. Humid in the mid 60s°F (16°C). �� Cold Front Moderate Compiled by MIT Hurricane � � Meteorology Staff � � Stationary Front Heavy and The Tech August 29, 2005 WORLD & NATION THE TECH Page 3 U.S. Military Retooling Tactics Army Demotes Critic Of Halliburton Contract By Erik Eckholm In Case of War With N. Korea THE NEW YORK TIMES By Thom Shanker a detailed public description of the North Korean offensive. The plans A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompeti- THE NEW YORK TIMES highly classified war-planning pro- were under discussion before the war tive contract with the Halliburton Co. for work in Iraq was demoted CAMP CASEY, SOUTH KOREA cess, Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, the com- in Iraq began. Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance. American commanders are mak- mander, described how American “Why would we want to have our The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military pro- ing significant changes in their plans contingency plans are being reshaped valuable resources underneath the ar- curement for 20 years and for the last several years had been the chief in the event of a military conflict with by new theories of war-fighting and by tillery of North Korea?” LaPorte said. overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that North Korea, to rely in large measure new military technology. “Our high-value assets are now dis- has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq. on a new generation of sensors, smart “We have better intelligence,” he posed where they would not be under The demotion removes her from the elite Senior Executive Service bombs and high-speed transport ships said, so the American and South Ko- immediate fires. It gives us the opera- and reassigns her to a lesser job in the corps’ civil works division. to deter and, if necessary, counter that rean militaries will have more advance tional agility we need.” Greenhouse’s lawyer, Michael Kohn, called the action an “obvious unpredictable dictatorship, the senior warning if North Korea mobilizes for The shift of the American foot- reprisal” for the strong objections she raised in 2003 to a series of U.S. commander in South Korea says. war, providing the opportunity to lo- print here has an added benefit, as the Corps decisions involving the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown The shift in strategy is being un- cate and attack its vast arsenal of artil- movements also ease tensions with & Root, which has garnered more than $10 billion for work in Iraq. dertaken even as the United States lery and rockets. South Koreans. The tight embrace of Dick Cheney led Halliburton, which is based in Texas, before he cuts the number of troops here by one- “We have precision-guided mu- urban sprawl from the South Korean became vice president. third and begins moving the remaining nitions,” he added. “We have better capital, Seoul, had surrounded a num- soldiers farther from the demilitarized weapons systems. We have better ber of American bases that were set up zone, to improve their chances of sur- communications. So we are able to not decades ago at what had been the end Official of Defunct Fund viving any North Korean offensive. only accomplish our current mission, of dusty roads. Army headquarters in Washington but increase our capabilities — at the As the nation’s senior war planners Is Tied to Its Auditing Firm has made a formal announcement that same time reducing the number of survey the world for potential military By Gretchen Morgenson a brigade of 2nd Infantry Division personnel it takes to do this.” rivals, there is no doubt that the most THE NEW YORK TIMES soldiers sent urgently from South Ko- American plans call for moving significant state rivals are China and Investors who are worried about the fate of the money they turned rea to Iraq last year will not return to those troops remaining in South Ko- North Korea — and that the nuclear, over to the Bayou Group, a Connecticut firm that is under investiga- South Korea, but will instead return rea away from the border with North Communist North Korea is by far the tion by federal and state authorities, will not be happy to learn that to a base in the United States. That Korea — where for decades they more unpredictable. In the interview, there were close ties between the firm and the auditor of its hedge puts the American troop commitment have been within easy killing range LaPorte also pulled back the curtain funds. in South Korea on track to drop from of 12,000 artillery pieces and rocket on the latest intelligence assessments Public documents show that the chief financial officer and head of 37,500 — a figure maintained since tubes — to new positions where the of a North Korean threat across a de- compliance for the Bayou Group was also a principal in an accounting the early 1990s — to 25,000 by 2008. troops would have greater chances of militarized zone just 11 miles from firm that audited the hedge funds’ books. In a recent interview that provided absorbing, and then responding to, a this American base. Daniel E. Marino was the No. 2 man at Bayou, a hedge fund company founded in 1996 by Samuel Israel III that appeared to have $411 million in assets at the end of last year. Marino is also listed as a registered agent at Richmond-Fairfield Associates, the accounting firm that Constitution Denounced by Sunnis, signed off on the Bayou funds’ financial statements in 2004 and earlier. Such a dual role could cast doubt on the accuracy of Bayou’s financial statements. Officials at the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office and the Connecticut But Still Sent to Iraqi Parliament Banking Department are investigating Bayou, which announced that it By Dexter Filkins mocracy.” Bush emphasized what he Then the group, made up of about was closing in July and that it would return all of its investors’ money and Robert F. Worth described as the charter’s protections 40 of the most powerful Iraqi politi- in mid-August. Investors are still waiting for their funds, however, and THE NEW YORK TIMES for individual rights, and he tried to cal leaders, drove across the forti- Israel and Marino have stopped communicating with them. It is feared BAGHDAD, IRAQ allay concerns about opposition from fied Green Zone to the palace of the that the fund company, which is based in Stamford, Conn., has col- Iraqi leaders presented a disputed Sunni leaders. Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani. In a lapsed. constitution to the country’s par- “Some Sunnis have expressed ceremony held in the courtyard of Israel did not return phone calls seeking comment and Marino liament on Sunday, overriding the reservations about various provisions Talabani’s sandstone palace, they de- could not be reached. A call to the office of Richmond-Fairfield last objections of Sunni negotiators and of the constitution, and that’s their clared the new constitution the em- Friday was not returned. Marino’s affiliation with Richmond-Fair- setting the stage here for a protracted right as free individuals living in a bodiment of the Iraqi nation. field was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in its online edi- period of political conflict. free society,” Bush said. “There are Yet only four Sunni Arab leaders tion. The Sunni negotiators, who in- strong beliefs among other Sunnis attended the event, and all were long- cluded former members of Saddam that this constitution is good for all time exiles who had only recently Hussein’s Baath Party, publicly de- Iraqis and that it adequately reflects returned. There were some notice- Missed Church? No Worries. nounced the constitution and called compromises suitable to all groups.” able absences: Adnan Pachachi, the on Iraqi voters to send it down to de- The Iraqi leaders, a group of former Iraqi foreign minister; Ghazi Download It to Your iPod. feat when it goes for a vote on Oct. mainly Shiite and Kurdish repre- Yawer, the former Iraqi president; By Tania Ralli 15. Some of the Sunnis said that they sentatives, said they had decided and Ayad Allawi, the former prime THE NEW YORK TIMES expected the guerrilla violence to to push ahead with the constitution minister and secular Shiite leader. Kyle Lewis, 25, missed going to church one Sunday last month. But surge. after Sunni leaders submitted yet an- Talabani, though casting a mostly he did not miss the sermon. A Sunni member of the constitu- other list of demands. The American positive light on the day’s events, Lewis, who regularly attends services of the National Community tional committee, Mahmoud al-Ma- ambassador here, Zalmay Khalilzad, expressed frustration with the Sunni Church in Alexandria, Va., listened to the sermon while he was at the shadani, said, “We have reached a who had vigorously worked to bring negotiating team, a group hastily gym, through a recording he had downloaded to his iPod. Instead of point where this constitution contains the Sunnis into the deal, said he, too, brought into the drafting process by listening to the rock music his gym usually plays, he heard his pastor’s the seeds of the division of Iraq.” had given up in frustration. Iraqi and American officials follow- voice. In the face of these develop- The Iraqi leaders entered the Na- ing the Sunni boycott of the January “Having an iPod is a guaranteed way to get the sermon if you’re go- ments, President Bush, at his ranch tional Assembly chambers in the ear- elections. ing to be out of town,” Lewis said, adding that he listens to the pastor’s in Crawford, Texas, praised the con- ly afternoon, read the 39-page docu- The 15 Sunni representatives took podcast at least once more during the week, usually while driving to stitution as a milestone in Iraqi his- ment aloud to the representatives and such a tough approach to the negotia- work, even during weeks he makes it to services. tory, congratulating Iraqi leaders for urged them go to out and persuade tions that several Shiite and Kurdish Lewis’ pastor, the Rev. Mark Batterson, started podcasting, or “god- “completing the next step in their the people in their communities to leaders said privately that there was casting” as he prefers to call it, last month to spread the word about his transition from dictatorship to devote for it in October. no deal they would agree to. congregation. The hourlong recordings of his weekly service, available on http://theaterchurch.com/, have already brought new parishioners to his church, he said. “I can’t possibly have a conversation with everyone each Sunday. Striking Northwest Airlines Workers But this builds toward a digital discipleship,” he said. “We’re orthodox in belief but unorthodox in practice.” Just as Christian organizations embraced radio and television, pod- Question Decisions of Union Leaders casting has quickly caught on with religious groups. Since the begin- By Micheline Maynard tute workers, including replacement International Airport in Chicago. In ning of July, the number of people or groups offering spiritual and and Jeremy W. Peters mechanics, contractors and supervi- an e-mail message, he said he was religious podcasts listed on Podcast Alley (http://podcastalley.com/) THE NEW YORK TIMES sors. “furious” that he did not get to con- has grown to 474 from 177. DETROIT On Sunday, Northwest said its op- sider the airline’s offer. Ten days into a strike against erations had run relatively well over But union leaders, including AM- Northwest Airlines, signs of dissent the weekend, although it had can- FA’s executive director, O.V. Delle- European Trade Commissioner are beginning to bubble up among celed 15 flights because of Hurricane Femine, have said the airline’s final mechanics union members on picket Katrina. On Saturday, the airline said proposal was so unreasonable that Pledges to End Quota Dispute lines at airports around the country. 28 percent of its flights were delayed the rank and file would surely have By Thomas Fuller In a union known for lively de- 15 minutes or more; as of midafter- turned it down if they had a chance THE NEW YORK TIMES PARIS bate, some members of the Aircraft noon Sunday, about 13 percent were to vote on it. Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, sought to quiet Mechanics Fraternal Association, delayed, airline officials said. On Sunday, Delle-Femine said he a dispute over Chinese textile imports on Sunday, promising to release which struck Northwest on Aug. 20, Northwest normally encounters stood by his decision not to bring the within a month the 80 million Chinese-made sweaters, trousers and are questioning the union leaders’ delays involving 20 percent to 22 offer to a vote. “We put out feelers on bras that are held up in European ports. decision to call a strike without a percent of its flights. that,” he said, adding that only a small But the sheer volume of the disputed clothing and possible opposi- vote on the airline’s final offer. The airline’s last offer to the minority of union members thought tion by some European governments could threaten to unravel Man- Other workers are voicing ada- union called for $176 billion in wage the offer was worth voting on. “We delson’s plan. mant support for the walkout. But and benefit cuts, including the elimi- would have been hung if we brought Sunday’s comments were the first time that Mandelson, who has even some of them are looking for nation of 2,000 jobs. It also would it out to ratify.” come under sharp criticism from European retailers and importers, had other jobs, saying they cannot afford have provided for six months’ sever- Labor experts said this stance was offered a timetable for a resolution to the ineffective quota system that to be out of work. ance pay and medical coverage for justifiable. “No leadership will just he negotiated with China in June. Among the clothing blocked in Eu- The union’s 4,430 workers at those laid off. present everything that a company of- ropean ports are 47.7 million sweaters, or more than one for every 10 Northwest are walking picket lines “It’s absolutely ridiculous. I can’t fers,” said Herman Benson, founder of citizens of the European Union. without pay, since AMFA does not believe they didn’t let us vote on it,” the Association for Union Democracy, Mandelson’s pledge to end the dispute said little about a team of have a strike fund. Their medical Jeff Doerr, who has been a mechanic a nonprofit trade organization that ad- European negotiators in Beijing who are scheduled for a fifth day of coverage from the airline runs out on at Northwest’s hub in Minneapolis vises unions. talks on Monday on how to loosen the quota system. He repeated on Thursday, and none is available from for 15 years, said last week. Nor would it send workers to pick- Sunday that the system had a “glitch.” the union. And in some states, they “I have 31 years of my life in- et lines without their approval, and 93 “I wasn’t responsible for creating that glitch,” Mandelson said on have no unemployment benefits. vested in my job,” said Richard S. percent of AMFA members at North- BBC television. “I am, however, taking responsibility for solving it.” Northwest is using 1,900 substi- Paterala, a lead technician at O’Hare west voted in favor of a strike in July. Page 4 THE TECH August 29, 2005 OPINION

Chairman Jina Kim ’06 Editor in Chief Kelley Rivoire ’06 Business Manager Lucy Li ’06 Managing Editor Michael McGraw-Herdeg ’08

NEWS STAFF News Editors: Beckett W. Sterner ’06, Marissa Vogt ’06, Jenny Zhang ’06; Staff: Waseem S. Daher ’07, Ray C. He ’07, Tongyan Lin ’07, Hanhan Wang ’07, Tiffany Chen ’08, Michael Snella ’08, Marie Y. Thibault ’08, Jiao Wang ’08, John A. Hawkinson; Meteorologists: Ce- geon Chan G, Jon Moskaitis G, Michael J. Ring G, Roberto Rondanelli G, Brian Tang G, Robert Korty G.

PRODUCTION STAFF Editors: Tiffany Dohzen ’06, Austin Chu ’08; Staff: Joy Forsythe G, Sie Hendrata Dhar- mawan ’05. OPINION STAFF The Peril of America’s Nuclear Policies Editor: Ruth Miller ’07; Associate Editor: Ali S. Wyne ’08; Staff: Ken Nesmith ’04, Nick Bal- others, be they allies or nemeses, to renege It should be noted that, accounting for all dasaro ’05, W. Victoria Lee ’06, Josh Levinger Ali Wyne on their commitments to uphold it, thereby storage facilities across the country, there are compounding the very threats that we seek to already a minimum of 5,000 such pits in ex- ’07, Chen Zhao ’07, Julián Villarreal ’07. In a recent interview, President Bush avert. istence. warned that if Iran did not cease its efforts to At present, the United States maintains a While I could enumerate other such ex- SPORTS STAFF construct a nuclear weapon, the United States stockpile of 10,300 nuclear weapons, second amples here, doing so is unnecessary. (The Editor: Brian Chase ’06; Staff: Caitlin Murray would consider using armed force to thwart only to Russia, which maintains 16,000. (It Natural Resources Defense Council’s April ’06, Yong-yi Zhu ’06, Travis Johnson ’08. them. While the international community should be noted that, in between 2002 and 2004 report, Weaponeers of Waste, available generally shares the Bush administration’s 2005, Russia has dismantled and destroyed at http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/weaponeers/ ARTS STAFF view that Iran’s recent efforts are unwelcome, approximately 4,000 of its weapons; the Unit- weaponeers.pdf, documents such examples.) Editors: Kevin G. Der ’06, Jacqueline O’Connor it does not look intent on arresting them. In- ed States, by contrast, has eliminated 400.) What is reasonable, however, is to ask if these ’06; Staff: Bogdan Fedeles G, Jorge Padilla, Jr. deed, it appears to have arrived at a consensus Furthermore, it currently spends 12 times efforts to construct a formidable nuclear ap- ’05, Jessica O. Young ’06, Nivair H. Gabriel ’08. that America possesses neither the political, more on efforts to construct nuclear weapons paratus are disparate or, rather, part of a more than it does on efforts to prevent their spread. coordinated policy. At the least, they are PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF While the scale of the United States’ nuclear firmly grounded in the grand strategies that program is troubling, of greater concern are influenced the United States’ foreign policies Editors: Brian Hemond G, Yun Wu ’06, Omari The U.S. currently spends 12 its current initiatives. after World War II. In particular, they imple- Stephens ’08; Staff: Jimmy Cheung G, Frank The Bush administration is allocating ment the recommendation of National Secu- Dabek G, Dmitry Portnyagin G, Stanley Hu ’00, times more on efforts to construct $485 million to the Department of Energy rity Memorandum 7 (March 30, 1948), which Andrew W. Yip ’02, Scott Johnston ’03, John nuclear weapons than it does on to research what is known as a “robust nu- argued that the United States must maintain M. Cloutier ’06, Grant Jordan ’06, Stephanie clear Earth penetrator” (RNEP) — com- “overwhelming nuclear supremacy.” It is diffi- Lee ’06, Edward Platt ’06, Batya Fellman ’08, efforts to prevent their spread. monly known as a “bunker buster.” Such a cult to conceive of a geopolitical environment Scot Frank ’08, Tiffany Iaconis ’08, Christina weapon, if properly deployed, would burrow in which the pursuit of this objective would Kang ’08, Nicole Koulisis ’08, Erqi Liu ’08, itself several meters underground, detonating afford the United States greater security. Kenneth Yan ’08. nor, more importantly, the moral legitimacy to only upon making contact with the weapons The May 2005 Nuclear Non-Prolifera- reproach Iran for establishing a nuclear pro- storage facility or facilities in consideration. tion Treaty Review Conference affirmed this CAMPUS LIFE STAFF gram. However, laboratory studies reveal that, in point, with the 188 participants failing to President Bush has properly argued that addition to producing immense radioactive achieve much, if any, substantive progress. Editor: Zach Ozer ’07; Columnists: Monica the most critical threat facing this country’s fallout, deploying bunker busters would en- Doctor Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the Byrne G, Emily Kagan G, Kailas Narendran security “lies at the crossroads of radicalism tail calamitous ramifications for civilians. International Atomic Energy Agency, ren- ’01, Bill Andrews ’05, Daniel Corson ’05, Mark and technology,” and that strengthening the The Union of Concerned Scientists issued the dered a more pointed judgment, stating that Liao ’06; Cartoonists: Jason Burns G, Brian nuclear nonproliferation regime is of para- following assessment: the proceedings accomplished “absolutely Loux G, Emezie Okorafor ’03, Josie Sung ’06, mount importance. Unfortunately, however, nothing.” The harshest criticism was directed The high yield RNEP will produce tremen- the policies of his administration have un- toward the Western powers, and, in particular, Ash Turza ’08, James Biggs. dous fallout that will drift for more than a dercut the broad framework of treaties and the United States, for concurrently advancing thousand miles downwind … A simulation BUSINESS STAFF protocols which collectively constitute this its nuclear weapons program and censuring of RNEP used against the Esfahan nuclear regime. others for doing the same. Even traditional Advertising Managers: Jeffrey Chang ’08, Yi facility in Iran, using the software devel- Since he took office in January 2001, the allies expressed displeasure with our posture. Wang ’08; Operations Manager: Jennifer Wong oped for the Pentagon, showed that three United States has withdrawn from the 1972 Canada’s chief representative, Paul Meyer, ’07; Staff: Melissa Chu ’08, Daniel Ding ’08. million people would be killed by radiation Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and declined remarked that “If governments simply ignore within two weeks of the explosion, and 35 to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. or discard commitments whenever they prove TECHNOLOGY STAFF million people in Afghanistan, Pakistan Neither of these protocols elicits mention in inconvenient, we will never be able to build an and India would be exposed to increased Director: Shreyes Seshasai ’08; Staff: Lisa 2002’s National Strategy to Combat Weap- edifice of international cooperation and confi- levels of cancer-causing radiation. Wray ’07, Connie Yee ’08. ons of Mass Destruction, which asserts that dence in the security realm.” the United States should only “ensure [the To cite another, less-publicized example, To single out the United States for criti- EDITORS AT LARGE international community’s] compliance with the United States also seeks to construct a cism is unfair, and ignorant of the ways in Contributing Editor: Kathy Lin ’05; Senior relevant international agreements.” The Bush “modern pit facility,” — at a cost of $2 to which other states have undermined the Editors: Keith J. Winstein G, Jennifer Krishnan administration is misguided if it believes that $4 billion — which would annually yield be- nuclear nonproliferation regime. To wholly ’04, Akshay Patil ’04, Christine R. Fry ’05. agreements such as those mentioned above tween 125 and 450 plutonium pits. (Accord- absolve it of fault, however, would appear are antiquated or irrelevant. Whatever de- ing to the Carolina Peace Resource Center, a to be unwise, in light of its current pursuits. ADVISORY BOARD ficiencies they may suffer, they anchor the plutonium pit “is a steel encased hollow ball Indeed, if we desire that emerging nuclear nuclear nonproliferation regime. Abandon- of plutonium surrounded by explosives that states discontinue their activities, we would Peter Peckarsky ’72, Paul E. Schindler, Jr. ’74, ing such agreements implicitly sanctions acts as a trigger for a nuclear detonation.”) be prudent to examine our own. V. Michael Bove ’83, Barry Surman ’84, Robert E. Malchman ’85, Deborah A. Levinson ’91, Jonathan Richmond PhD ’91, Saul Blumenthal The Tech reserves the right to edit or condense letters; shorter let- ’98, Ryan Ochylski ’01, Rima Arnaout ’02, Eric Opinion Policy ters will be given higher priority. Once submitted, all letters become J. Cholankeril ’02, Ian Lai ’02, Nathan Collins Editorials are the official opinion of The Tech. They are writ- property of The Tech, and will not be returned. The Tech makes no SM ’03, Jyoti Tibrewala ’04, B. D. Colen. ten by the editorial board, which consists of the chairman, editor in commitment to publish all the letters received. chief, managing editor, opinion editors, a senior editor, and an opin- Guest columns are opinion articles submitted by members of the PRODUCTION STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE ion staffer. MIT or local community and have the author’s name in italics. Col- Editors: Austin Chu ’08, Michael McGraw- Dissents are the opinions of signed members of the editorial umns without italics are written by Tech staff. Herdeg ’08, John A. Hawkinson. board choosing to publish their disagreement with the editorial. Letters to the editor, columns, and editorial cartoons are writ- The Tech (ISSN 0148-9607) is published on Tuesdays and Fridays during the ten by individuals and represent the opinion of the author, not neces- To Reach Us academic year (except during MIT vacations), Wednesdays during January, sarily that of the newspaper. Electronic submissions are encouraged The Tech’s telephone number is (617) 253-1541. E-mail is the eas- and monthly during the summer by The Tech, Room W20-483, 84 Massachu- and should be sent to [email protected]. Hard copy submis- iest way to reach any member of our staff. If you are unsure whom setts Avenue, Cambridge, Mass. 02139. Subscriptions are $45.00 per year sions should be addressed to The Tech, P.O. Box 397029, Cambridge, to contact, send mail to [email protected], and it will be di- (third class) and $105.00 (first class). Third class postage paid at Boston, Mass. Permit No. 1. POSTMASTER: Please send all address changes to Mass. 02139-7029, or sent by interdepartmental mail to Room W20- rected to the appropriate person. Please send press releases, requests our mailing address: The Tech, P.O. Box 397029, Cambridge, Mass. 02139- 483. All submissions are due by 4:30 p.m. two days before the date for coverage, and information about errors that call for correction 7029. TELEPHONE: Editorial: (617) 253-1541. Business: (617) 258-8329. of publication. to [email protected]. Letters to the editor should be sent to Facsimile: (617) 258-8226. Advertising, subscription, and typesetting rates Letters, columns, and cartoons must bear the authors’ signatures, [email protected]. The Tech can be found on the World Wide available. Entire contents © 2005 The Tech. Printed on recycled paper by addresses, and phone numbers. Unsigned letters will not be accepted. Web at http://the-tech.mit.edu. Charles River Publishing. August 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 5

Comcast shouldn’t be one of them. Comcast brings you everything you need to get through the school year.With Comcast Digital Cable, you’ll get all the channels you Get your first month FREE on want most - plus ON DEMAND, so you can tune in to your favorite select Comcast Digital Cable shows — like EntourageSM, Curb Your Enthusiasm® and The packages with HBO ®. Sopranos® — when you’re ready. Add Comcast High-Speed Comcast High-Speed Internet is up to 5 times faster than 768k Internet for only $19.99/mo DSL, so it’s the ideal tool for research, downloading music, playing for 6 months! on-line games and more. (866) 446-8501

comcast.com

Offer expires 9/18/05. Offer available to new residential customers located in Comcast serviceable areas who have not subscribed to the service selected within the past 120 days. Former accounts must be in good standing. Offers may not be combined with other offers or discounts and is limited to a single outlet. After promotional offer period, published rate card for Comcast Digital Plus, Silver, or Gold applies. Subscription to Standard Cable required to receive promotional offer. Offer does not include Standard Cable. Certain services are available separately or as part of other levels of service. Subscription to HBO is required to receive HBO ON DEMAND. ON DEMAND programs are limited. Comcast High-Speed Internet: Speed comparisons for downloads only for Comcast 6.0 compared to 56K dial-up 768K DSL. Comcast speeds range from 4.0 Mbps to 8.0 Mbps download speed (maximum upload speed from 384 Kbps to 768 Kbps respectively.) Comcast High-Speed Internet speed received and respective pricing will vary depending upon the level of video service (if any) received. Actual speeds may vary and are not guaranteed. Many factors affect download speed. All Services: Basic service subscription is required to receive other levels of service. Upon service termination, all Comcast provided equipment must be returned to Comcast in good condition. Additional fees may apply for equipment, installation, taxes, and franchise fees. Prices are subject to change. Services are subject to terms and conditions of Comcast’s subscriber agreements and other applicable terms and conditions. Restrictions apply. © 2005 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO®, Curb Your Enthusiasm®, EntourageSM, The Sopranos® and HBO On Demand® are service marks of Home box office, Inc. FOLLOWING THE PROMOTIONAL/INTRODUCTORY PERIOD,COMCAST'S STANDARD SERVICE AND EQUIPMENT FEES APPLY,UNLESS SERVICE IS CANCELLED. YOU MAY CANCEL SERVICE AT THE END OF THE PROMOTIONAL/INTRODUCTORY PERIOD BY CALLING 1-800-COMCAST AND REQUESTING SERVICE CANCELLATION. ©2005 Comcast Cable Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Comcast and the Comcast logo are registered trademarks of Comcast Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.A28P-081805V1-A9NE Page 6 THE TECH August 29, 2005 ARTS MOVIE REVIEW ★1/2 MOVIE REVIEW ★★★1/2 Life-Affirming ‘Murderball’ Aristocratic Vulgarity Inspires Sports Documentary Ranks Among Summer’s Worth Best Films Missing By Kapil Amarnath In Joe Soares, however, Murderball the intensity for the sport has Directed by Henry Alex Rubin and mushroomed into an obses- By Kathy Lin Dana Adam Shapiro sion that clouds his judgment. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Starring Keith Cavill, Joe Soares, and He feels so slighted after be- The Aristocrats Mark Zupan ing cut from the U.S. team that Directed by Paul Provenza Rated R he decides to coach Canada, Created by Penn Jilette and Paul Provenza earning the moniker “Bene- Starring Chris Albrecht, Hank Azaria, s I settled in for “Murderball,” I dict Arnold” from his former Lewis Black, Drew Carey, George Carlin, noticed that there were only four teammates. To his chagrin, Phyllis Diller, Frank DiGiacomo, Carrie people in the theater: me, a friend of his coaching approach does Fisher, Whoopi Goldberg, Eddie Goro- A mine, and an elderly couple. When not apply to his son Robert, detsky, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, Richard the credits rolled, I wondered how countless whom he wishes could take Lewis, Bill Maher, “The Onion” Staff, Trey people could toss money in the coffers of the form of one of his players. Parker, Paul Provenza, Penn & Teller, Rita “Fantastic Four,” while missing out on this The energy and commitment Rudner, T. Sean Shannon, Sarah Silverman, film. “Murderball” is uplifting and informa- he gives to murderball bends Matt Stone, and many more. tive, befitting of the Audience Award it won him to his breaking point. Not Rated at Sundance. These human dramas are “Murderball,” the original name of quad- book-ended by two games in hen I left to use the restroom, I riplegic rugby, was invented in Canada in which the U.S. plays Can- wondered if the rest of the pri- 1979. The film is a documentary that explains ada. Directors Henry Alex marily male audience thought why, as http://quadrugby.com/ declares, it’s Rubin and Dana Adam Sha- W I was leaving in disgust. But “the fastest growing wheelchair sport in the piro capture the rowdy at- I returned for the rest of the movie, al- world.” The movie excels most when it re- mosphere that rivals that of ternately laughing at the vulgarity and lates the lives of its players to ours through a college basketball game, cringing at the idea that it would elicit my familiar activities. Moreover, it gracefully but the actual game footage laughter. portrays the impact of the sport on the jour- does not allow the audience “The Aristocrats” features Hollywood ney quadriplegics travel, from coping with to feel like part of the action. notables delivering and analyzing what their condition to parenthood. First of all, it’s mainly shot co-creater Penn Jilette touts as “the dirti- Keith Cavill lost the use of his legs in a at wheelchair level. This est joke you will ever hear.” And with the Motocross accident in 2003. He shares a rap- choice, though consistent rabid incest, beastiality, child rape, and port with those who take care of him and who with the rest of the film, does bodily fluids (and solids), hopefully it is. share his situation, regardless of race or back- not allow plays to develop. The joke admittedly grows on the ground. At home, however, he’s constantly A camera above the action viewer, and initial feelings of repulsion reminded of his injury. When he goes to an would have helped. Further- evolve (or devolve?) into reasonable en- information session on quadriplegic rugby, more, the footage contains joyment. But beyond a few humorously and tries one of the “Mad Max” wheelchairs, a lot of quick-cutting and ridiculous setups and exaggerated simula- a spark returns to his eyes. unnecessary slow-mo score- tions, the enjoyment stems primarily from That enthusiasm for the sport has turned changing. MTV AND THINKFILM the sheer crudeness of what meets the ears Mark Zupan glares at an opponent while playing murderball. into a fierce intensity in Mark Zupan. His de- Despite being relative and eyes; the joke — too vulgar to repeat sire to excel and prove others wrong is a char- newcomers, Rubin and Shap- in any form here — isn’t even funny. acteristic the players develop after their inju- iro handle this material evenhandedly by using Since Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Colum- “Aristocrats” is, in the end, mostly just ries. Underneath that passion, many of them, close-ups sparingly, thus avoiding sentimen- bine,” documentaries have become more com- a chance for the stars to venture into far for better or worse, are Jack Daniels drinkin’, tality. The camera constantly stays at wheel- monplace in multiplexes, as people learn of the riskier territory than has previously hit tattoo-covered jocks that just want to have a chair height serving a window into these lives, potential these films have to inform. “Murder- big screens in wide release, and for us the little fun with their girlfriends. Zupan’s situ- content to marvel at the resourcefulness of the ball” taps into that potential to make a great film viewers to gawk at it. ation is further complicated because his best players. It even goes as low as ground level, to on a little-known aspect of the human condition. Unless you feel a hankering for ex- friend, Chris Igoe, unknowingly caused his show these men as the monuments of human “Murderball” is playing at Coolidge Cor- tended stories of slipping and sliding in paralysis 10 years ago. adaptability that they are. ner Theatre in Brookline. human waste, this one is worth skipping.

MOVIE REVIEW ★★1/2 ‘American Pie’ for Adults: Cheap Laughs Reign in ‘40 Year-Old Virgin’ By Yong-yi Zhu STAFF WRITER The 40 Year-Old Virgin Directed by Judd Apatow Written by Judd Apatow and Steve Carell Starring Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco Rated R

hat is the most effective way for a guy to get laid? “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” investigates this at a level never before seen in a motion picture, all for the sake of helping a man W experience sex. Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is the consummate dork who collects action figures, bikes to work, and stays far away from women. Without any friends, there’s no one to tell him what he’s missing. But when Andy ad- mits to his co-workers (Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Seth Rogen) that he is still a virgin, they begin their attempts to rectify the situation. We watch Andy endure much discomfort throughout the lengthy quest, ranging from being thrown up on by a drunken date to having his chest hair removed bit by bit. (That scene wasn’t just acting; the director thought a genuine reaction from Carell would be funnier.) Steve Carell is convincing as the ultimate dork, conveying a genuine and innocent level of idiocy throughout. Beyond that, though, the movie is not about the acting. Thankfully, the generally artificial scenes and outrageously unbelievable characters are not noticed much because the movie makes you laugh so hard that you can barely put more popcorn in your mouth. This movie amuses and entertains for two hours. Just expect to be offended, though; “Virgin” has all the crudity of “American Pie,” but at an adult level. The film ignores clever comedy and simply repeatedly punches the audience with in-your-face humor. Somewhere between de- meaning women and making fun of animals, everyone will feel it. When that happens, though, just remind yourself: at least you’re not UNIVERSAL PICTURES a 40-year-old virgin. Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) finally finds the right woman (Catherine Keener). August 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 7 ARTS MOVIE REVIEW ★★ Flowers Aren’t All That’s Broken Latest Bill Murray Film Fails to Meet Expectations By Kelley Rivoire ule for Don in which Don embarks on a cross- thrilled to see him, and whose trailer park friends ist style that’s different from that of almost any EDITOR IN CHIEF country journey to visit four former girlfriends leave Don with a few injuries. Finally, Don vis- other actor, but trademark Bill Murray. Though Broken Flowers and hopefully, find the entertaining, his acting Directed and written by Jim Jarmusch anonymous mother. and an equally abrupt plot Starring Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Don’s first target is aren’t sufficient to over- Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Laura (Sharon Stone), ride the disconcerting and Jessica Lange whose race car driver lack of substance. Perhaps Rated R husband died on the there’s a point to the mind- job, leaving her alone numbing repetitiveness of on’t believe the hoards of “Broken Flow- to support herself seeing each of Johnston’s ers” reviews that herald it as deep and and her rather aptly- airplane flights and watch- eloquent. Hollywood reviewers have ap- named, exhibitionist ing him drive each rental Dpare ntly tired of the summer crop of in- teenage daughter Lo- car to the tune of a CD sipid, slapstick comedies and special effect-laden lita. Don leaves their from Winston, but it was action fil ms, instead vaunting the vaguely intelli- small home without certainly lost on me. gent, upper-crust humor of movies like “Broken a solution to his mys- The supporting actress- Flowers.” But just because a movie feigns intel- tery, but not without es who play Don’s former ligence doesn’t mean it actually says anything. making good on his girlfriends perform admi- “Broken Flowers” chronicles an episode in Don Juan moniker. rably, as does Wright, who the life of a modern-day Don Juan, Don Johnston Next comes Dora elicits quite a few laughs, (Bill Murray). A middle-aged man with a young- (Frances Conroy), but it doesn’t matter much er live-in girlfriend, Don lacks both the personal clearly uncomfortable when their roles mean so fulfilment of his family man next-door neighbor around Don (is she the little. Winston (Jeffrey Wright) and the wardrobe va- m other?); they share “Broken Flowers” riety. The day his girlfriend (Julie Delpy) leaves an awkward meal with clearly tries to appeal to a him, an unsigned, typed letter in a pink envelope the couple at her hus- higher class of moviego- appears in his mail: one of his relationships 20 band’s behest. Third ers, one of the art for art’s years ago apparently yielded a son, whom the is Carmen (Jessica FOCUS FEATURES sake mantra. The sleek unknown mother suggests might be trying to Lange), an “animal Don Johnston (Bill Murray) shares a meal with former flame Laura (Sharon Stone) and her stylishness of the movie is find his father. communicator,” ap- daughter Lolita (Alexis Dziena). undebatable, but the lack Puzzled, Johnston shows the letter to Win- parently now more interested in her female assis- its the grave site of the fifth girlfriend and heads of a convincing plot, and, more importantly, a ston, who has an unusual penchant for solving tant (Chloe Sevigny) than in men. Finally, Don back home. point, means that those two hours of your life mysteries. Winston concocts a detailed sched- visits Penny (Tilda Swinton), who’s clearly not Murray plays Johnston in a deadpan, minimal- are better spent elsewhere.

MOVIE REVIEW ★★★ See Ralph Run with Guiltless Good Feelings By W. Victoria Lee cooks the mundane story with speckles of wry humor. The result Gowan’s handling of “Saint Ralph” should not go unapplauded. STAFF WRITER is an unexpectedly good flavor that not only indulges the soft He renders serious scenes with lightheartedness that leaves Saint Ralph spots but also manages to tickle the funny bones. Set against a them funny on the surface, but quietly powerful underneath. In Written and directed by Michael McGowan Catholic community and in a Catholic preparatory school teem- a scene in a hospital, Ralph makes his mother smell flowers and Starring Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Shauna MacDonald, ing with stoic priests as educators, the film is full of religious- dog droppings, believing that familiar smells can waken coma Tamara Hope, Gordon Pinsent, and Je Tilly themed hilarities and occasional absurdities. patients. When Hope’s character enters, the situation turns comi- Rated PG-13 Although the wit helps alleviate the usual sentimentality that cal, but in the process Ralph’s emotional state is delicately con- so often plagues movies like “Saint Ralph,” ultimately the per- veyed without an exaggerated outward display of pain. t can be incredibly easy, or incredibly hard to judge a movie formance of Adam Butcher as Ralph Walker saves the film from More impressive is the lack of a dramatic denouement. Al- like “Saint Ralph.” You can take the cynical route and call falling into the abyss of schmaltziness. The up-and-coming Ca- though the ending falls within the usual expectations, the con- it inundated with treacle and saccharine sentiments. On the nadian young actor plays the 14-year-old main character with cluding scenes have a surprising subtlety, leaving none of the Iother hand, you can give into your sweet tooth and call it unflinching honesty, complete with unabashed hormonal rush sweet aftertaste. The Canadian Screenwriting Award and Paris heartwarming and moving. To fairly evaluate a movie with a plot and quixotically youthful valor. His portrayal of Ralph’s naïveté Film Festival Award the movie earned are well-deserved. as predictable as that of “Saint Ralph,” you must take the higher is not without occasional gawkiness. But it is this inelegance that Ultimately a good-feeling movie with offbeat humor, and road and abstain from succumbing to either blind exaltation or makes Ralph a fully-believable character. commendable writing and acting, “Saint Ralph” proves to be vituperative criticism. In fact, much of the film is devoted to Ralph the kid, rather above the typical sentimental movie. In an age in which the gen- than his quest to win the Boston eral audience has a strange penchant for vacuous comedies or Marathon. McGowan uses the depressing realisms, there is no harm in spoiling the mood with pursuit of a “miracle” as a ve- guiltless good feelings. hicle to unroll and deliver the 14-year- old’s character. There is something captivating about Ralph’s stubborn- ness, one-direc- tionality, and in- genuousness. At the end of the film, you can feel in- spired or moved, not because the story allows you to wallow in sentiments, but because you’ve never met a character like Ralph on screen, so brazenly simple that he is endear- SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS Ralph (Adam Butcher) takes a short break from training for the Boston Marathon in ing. “Saint Ralph.” Some of the supporting cast “Saint Ralph” is Canadian writer-director Michael Mc- members also provide considerable presence on Gowan’s second feature film; the title of his first, “My Dog Vin- screen: notably Jennifer Tilly as the Nurse who cent,” makes it hard to imagine that he entered the movie busi- tends to Ralph’s comatose mother, Campbell Scott ness with a bang. But it is not a given that his second film should as Father Hibert who trains Ralph, and Tamara be so easily dismissed. Hope, who is determined to be a nun, as Ralph’s Set in the post-World War II Canadian town of Hamilton, the love interest. movie tells the story of Ralph Walker, a typical, pubescent 14- In Tilly’s unorthodox character, Ralph finds an year-old desperately seeking a miracle to awaken his comatose unlikely ally. Hope brings another female figure mother. When a teacher casually mentions that a student winning to counterbalance the largely male cast, and in her the Boston Marathon would be a miracle, Ralph takes him liter- well-intended but entirely inaccurate ways to help ally, and the rest of the plot is self-explanatory. Ralph pray, much hilarity ensues. Scott’s role is nat- This movie has all the ingredients of a mawkish flop: an ob- urally both fatherly and Fatherly, but his portrayal viously flawed protagonist with unforeseen potential, an impos- is relatively constrained by the sentimentality that sible task, a romantic interest, an authoritative antagonist to add often accompanies the mentor character. hurdles along the way, and an unexpected helping hand with a Nonetheless, a movie with a premise like that of secret of his own. With the right condiments of background mu- Saint Ralph can try with little hope to completely sic, photographic angles, and one-line clichés, this movie could sever ties with the “cute little film” genre. When easily have become the carbon copy of countless “family” films God appears as Santa Claus, and marathon train- that only manage to captivate the very young or the very old. ing can be completed in a few months, we are not Fortunately, McGowan eschews the typical seasonings and talking about Academy Award material. But Mc- Page 8 THE TECH August 29, 2005 August 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 9

Orientation 2005

Counterclockwise from above: Orientation leaders tie-dyed T-shirts on Friday, Aug. 26 to use during their training the following day. New House Housemaster Wesley L. Harris deliv- ers some meat to be fed to the ever-ravenous freshmen. Schuyler Senft-Grupp ’06 (front) and Scott D. Torborg ’07 ﬁll the East Campus lazy river with thousands of gallons of water. East Campus Housemaster Julian Wheatley tries out the EC water slide, bringing the slide’s testing stage to a close. Adam A. Miller ’08 cooks hamburgers for the freshmen in the Arts Pre-Orientation Program on Saturday, Aug. 28.

Photography by Omari Stephens August 29, 2005

Page 10

Trio by Emezie Okorafor Solution, page 12 KRT Crossword KRT 14 Solution, page Bonus Crossword Bonus August 29, 2005 The Tech Page 11

Dilbert® by Scott Adams Page 12 THE TECH August 29, 2005 Shipping in Thousands of Smiles, A Man in Haymarket Stakes Out His Own Place in Boston Culture

Haymarket, from Page 1 nine to begin a day’s work selling items, Cherander says, as he care- buttons and entertaining customers. fully blocks the July sun to show a eyes and evoking the attention of In spite of the vendor’s tag strung tourist the flashing red eyes of a yel- passersby. Upon the umbrella are visibly onto his umbrella, on some low smiley. His sales are best after pinned hundreds more identical days, a noisy policeman comes and dark, when passersby surround him smiles — two dotted eyes below tries to force him away from Hay- to form a small crowd, eager to see which rests a long, narrow curve. market. “It is terrible in the city the man with 10 sets of twinkling The black outline comes on buttons of Boston to have policemen driv- eyes on either side of his jacket and of all different sizes and colors: ing away people who sell smiley the outlines of an oversized umbrel- yellow, red, blue, and green. At the buttons … I’m just trying to make la traced by flashes of light. turn of a back switch, the eyes of people happy,” he says. Cherander reminds us that smi- the smallest buttons flash red. The buttons have come back leys were not around all the time. “They last forty-eight hours,” he into fashion. Commenting on the They were first designed in 1970 tells the intermingled by a graphic artist named Harvey Bostonians and tour- Ball who worked for State Mu- ists. “Come back if you tual Life Assurance of Worcester, have a problem.” “It is terrible in the city of Massachusetts. In the early 1960s, Cherander, a vendor State Mutual asked Ball to reinstill in Quincy Market from Boston to have policemen company morale. Ball responded 1978 to 1992, first got by designing a happy face against the idea for his small a yellow background, which he first business back in 1970. driving away people who used on letterheads and stationary. He was the first person Cherander says he made them yel- to sell smiley buttons in sell smiley buttons,” says low because “you smile when the downtown Boston, on sun is out.” Boylston Street where Irving Cherander. “I'm Although Ball’s idea was well- there used to be two received, he never thought to copy- lines across from the right his design and only received Copley Square public just trying to make people $45 in payment from the insurance library. Over the years, company. The French entrepreneur he also sold many oth- happy.” Franklin Loufrani picked up the er souvenirs: stuffed design, copyrighting and patenting animals, stuffed aliens, it in the process. Thus the smiley portraits, old newspa- spread around the world, bestow- per collectibles, and ing on its patent owner millions of picture frames. This summer, for the fast-paced world, the pressures of dollars. first time in more than thirty years, the war in Iraq, and memories of In the same way that Cherand- he is again marketing smiles. 9/11, he says that the blissful grin er never held a grudge against Cherander buys three thousand of the yellow smiley face seems to his forced evictions from vendor buttons at a time from London have the ability reaffirm hope in grounds, in his obituary, Ball’s for the price of 63 cents each and Bostonians. In the same way that children say Ball was never bitter sells them here for two dollars. Ev- a white dress represents virginity about the millions he missed in life. OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH ery day this summer and possibly or the North Star a direction, the Through the generosity of these James J. Koschella ’78 practices his bounce juggling in lobby into the fall and winter, Cherander smiley face trademarks a universal men, the smiley lives on, destined 10 on Sunday evening, Aug. 28. During the year, the MIT Stu- wakes up at seven in the morning expression of happiness. to stir the hearts and faces of gen- dent Juggling Club meets on Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m. and arrives at Haymarket Square at These smiley buttons are night erations to come. MIT Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory Makes a New Type of Ice Cream that Goes ‘Whoof’ On Your Tongue By Jeffrey Krasner take a bite out of the 21.5 quarts of tracts fewer than five graduate stu- a soft hiss. There, the carbon dioxide for mix-ins or packaging. THE BOSTON GLOBE ice cream consumed annually by the dents each semester. But along came expanded to a gas, instantly chilling The method hasn’t changed much Like many great scientific discov- average American. Baker, a 24-year-old from Burbank, to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The since the 1920s, said Bob Roberts, eries, Teresa Baker’s breakthrough in “This product is exciting,” he said. Calif., who had spent a year working droplets of ice cream mix solidify associate professor of food science at MIT’s grimy Cryogenic Engineering “The effervescence is unique. People at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory into tiny flakes, each about 30 mi- Pennsylvania State University. Laboratory last October was punctu- are always looking for a new flavor, a in Pasadena, Calif. She was seeking crons across, smaller than the diam- But Roberts said the new method ated by a memorable exclamation of new texture, a new mouth sensation. a project involving thermodynamics, eter of a fine hair. raises questions, including whether victory. She raced upstairs from the I’d think it would have pretty good the science of converting heat into After about three minutes, Baker the product is actually ice cream. Ac- first-floor lab and announced to her commercial potential.” other forms of energy, which is ex- and Brisson grabbed huge wrenches cording to the government’s Code of fellow graduate students: “I made ice Brisson and Smith conceived their actly what happens when liquid ice to undo the collecting chamber’s Federal Regulations, “Ice cream is cream, come down and eat it!” confection contraption several years cream mix solidifies. bolts. Inside was a soup can filled a food produced by freezing, while Baker’s work involves liquid ago after a dairy industry executive The cryogenics laboratory is just with fine white powder. Cups and stirring, a pasteurized mix.” MIT’s carbon dioxide, bulky steps from MIT’s new Stata Center, spoons were distributed and the sam- concoction might not pass muster, he stainless steel cylin- the showplace designed by Frank pling of the vanilla product began. said, and could get tagged instead as ders, heat exchangers, Ice cream or quiescently frozen Gehry that looks more like modern The powder is dry, extremely a “quiescently frozen confection.” and vanilla ice cream art than a building. The lab evokes an cold, and melts instantly in the But the cryogenics crew is not mix, and it may change confection? MIT engineers have earlier age of engineering. Located mouth, releasing carbon dioxide va- worried. Its next step is to build a the way ice cream is in a drab 1923 building that origi- por so quickly that the gas travels up more sophisticated device that could made in the $20 billion- made a new, fizzy concoction nally was a laundry, it is crowded the taster’s nose, producing an unex- continuously blast out frozen dessert a-year industry. For with lathes, drill presses, spouted oil pected but pleasant rush. while enabling the operator to control consumers, the novel that's frozen using liquid carbon cans, and ominous circuit breakers. “It’s like fresh fallen snow,” said its effervescence and flake size. Bris- device could popular- Light filters through ancient Venetian Baker, “but it definitely gets sharp.” son also estimates that the carbon ize a new type of frozen dioxide, putting a new flavor to blinds. In a back room, a mechanical It is not the kind of work normally dioxide method could cut the energy dessert that combines helium liquefier chugs away, generat- done in the lab. Smith has experi- used to make frozen desserts by as the chill of ice cream traditional cryogenic research. ing the syncopated puffing of a steam mented with magnetic refrigerators, much as 40 percent. If the technique with the explosive fizz locomotive. which can super-chill objects by fluc- catches on, he and Smith would share of soda pop. Nearby, the ice cream maker tuating the magnetic fields. Brisson in any royalties. “It’s not ice cream hangs from a platform. Stainless has explored the world of ultra-low Smith said the frozen dessert ap- in the usual sense,” said John G. told them, “We’d love to see a better steel tubing snakes from two flasks; temperatures, between absolute zero paratus illustrates why after more Brisson, an associate professor of way to make ice cream.” one contains liquid carbon dioxide, and 1 Kelvin, at which superconduc- than half a century, he still loves mechanical engineering at the Mas- “We got to talking about it, and the other is filled with ice cream mix, tivity and other extraordinary phe- working in the run-down lab. sachusetts Institute of Technology. “It we thought, ‘This just might work,”’ a concoction of milk, cream, sugar, nomena occur. “It’s wonderful to do things that has a carbonated bite, and it just kind said Smith, who has headed the nonfat milk solids, and chemicals. But ice cream takes the cake. are new and different and to under- of goes ‘whoof’ on your tongue.” cryogenics lab since 1964. Their in- The tubes pass through a picnic cool- “Of all the stuff I’ve done, this Solution to KRT Crossword Already, Brisson and professor vention stands alongside other MIT er filled with ice water, then through is the most fun,” said Brisson, who from page 10 Joseph L. Smith Jr., who both col- breakthroughs that include the devel- several valves and gauges before grew up eating the black raspberry laborated with Baker, have met with opment of microwave radar, the first emptying into a solid steel cylinder ice cream at the old Cranberry Cove officials from several large ice cream living cell with man-made genes, the held together with giant bolts. The ice cream shop in Eastham. companies — they won’t say which first atom laser, and the hologram that nozzle controlling the flow of ice The new method is also a long way ones — to demonstrate their tech- appears on many credit cards. cream mix is the same as those that from traditional ice cream manufac- nique. They hope to commercialize The two won $50,000 in funding regulate the flow of heating oil into turing. In dairy factories, liquid ice the apparatus, possibly with a part- from the Deshpande Center for Tech- a furnace. cream mix flows into a chilled pipe ner. Their product does not yet have nological Innovation, an MIT pro- As Baker opened valves, high- and begins to freeze. Scrapers grab a name. gram that funds early-stage emerging pressure liquid carbon dioxide rushed ice crystals and mix them into the liq- Jerry Dryer, president of Dairy technologies, and began searching through the tubing. It met the ice uid. Beaters mix air into the finished & Food Market Analyst, a consult- for a graduate student to lead the cream mix in a small steel chamber product to make it fluffier. The entire ing firm in Delray Beach, Fla., said effort. That was no easy task, since and the combination sprayed down- process takes about 30 seconds, after the dessert produced at MIT could the cryogenics program usually at- ward into the collecting cylinder with which the semi-soft product is ready August 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 13 Yang Studied Effects Of I.T. On Businesses Shin-Kyu Yang, from Page 1 valuation of the firm.” Yang is survived by a wife and Yang developed new ways to son who live in New York, and a measure the economic value of service was held in July. IT investments and “documented The item in the Police Log from the importance of organizational the Aug. 3 issue of The Tech appar- changes” in achieving maximum ently concerning a suicide on July returns, Brynjolfsson said. In a pa- 10 at Eastgate was in fact an assist per he and Yang published in 1997, by the MIT Police related to Yang’s they find that “an increase of one death. Yang was a former resident dollar in the quantity of computer of Eastgate, and MIT Police Cap- capital installed by a firm is associ- tain David Carlson said that officers ated with an increase of up to ten were doing a follow-up at the dor- dollars in the financial markets’ mitory for the Cambridge Police. OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH Thomas Boucher (left) and Michael McAfee of the Society for Creative Anachronism spar near IS&T Sets Different the Kresge barbecue pits. Phone Service Fees Phones, from Page 1 off-campus phone service, IS&T will still need to maintain most of the rates for analog phones across the same resources to support on- campus by $3 to $20 per phone campus calls as it would for off- per month, and Housing decided it campus calls, including the cost of could not afford the full rate, par- wiring, the physical phones them- ticularly in light of a projected $2.2 selves, maintenance, and the ports million increase in utility costs this on MIT’s phone switch. In other fiscal year. words, IS&T recoups a lower per- Despite the different prices centage of costs for on-campus- IS&T charges for on-campus and only service versus off-campus.

FIRST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (PCUSA) welcomes MIT students!

Please join us for worship 10 a.m. Sundays 1418 Cambridge St. (Inman Sq.), Cambridge • An ethnically diverse, caring community being transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH • Weekly grad student Small Group MacGregor Housemaster Munther A. Dahleh introduces parents to and ﬁelds questions about • Accessible by MBTA bus #69 or #83 MacGregor House. Housemaster Jinane Dahleh, House Manager Bob Ramsay, and MacGregor’s graduate resident tutors also spoke. 617•354•3151 • www.firstprescambridge.org

��

�� Page 14 THE TECH August 29, 2005 Sustenance for Your Grocery Needs: a Food Guide

By Kathy Lin Star Market (along Dorm Row); Trader Joe’s is a The market is loud and boister- organic food, try out the Harvest Co- CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 20 Sidney Street 20-minute walk from MIT. ous, and the prices are remarkable op in Central Square (walk North on Without Mom around to cook Cambridge, MA 02139 A quirky supermarket, Trader — though the quality is sometimes Mass. Ave. about 10 minutes; Har- dinner or produce those trusty after- 617-494-5250 Joe’s boasts culinary gems at rea- questionable. But even with a bad vest is on the left at 581 Mass. Ave.), school snacks, and with limited din- Open daily from 7 a.m. to midnight sonable prices. The selection is apple or two (literally), you’re sure or Whole Foods Market (turn right ing options at MIT, it’s time to hit the http://www.shaws.com/ less comprehensive than Star’s, but to come away with a good deal. two streets past Harvest on Prospect grocery stores and start cookin’. It Walk north on Mass. Ave. Take a you’re sure to find some new favor- For the freshest food, go on Friday St., and walk three minutes to 115 won’t be long before you start crav- left at the gas station, then a right on ites that will keep you coming back. or early Saturday. For the best deals, Prospect St.) ing a homemade dinner or familiar the next street. Star is on the left. Mine include the cappuccino me- go on Saturday afternoon when the Cambridge also boasts a number midnight snack. The closest supermarket to MIT, ringues, tropical fruit popsicles, lob- sellers are getting ready to go home. of farmers’ markets, most of which Where should you shop for food? Star is part of a New England chain ster bisque, and frozen mangos. And Try it early in the year, because if appear once a week in a parking lot. Like most areas, and has all the standard items I’ve always wanted to buy one of you like it, you’ll want to keep go- I’ve picked up a few delicious home- Boston abounds from toothpaste to fresh those 20-pound chocolate bars that ing back. made pies there, and markets are with grocery Class of 2005 meat. Prices here may be occasionally appear on the shelves. always fun, though small. A close stores. While the graduate Kathy higher than what you’re used Other Options one is on Bishop Allen Drive by Co- convenience of to at home, but that’s true for Haymarket Boston has a relatively new gro- lumbia Street in Central Square, and LaVerde’s Mar- Lin shares some of all Boston supermarkets. Take the red line subway to Park cery delivery service from the ex- runs from 12 p.m.–6 p.m. on Mon- ket in the Stu- her favorite local Street, then take the green line to the panding Peapod, which works with days. Another is at the Charles Hotel dent Center may Trader Joe’s Haymarket stop. another New England grocery chain, in Harvard Square, and runs from 1 tempt you, resist destinations in a 748 Memorial Drive A fantastic weekly outdoor mar- Stop and Shop. Shop online at http:// p.m.–6 p.m. on Fridays, 10 a.m.–3 and pursue other five-part series this Cambridge, MA 02139 ket, Haymarket is a destination www.peapod.com/, arrange a deliv- p.m. on Sundays. Both run until No- options whenev- 617-491-8582 everyone should hit at least once. ery time, and receive the food at your vember. er possible; you week. Part 1 of 5. Open daily from 9 a.m.–10 Fruits, vegetables, meat, and even front door. I’ve never tried it, but I’ve Happy cooking! will find better p.m. seafood abound each Friday and Sat- heard good things, and it sure sounds food at cheaper prices. http://www.traderjoes.com/ urday, with vendors staying until the like a good idea. Here are a few of my favorites: Walk west along Memorial Drive crowd thins or the produce runs out. For those interested in healthy or Grad School Where to Buy Textbooks 101 Educates

Business Location New? Used? Notes First-Years MIT Coop Kendall Square Yes Check Small rebate to members, official store for text- Orientation, from Page 1 early books Though REX lasts only two days this Quantum Books 4 Cambridge Center Yes No Mostly math and EECS books, comparable to year, culminating with the housing lottery on Tuesday evening, fresh- (near Kendall Square) Coop after discount men will be able to devote the en- MIT411 www.mit411.com No Yes Undergoing transition, back online soon tirety of those days to exploring the dormitories. In previous years, REX MIT412 www.mit412.com Not yet Yes New competitor to MIT411 was limited to a few hours each day, Jones said. CampusBeacon www.campusbeacon. No Yes New competitor to MIT411 To supplement the shorter REX period, dormitories also held events com last week for freshmen participating in pre-orientation programs, he said. Bigwords www.bigwords.com Yes Yes Compares prices at multiple sites Jones said that the new schedule may allow freshmen to finalize their Yahoo! Shopping www.yahoo.com Yes Yes Compares prices at multiple sites housing preferences earlier, making them feel more at home. Half.com www.half.com No Yes The Class of 2009 will first congregate at the President's Con- Amazon www.amazon.com Yes Yes vocation, at which Hockfield will welcome the freshmen and their par- eBay www.ebay.com No Yes Have extra fun with bidding wars on textbooks ents; in past years, the new classes first gathered at the Orientation ceremony. The freshman class of 2009 has List of SafeRide Shuttle Stops 997 students and is 46.6 percent female, said Norman. The incoming Cambridge West Cambridge East Boston West Boston East class decreased by about five students over the summer, a condition 84 Mass Ave. 77 Mass. Ave. 84 Mass. Ave. 84 Mass. Ave. that Norman terms “melting.” These McCormick Hall NW30 Mass. Ave. at Beacon St. Mass. Ave. at Beacon St. students may have deferred or gone to other universities. Burton Hall NW86 528 Beacon St. (Theta 478 Comm. Ave. Chi) Grad Students: freshmen again The 1,100 incoming graduate New House Random Hall 64 Bay State Rd.(Theta Vanderbilt Hall (request students will also have the chance to investigate MIT during the Gradu- Xi) only) ate Student Orientation. Trips to Red Tang/Westgate 790 Main Street 111 Bay State Rd.(Student 28 The Fenway (Fenway Sox games are likely to be popular among the incoming students, said House) House) Gerardo Barroeta G, Graduate Stu- West Garage Plymouth/Webster 155 Bay State Rd. Prudential Center dent Council Orientation committee chair. Though no events are manda- WW15 (request only) 638 Cambridge St. 58 Manchester Rd. (Zeta 229 Commonwealth Ave. tory, Grad School 101, a series of panels including current students Beta Tau) (Phi Kappa Theta) and administrators, will allow new 69 Chestnut (PIKA) Sciarappa/Charles 259 St. Paul St. (Epsilon 253 Commonwealth Ave. students to hear different perspec- tives, and will offer advice about Theta) (Tau Epsilon Phi) finding an advisor and picking a Chestnut/Magazine 6th/Charles 550 Memorial Drive 32 Hereford St. (Chi Phi) laboratory, said Shan Wu G, GSC Orientation committee chair. (Tang Dormitory) Graduate students will also have the chance to participate in depart- Magazine/Erie Tech Square Simmons Hall Beacon St. at Mass. Ave. mental orientations, said GSC Presi- 22 Magazine Kendall T Stop dent Emilie Slaby. Orientation will help graduate students “make con- 129 Franklin E40/Wadsworth nections at MIT — figure out the Star Market (2 bag limit) E23 Medical Ramp maze,” she said. NW86 (70 Pacific Street) East Campus Solution to Bonus Crossword from page 10 NW10 Edgerton Building N5 Albany Garage/N10 Lot (request only) Building 56/66 Building 34 Each route leaves its Mass. Ave. starting location twice an hour from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday). The vans leave every half hour from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (to 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday), and five minutes after every half hour from 11 p.m. onward. August 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 15 SPORTS No Experience? No Problem: Sports for Beginners By Brian Chase had never picked up a gun before they came Some other reasons why joining a sport at lease stress from a bad week at school or a SPORTS EDITOR to MIT. The women’s fencing squad was also MIT is a good idea for anyone: blown test. Welcome, freshmen, to Orientation. In the hugely successful last year with athletes who ¶ We have sports, like shooting sports, ¶ Sports keep you physically healthy, and coming weeks dozens of groups, including started fencing as freshmen. And in MIT water sports, and martial arts, that you may it’s a great advantage to have the energy to sports, will solicit your participation. Those Sport Tae Kwon Do, novices who have been never have been exposed to back home. As pull late-night study sessions. of you who participated in sports in high learning for less than a year regularly take someone from the Midwest, I never had the ¶ PE credit is a requirement, and playing a school may join the same varsity sports at home medals from the national competition, chance to go rowing or sailing, even recre- sport is a good way to complete it. MIT; you, however, are not my primary au- against people with a similar level of experi- ationally. MIT has more different sporting In addition to Pistol or Tae Kwon Do, dience. I’m speaking to those students who ence. opportunities than any college except Har- many other sports at MIT accept new stu- never considered playing sports. My message Over the next three days, The Tech Sports vard. Why not try one out? dents, including the Crew team (rowing for is simple: even if you never considered join- section will profile the Tae Kwon Do, Pistol, ¶ A sports team functions as a great so- those from land-locked areas) and many of ing a sport team before, you can still join one and Fencing teams, which regularly succeed cial outlet. Finding a group of friends to share the martial arts, such as Kendo. now, as you begin your college career. at national level competition with athletes problems and experiences with is crucial at If you just want to participate recreation- Okay, you mutter, but if I join a sport that who entered the sport at MIT. These teams MIT, and any sport or club you join will only ally, club level and intramural sports can be looks interesting, I’m already at a disadvan- prove prior experience in a sport is not a re- help you do that. lots of fun. MIT has more different sports tage, aren’t I? Not so. Teams at MIT made of quirement to be competitive and successful ¶ Sports keep you mentally healthy. MIT available than any college except Harvard, participants new to the sport have performed at a collegiate level. The enjoyment of com- is a pressure cooker, and everyone needs to so anyone can find the sport they like most. well, even on a national level. petition and achievement becomes one more let off steam. From swimming to running to The point remains: It’s never too late to join a The Pistol team won nationals last year reason why joining a sport at MIT can benefit shooting to lifting, physical activities provide sport, especially here at MIT. with a team of eight students, seven of whom you. impacting, visceral, and cathartic ways to re-

may even be tempted to fire up armor, useful for defending your- the bratwurst grill again and whip self from mutant towers bugs out some of our favorite German and Mike Brown. You can even music. make some of your own armor 16:00 — Senior Haus — Alice to keep you safe on one of our in Wonderland Tea Party. Tea of famous dorm tours. the finest blend will be served 19:00 — Simmons Hall — The Monday, and makes a great sculpture and get our exercise (while we promptly at tea time, followed by metal sponge is calling you… medium. Come see marvelous can). So come play ultimate friendly discourse and a casual 19:00 — French House — “Un August 29, 2005 constructions, and build your with us! game of Flamingo Croquet. Lim- bon dîner réconcile tout le own! 13:00 — French House — Nous ited to those whose unbirthday monde.” —Samuel Pepys. Ex- 03:00 11:30 — Simmons Hall — Our regardons vos émissions favor- is today. perience a typical French House 03:15 — Bexxxley — Crows newly-started Xbox game library ites sur la télé en français! Donʼt 16:17 — Bexxxley — Flies dinner: pea soup, variety quiche, everywhere are equally black. needs testing out. Drop by the just watch sitcoms; watch sit- never visit an egg that has no green salad with apples, and 03:17 — Random Hall — RHOP nite café all day for some button- coms in French! Come to French crack. a special pyrotechnic surprise — We have almost as many mashing action. Houseʼs TV lounge, at the top of 16:30 — EAsT camPUS — The dessert! pancakes as the International New Houseʼs House 6. tour guides are getting restless, House of Pancakes, and you 12:00 13:01 — MacGregor — Lounge and cages make them horny. 20:00 donʼt have to drive to get here. 12:00 — New House — Make in the MacGregor courtyard with This might be a good time for a 20:00 — French House — “Le Come hear stories of past your own sushi and hobo pies your feet dangling in a pool of visit. cinéma, comme la peinture, adventures and see how much — Tired of barbecues every- cool water. Or play a little water montre lʼinvisible.” —Jean-Luc maple syrup you can fit on one where? Want something differ- ball and get a refreshing splash 17:00 Godard. From Film Noir to the plate. ent for a change? Drop by New cuz guess what, itʼs hot again. 17:00 — Spanish House Nouvelle Vague, French Film House for some sushi and hobo 13:17 — Random Hall — Boff- — Breakfast Study Break. Have has something for everyone. 04:00 pies, made exactly the way you ing on the Roofdeck — foam fun and eat at one of our tradi- Watch and absorb in the French 04:04 — EAsT camPUS — 7- want! weapons are fun. You can score tional weekly study breaks while House TV lounge, top floor of 11. Always open. But not always 12:00 — MacGregor — Deco- a critical hit, and your friend you learn more about La Casaʼs New Houseʼs House 6. doing business. rate your very own T-shirt to will still be there for you to fight long tradition of home-cooked 04:37 — EAsT camPUS — You commemorate your REX experi- again! Come to Random, young meals. This weekʼs study break 21:00 can stay up late, ʻcause baby ence at MacGregor (believe me, grasshopper, and you shall learn will feature breakfast food. 21:00 — Senior Haus — MIDI youʼre a full-grown man — Scis- once classes start youʼll long for the secrets behind this ancient 17:17 — Random Hall Karaoke in the Courtyard. Face sor Sisters EC, weʼre always the good old days of free food art. — Games — Apples to Apples. it, before you downloaded MP3s awake. and fun). Settlers of Cataan. Bridge. Magi. with Napster, you turned to 12:00 — French House — La 14:00 The Gathering. Stratego. Diplo- MIDIs when you just couldnʼt fork 09:00 farine, le beurre, et puis, les 14:00 — EAsT camPUS — Itʼs macy. Munchkin. Mao. Go God- out the cold cash for CD. Now 09:00 — New House — Tours, croissants! Nous aimons nos gotta be the Sabbath for some- dess. Set. Risk. Mafia. Illuminati. come sing your favorite songs to tours, and more tours— If you fours et bientôt, vous allez les one, so come relax at EC. Pass the Chicken. Telephone a MIDI backing track. havenʼt already, we encourage aimer aussi. Baking Bonanza! 14:00 — Simmons Hall — The Pictionary. Puerto Rice. Go. 21:00 — Spanish House you to experience our famous Eat your own goodies in the Sims love DDR. You love DDR. Scrabble. Ninja Burger. Gother — Pachanga!!! Join us in one air-conditioning as you take a French House kitchen, top floor Meet in the 4th floor lounge. Than Thou. Monopoly… of the best La Casa traditions tour of New House. of New Houseʼs House 6. 14:17 — Random Hall — Help 17:59 — Senior Haus — Risk … weʼre gonna dance the night 12:01 — EAsT camPUS — EC Build Random Nucleic Acid Tournament! Stop by for a min- away to the best salsa, me- 10:00 Tours Tours Tours. If you havenʼt — Come play with soldering ute before the West Side Party rengue, bachata, reggaeton, 10:00 — French House seen EC yet — be there. The irons and swaging tools (a way and join our Risk dual bracket cumbia, banda, and hip hop hits — Avez-vous quelques idées tour guides will show you EV- to connect steel cable to itself)! tournament! All games must be out there! Donʼt feel shy if you intéressantes pour des choses à ERYTHING. 14:30 — Dormitory Council played to completion. arenʼt sure how to dance, weʼll faire dans la cuisine? Essayez- 12:14 — MacGregor — Tour — Go check out a dorm you help you out! les! Crazy Kitchen Experiments, MacGregor in your suave new havenʼt visited yet! I promise, 18:00 21:00 — Dormitory Council French House kitchen, top floor shirt. theyʼll be friendly. 18:00 — Baker House — Bak- — West Side Tropical Lu-WOW of New Houseʼs House 6. 12:17 — Random Hall — Picnic er BBQ: meet us behind the Party Smoothies Jello Wrestling in the Main Lounge — Bring a 15:00 dormitory, on the riverside for Pinatas Limbo Bands DJs … 11:00 blanket, bring a friend, (sorry, 15:14 — EAsT camPUS — 3.14 hamburgers and veggie burg- Weʼll be rockinʼ it on the West 11:00 — Bexxxley — Come by no frisbees) — itʼs a picnic in 68734985673975398573456345 ers! Side all night long! for some small talk no one cares Randomʼs Main Lounge. Weʼll be 3845 EC — Close Enough. 18:00 — Simmons Hall — For- 21:18 — Bexxxley — How can about! Our living group is totally frying up burgers and hot dogs 15:14 — French House got to tour Simmons? No prob, you expect to find ivory in a the coolest, and to prove it, weʼre (veggie option provided). — “Après moi, le déluge!” Roi tours continuing right now! dogʼs mouth? going to kiss your ass, cook you Louis XV. See Bostonʼs best 18:06 — EAsT camPUS 21:35 — Bexxxley — Vio- waffles and pretend MIT is a 13:00 fountains with expert guide Luis — FOOOOOOD! EC Courtyard. lence on television only affects nonstop carnival with Spin Art 13:00 — New House — Painting from French House. Meet out- Youʼre hungry! Weʼve got meat. children whose parents act like and a dunktank! — Get in touch with your inner side W20 after CityDays. And some other stuff. It might television personalities. There 11:00 — Simmons Hall child … release those hidden 15:17 — Random Hall — Tie- be edible. If you eat “fake” meat. is always a party going on — Movies projected onto our artistic talents! dyeing on the Roofdeck — Vegicide is wrong too. somewhere. really, really big screen. Chill 13:00 — New House — Side- Youʼve received your blindingly 18:17 — Random Hall — Hot with the Sims in our multipur- walk chalk — Itʼs kinda like graf- white Class of 2009 T-shirts. and Cold Dinner — “So cold ... 23:00 pose room. fiti … only without all the illegal Come make them even more and yet IT BURNS!” (Well, yes; 23:00 — Bexxxley — No drugs? 11:00 — French House stuff… blinding by dyeing them in it is habanero ice cream). Enjoy No tour. — Uno, 25 Words or Fewer, 13:00 — New House — Card rainbow colors with cool swirly the extremes of life with the 23:11 — EAsT camPUS — Our Balderdash: jouez des jeux games — Come and mingle with patterns! We also have Random residents of Random Hall! Eat amps go to eleven. ridicules avec nous. Board and your friendly New House resi- Hall T-shirts for your hippie deco- everything from General Gaoʼs 23:13 — EAsT camPUS — Hard card games, French House dents over a game of Uno, Go rating pleasure. chicken to our specialty chili. hats only protect from vertical kitchen, top floor of New Fish, Nuts, or any other games Vegetarian and vegan options impacts. Make sure youʼre pre- Houseʼs House 6. you can think of! If it involves 16:00 available. pared. EC Courtyard — always 11:17 — Random Hall — Duct cards, itʼs fair game. 16:00 — German House here for you. Tape Construction — Everyone 13:00 — New House — Ul- — Root Beer Float Garden. 19:00 23:43 — Bexxxley — loves Duct Tape! It has a light timate Frisbee — We at New Come and enjoy the world fa- 19:00 — Senior Haus frig·o·rif·ic ## “fri-g&-ʼri-fik ad- side, and a dark side, and it House arenʼt just about free mous, sumptuous German-style — DOOMCom Defense. Meet jective $ Latin frigorificus, frigor holds the universe together. It food and card games. We also ice cream root beer floats of DOOMCom while learning to “the cold” 1 : causing coldness : also comes in a variety of colors like to enjoy the nice weather German House! Who knows, we make chain mail and plate NUGATORY Page 16 THE TECH August 29, 2005 Take a look inside your next four years at MIT. Congratulations, Class of 2005! Welcome, Class of 2008! Monday schedule ytoday MIT’s MIT’s The Weather The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudy, showers, 78°F (26°C) Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudiness, fog, 77°Fuesda(25°C) MIT’s The Weather Tonight: Clearing, 60°F (15°C) Tonight: Partly cloudy,Newspaper55°F (13°C) Newspaper T Oldest and Largest Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, 78°F (26°C) Today: Rain and snow, 45°F (7°C) MIT’s Tomorrow: Cloudy, rain, 75°F (24°C) The Weather Details, Page 2 Tonight: Snow, 15°F (–9°C) Details, Page 2 Newspaper Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 25°F (–2°C) Today: Cloudy, 35°F (1°C) Oldest and Largest Details, Page 2 Tonight: Possible snow, 30°F (–1°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Cloudy, 35°F (2°C) Volume 125, Number 27 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 VoFlruimdaey,1J2u4n,eN3u,m20b0er531 CambridDetails,ge, MPageassa2chusetts 02139 Tuesday, August 31, 2004 MIT President-Elect HockfieldVolume 125, Number 11 is First LifeCambCrowderidge, Massachusettds 02139 Tuesday, March 8, 2005 Hockfield to Address GraduateVolume 125, Number s7 FSILG SubsidyCambridge, MaPlanssachusetts 02139 Tuesday, February 22, 2005 Qualcomm CEO Class of Tuition Increases 5% Irwin Jacobs Is Paid $220K TScientist,oo Little First Female to Hold the Office By Keith J. Winstein of $500,000By Christinelast year, R.instead Fry of the Crime in Cambridge SENIOR EDITOR Planned Speaker $628,500SENIORcalled EDITORfor by the plan. This 2008 To Top $32K in Fall A program to reimburse fraterni- year, FSILGsThe MITreceivedCorporation$250,000unani- By Jenny Zhang ties, sororities, and independent liv- insteadmofouslythe $340,000elected SusancalledHocfork,field as NEWS EDITOR ing groups for losing their freshmen according to Council. Goes Up 7% in 2004 By Beckett W. Sterner time jobs, the same amount as last the new Institute president during a Arrives NEWS EDITOR year. Today, barring rain, over 2,000 class ran out of money — again. By specialthe FSILGs’meetingaccount,of theMIgoverninT g By Jeffrey Chang percent in 2004 from 2003. All statis- MIT’s projected total cost for a Hicks said MIT has no current MIT graduates will gather on Kil- The program, known as the first toldbodythemlastof itsThursday.inability toHockfielpay d By Beckett W. Sterner and Kelley Rivoire tics compiled are from the first nine year of undergraduate education plans to follow the decisions of Har- lian court to receive their hard- Financial Transition Plan, was the program’sexpects fullto takeobligationsoffice iinn early EDITOR IN CHIEF STAFF REPORTERS months of each year. will rise 4.4 percent to $44,600 next vard and Yale to fully fund the cost earned degrees at the 139th Com- designed to help FSILGs adapt to the DecemberDecember.2003 — 22 months after Over the past two days, the class The City of Cambridge saw a In the MIT area, crime decreased academic year, of education for mencement. The graduates will 2002 adoption of a rule requiring Benedict Hockfieldannouncedcurrentlythe plan’servess as the of 2008 has arrived on campus to a seven percent overall increase in seri- overall, with notable decreases in the said Elizabeth M. families earning receive a total of 256 Doctoral freshmen to live in MIT dormitories. approvalprovost. of Yale University. Accord- new format for orientation, more New Tuition: $32.1K ous crimes from 2003 to 2004, number of larcenies from motor vehi- Hicks, executive under $40,000 or Degrees, 12 Engineer’s, 1078 Mas- Under the program, MIT compen- At thaingt totime the, theYalepresident Web site,of thethe provost crowding in dormitories, and all the according to the third quarter crime cles and incidents of malicious director of Student Old Tuition: $30.6K $45,000. ter’s, and 1088 Bachelors of Sci- sated houses for a fraction of the Interfraternityis the chiefCouncil,academDanielic officerH. of the free food MIT can offer. report released by the Cambridge destructions, though the number of Financial Services. “We are very ence, according to Registrar Mary costs associated with losing a class of Daneshvaruniversity,’05, andsecondthe presidentonly to theof presi- With 1,086 enrolled students, Police Department. automobile thefts increased. Tuition will happy with the Callahan. dues-paying residents. The funding the Undergraduatedent. She isAssociation,responsible forPiuacadem-s this year’s freshman class is the The number of property crimes, rise 4.9 percent to way that we Ceremony speakers include phased out over three years and A. Uzamereic policiesII ’04,throughoutboth said theythehaentired uni- largest in at least eight years and is New Total Cost: $44.6K including burglary, larceny, and auto- More property crimes in 2004 $32,100, she said. assess need” cur- guest speaker Qualcomm co- ended this past semester. not knownversity,untilincludingthat pointYalethatCollegeMIT and over 100 students larger than the mobile theft, increased eight percent, Of the major crime categories, The total increase Old Total Cost: $42.7K rently, she said. founder Irwin M. Jacobs, Graduate Larry G. Benedict, the dean for would thedeviategraduatefrom theschool.announceHockfieldd is smallest entering class in recent his- while the number of violent crimes, burglaries saw a notable change, with in cost equates to “We look at both Student Council President Barun student life, approved the plan in plan. also a trained neuroscientist, who, tory of 980 in 2002. including murder, rape, robbery, and about $7.8 million income and Singh, Class of 2005 President February 2002. The Student Life Pro- But untilseveralherMITappointmentofficials insisteto thedprovost Along with more students came aggravated assault decreased by two Crime, Page 18 in increased rev- Avg. Housing: $5,250 assets, and we Rohit Gupta, and MIT President grams office fully funded it for its that thepositionFSILGsinshould2003,havemaintainedbeen an more parents, leading to a record Susan Hockfield. first year, paying out $752,300 in the well aware that the plan was to be SCOT FRANK—THE TECH enue for the Insti- actually are very active laboratory at Yale. She also Professor Frank Wilczek, recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics,registrationgives a forlectureparents’entitleorientation,d tute. Financial aid will also rise by proud of the number of families ’02–’03 school year. subject servedto the uasnathennoundeancedof$5the00,00Yale0 grad- said Elizabeth C. Young, assistant Graduates reflect on MIT “The Universe is a Strange Place,” one of the Ford/MIT Nobel Laureate Lectures, on Monday, $7 million, Hicks said. making less than $45,000 who are But when it budgeted for the next and $250,0uate0 0school caps. from 1998 to 2003. dean in the Academic Resource Inevitably, some graduates will two years, SLP mistakenly assumed “[R]ight from the beginning for MIT Raises FundsMar. 4, in Kresgeto AiAuditorium.d The image on the screen behind Wilczek portrays the aftermath “This year’s tuition increase will here at MIT as a result of our gener- President-electYUN WU—THE TECHHockfield of a collision between heavy nuclei at extreme energies. See page 19Center. for moreA total. of 615 families had enable MIT to maintain the high ous financial aid policy.” remain at MIT for another ten years Drew Frasier of Comic Groof jokinglythat sophomoresadviseswouldstudentsstart movinaboutg thethatrealyearworldrece[’03-’04]iveduringd heronlyuComedynde$500krgraduCol-waates degree registered as of Saturday. or even for the rest of their lives, from their dormitories to FSILGs at available and yes the IFC, the FTP quality of its educational programs About 16 percent of students at lage, held last Friday, Feb. 18, in Kresge Little Theatre. The event was sponsoredin biology byfromthetheOfficeUniversityof ofIn Asian Tsunami Relief The enrollment in pre-orienta- for all students,” said Dean for MIT are from families earning while others will not miss their the same rate as pre-2002 freshmen committee and the chapters to the ED PLATT—THE TECH the Dean for Student Life and the members of Chocolate City to celebrateRo Blackcheste Historyr in 197 Month.3 and a PhD in tion programs was comparable to Undergraduate Education Robert P. under $41,000 per year, significant- chance to escape. had been joining FSILGs upon arriv- best of myanatomyknowledgeand knewneuroscienceall about from Outgoing Institute president Charles M. Vest presents MIT's incoming president, Dr. Susan Hockfield, previous years, Young said, with By Marie Y. Thibault effort have been made both Redwine in a press release. ly less than the 40 percent of fami- Michael M. Yang ’05, a biology ing at MIT. this,” BenedictGeorgetown wrote inUniversity an e-mail.School of with a can containing shredded money. 335 enrolled and about 80 left over STAFF REPORTER throughPanelthe MIT PublicDiscussesService Revision of GIRs The breakdown for projected lies with at most that income nation- major, intends to remain connected BRIAN HEMOND—THE TECH That was too optimistic: only 290 But MedicineSLP was unablein 1979.to point to an introduced by Corporation Chair- Hockfield said. Hockfield said at a press conference. for whom there wasn’t enough to the MIT community. “I feel that sophomores moved into FSILGs in occasion when the FSILGs had been M e m - Center and through independent costs next year is tuition, $32,100; wide. The nationwide average for Institute President Susan Hockfield speaks to the graduating class Hockfield will be MIT’s first man Dana G. Mead PhD ’67, Hock- By Kathy Lin maintaining“ … In therigor,positionsand possibleI have heldsim- at chalspace.lenges of optimizing the four student activities fee, $200; housing universities, however, is only three I’ve just had a really great four Senior Segue2003, comparedPhasewith a typical preOut- notified thatDelayethe plan’s outlays wouldd bers of the fundraisingHockfield drivesto learnby aboutstudent MITs of doctoral students at the hooding ceremony on Thursday, June 2, female president and the first life field addressed the standing-roomMIT com- -anandd campus Kelley Rivoirgroups.e plificationsYale, I haveto thelearnedHumanities,that thereArts, is years Otherthat undergraduatesstudents arrivedtypicallearlyyfor (averaged over all offered rents), percent, Hicks said. years” and “definitely enjoyed every in Johnson Athletic Center. 2002 rush of 340 freshmen. And so be lowered.scientist(The toTec holdh’s thefirst office.mention Featuonly crowd rpackede into the lecture Hockfield was reluctant to pre- extraordinary insight that comes out intensive sports practice, often By Kathy Dobson percent more than planned. The expected matriculated at MIT in munity are NEWDonationsS EDITORS have been made and Social Sciences requirement. spend at MIT, which are too limited $5,250; meal allowance, $4,250; While Harvard and Yale’s recent minute.” Yang is taking a year off the number of empty beds in FSILGs of the insufficientIn honor budgetof her newwas iappointn - hall. sent specific goals for her term as of the community and I will be talk- enduring two practices a day. ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR four dormitories that have been the fall. among those aiding the relief throughAt a presentationthe PSC toona MacVicahost of r The purpose of the committee is for all the items the Task Force books and supplies, $1,100; and policy changes were specifically prior to beginning graduate school graduate admissions department, As is often the case, Gupta and — a critical part of the plan’s formula March 2004.ment,) the Institute held a communi- “What do I want to see in MIT’s president of MIT. ing to the people in this community Ellen E. Sojka ’08 arrived early The Senior Segue Program, in participating in the program are “The reality is that Senior effort in southeast Asia following organizations,Day last Friday,includingmemberstheof theUnitTas-k to “conduct a fundamental, compre- would like to include in the under- personal expenses, $1,700. aimed at increasing the number of and said he plans to take some time because he would like to “give back Emilie Kim ’05 are ambivalent as — grew, from 190 in the first year of “I feelty meetinglike that innumber 10-250 wason Thursdayout, to future? … I want MIT to be the “At this point I can’t tell you to learn from them where they see the to practice with the volleyball team which seniors are housed in gradu- Ashdown House, Sidney-Pacific Segue is here until we have addi- the tsunami that rocked the region edForceNationson the UndergraduateChildren’s FunEducad - hensive review of the undergraduate graduate curriculum, Silbey said. students from the lower income off to travel. In addition, he has and contribute to the future classes the program, to 260 in its second and I reallyofficiallywish Iwelcomehad paperHockfieldtrails,” and dream of every child who wants to where my attention will focus in the and is already trying to recruit peo- ate student dormitories, will not be Graduate Residence, Tang Resi- tional housing capacity on cam- in late December. Faculty, staff, (UNICEF),tional Commonsthe Sewalankapresented theirFounidea- s common experience,” said Robert J. One requirement under discussion Expected student earnings same brackets, MIT is doing well in that applied to work for the MIT under- of MIT,” he said. Commencement, Page 15 year, to 287 last semester, according said Dahervid familyN. Rogetors, MIT.the assAfteristant being make the world a better place,” immediate weeks and months,” Hockfield, Page 17 ple to come to their games, she said. phased out by 2007 as previously dence Hall, and The Warehouse pus” for undergraduate students, and students have run fundraising dation,about theandfuturetheofPSCthe GeneralTsunamInstii - Silbey, chair of the Task Force and is the six subject required science MIT will not expect its students regard, she said. “We have one of to Frank Council, SLP’s former coor- dean of FSILGs. “I feel like I’ve Her time at MIT and with the team proposed, said Dean for Graduate (NW30). Sidney-Pacific took a said Colbert. The program is drives, contributed donations, and Relieftute RequirementsFellowship Fund,while accordstressin-g dean of the School of Science. The core. According to excerpts from a to earn more during the academic the highest ratios of undergradu- dinator of FSILGs. always known.” has been “really fun” so far, she Students Isaac M. Colbert, who co- majorityMeanwhile,of theSLP’sundergraduatesbudget , expectedThe inabilityto continueto meet theforplan’at leass t even traveled to the affected areas ingthattonoa Tsunamifinal decisionsRelief hadUpdatbeeen last major revision occurred in 1964, draft report of the Task Force Sub- year and over the summer than it ates” getting financial aid compared Stata Dining Facility Beginsmade. Full Operation,he said. MIT committeesaid. on Optimizing the Science has in the past, Hicks said. to similar universities, she said. NASA Plans Leave MIT Labschaired theUnsur2003 Housing Stratege y assumedhousingthe70numberof theofprogram’sempty bedspar- obligationsanother threeenraged to fivesome years,FSIL he saidG . to provide medical support for from the PSC. The Tsunami By Beckett W. Sterner get is not likely to growGroupto fit,. and that means other pri- wouldticipantsstay.constant at 190 — not members. “They buy the fraternity victims of the disaster. ReliefTheFellowshippresentationFundfocusedwillonprosug- - Engineering Components of the Students receiving financial aid “Almost 58 percent of the under- Flexible science core proposed Orientation has new format NEWS EDITOR The program, introduced in The increased undergraduate Exit strategy not implemented videgestedthemodificationsresources toforaddMIflexibilitT stu-y from the Institute will be expected graduates will be receiving scholar- orities will likely face a losing battle for their funding. enough to follow the plan as The structure of orientation has 2001 to reduce crowding in under- demand is a result of higher fresh- TheInexit Negotiationsstrategy that was pro- Several fundraisingto drivesBrin held gdentstoAnnathetosixtravelsubjectto’sciencessoutheasttocoreAsiwhilStudenta e The Task ForceCenteis faced with thre GIR, Page 17 to cover $5,500 with loans or term- ships from MIT next year.” The mission to Mars has given NASA new momen- Changes at NASA mean greater uncertainty for fac- announced. So MIT paid out a total FTP, Page 7 changed drastically over the past graduate dormitories, placed 108 man class yields and a reduction in posed in a 2003 report by the Donations from the MIT com- tum, but scientists and engineers at MIT wonder how Lookulty, staff, and students in toaffected programs Theat MIT, Tech for campus, local, and worldBy Marissa Vogt newsthree years, withandboth dormitory entertain- seniors in graduate housing during the number of students living in munity to help the tsunami relief Tsunami Relief, Page 16 many of them may be left behind. including astrophysics, planetary science, aeronautics CONTRIBUTING EDITOR rush and fraternity rush becoming the 2004-2005 academic year, 75 FSILGs. Sixty more students than Senior Segue, Page 15 “We will give NASA a new focus and vision for and astronautics. Already, some faculty at MIT have The Forbes Family Cafe, the Motivesmore and more separatedRevealedfrom the by Athena Hacker future exploration,” said Presi- decided not to take on more graduate students without Morris Cohen ZhenxiunewMadiningofacility in the Stata Cen- Institute-planned events. dent George W. Bush in Janu- being able to guarantee them four to six years of fund- By Sarah H. Wright by Marissa Vogt is not that there is a newly discov- but it is my belief that they did not Fenway House ter, began full operation yesterday, NEWS EDITORThe Dormitory Council, a stu- Feature ary, 2004. “We will build new ing. Undergrad LandsMIT NEWS OFFICE Role Zhenxiu Mao, a first year graduate student in mathematics, was ered vulnerability in Athena,” the e- consider the serious implications of ment twice weekly during the term.found dead in hisThe apartment on Feb. 28.serving Techhot entrees and pizzawillin dentThe persongroup representingresponsiblereportforallsteal-under- mail stated. “Ionjust believe that Orithe deploying-such an insecure system,” ships to Morris Cohen, a world-renowned metallurgist and MIT institute pro- Huadong Pang G, a friend who tookadditionclassestowiththe cafe-styleMao, saidfoodshe that inggraduateover 600 dormitories,Athena username/pass-has had to current level of security that is pre- the e-mail stated. carry man forward into the uni- fessor who received both the National Medal of Science and the Kyoto May Become have been offered since July. fight in the past few years to main- verse, to gain a new foothold on In Coach CarterPrize for AdvancedMoviTechnology,e died May 27 at his home in Swamp- was an “excellent guy” who gener- word pairs last S c h i l l e r ously donatedDirectormoneyof Campusto poor eleDinin- g Tuesdaytain thenighprotminence of dormitory declined to the moon, and to prepare for new scott, Mass. He was 93. Richard D. Berlin III said the cafe rush in the orientation schedule. MIT student Daniel F. about 10 years ago I believe — Graduate ILG mentary and high school students released a state- comment on journeys to worlds beyond our Cohen made major contributions to the understanding of the struc- will be open until 3 p.m. this week, DormCon President Ian Brelin- own.” entationKanamori ’06 is an actorandwho he actuallyture of matterwentyourtoandhighthe schooways inl which materialsCommencement,such as iron and steel can yourin Chinclassa even though he did notelectionsment via e-mail and class developments and until 10 p.m. after Labor Day. sky ’06 said that DormCon had been had a there. He came back to his By Jenny Zhang have much money. late Friday in the investi- But what exactly is “explo- be processed. His work has been central to the development of modern The pizza, hot entrees, and sushi too “reactive” in the past, only giv- role in town and took over the basket- NEWS EDITOR Mao was incredibly smart, night. The e- gation or ration?” Is exploration measured high-strength steels. offered for lunch will be available ing feedback after a rough draft of Feature the re- ball team, and he coached them Fenway House, a co-ed under- Pang said. He had high expecta- mail was sent whether the only by the distance humans have “Professor Cohen was one of the giants in the international commu- from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the orientation schedule had been cent movie Coach Carter. The to a phenomenal start — some- graduate independent living group tions for himself and would read from a quick- recent e-mails traveled from Earth, or does it nity of metallurgists during a significant part of the twentieth century. The seating area in the Forbes made public. This year, however, Tech interviewed Kanamori thing like 16 or 17 to 0 — and with a roughly equal number of books for ten hours at a time, bare- station in the had provided include how well we understand hardships. InThe impact textof his work and his leadershipandwas appreciated andpicturesadmired it will preserveCafe is much smaller thethan that of they scandals,intend to be involved with the prizes, about his experience in the part of the deal was they had to undergraduate and graduate resi- ly eating or sleeping. Stata Center, any clues to the space around us? throughout the world,” said Subra Suresh, Ford Professor of Engineer- the dining facility in Walker Memo- initial planning of next year’s orien- movie. maintain a 2.3 grade point dents, may become a graduate Zhou Zhang G and Fangyun with the same the identity of NASA will not abandon pure ing and head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. rial, which it is replacing. Berlin tation. TT: So I heard you had a average. And when he finally independent living group if its Yang G, who shared an office with Yahoo! account the perpetrator. science research, of course, but “This gracious gentleman transformed the discipline of metallurgy said that he does not anticipate this “We’re working hard with part in the movie Coach got the progress reports, he membership shifts to a graduate Mao, described him as a cheerful, used to send “We will how NASA will balance its com- via his intellect, vision and personal effort into modern materials science will be a problem. administrators … to ensure that Carter. Could you tell us what found that they hadn’t… majority, said Fenway resident hardworking, friendly, and easygo- out the user- either catch the peting priorities within an essen- and engineering. The modern catholic view of materials science and Walker dining has been “declin- freshmen have the best orientation performances,the movie was about? reached the requirements. sports events, and Trevorjokes D. McKee G. thating person who likedmark table tennis. name/passwor yourd time here. person, or we tially fixed budget remains an engineering he fostered at MIT continues to influence the materials field ing in terms of its patronage over possible,” he said, and “we will DK: Coach Carter was a He had basically suspended Over the past few years, Fen- Although he did not necessarily pairs last week. will keep try- open question. The 800-pound worldwide to this day,” said Edwin L. Thomas, Morris Cohen Professor the past few years” and was often hopefully be writing the rough draft film based on a story in Rich- the basketball team, and this way has been unsuccessful in take the first initiative to meet new Jeffrey I. ing until we gorilla of the budget is the new RAY HE—THE TECH of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the Institute for only one third full, Berlin said. The with [MIT administrators]” from the mond, California, which is was unheard of because Rich- recruitingpeople,undergraduateMao was a lively,studentskind,, and good friend who was easy to Schiller ’79, do,” Schiller Crew Exploration Vehicle NASA The creator of the comic “Piled Higher and Deeper” (PhD), Jorge Soldier Nanotechnologies. Forbes cafe has seating for 160 peo- beginning. JOHN CLOUTIER—THE TECH right in the Bay Area, Oakland mond was one of the top five whileworkthe with,number saidof Xuhuagraduate He G,stu a- friend. network man- said. Once the must build to replace the space Cham, signs copies of his new book in Building 32 on Thursday, A native of Chelsea, Mass., Cohen became interested in metals as an ple, though it “probably looks He said thatADormConstudent haspausesbeen to check his e-mail at an Athena QuickStation in shuttles. The CEV will cost bil- Yearsarea fromactually, and a bunch o f nowteams in the country. this newspaperCohen, Page 14 willdent residents Maostandwas ambitioushas gradualland “morey advancedasthan most”afirst-yea recordr ager for Infor- of what MIT perpetrator has May 19, following a presentation in 26-100. smaller than it is,” said Berlin. He working very successfullyBuilding 32withon Mondaythe night. It was at these terminals that members of kids growing up in the streets TT: And so what was your increased,graduateMcKeestudents,said.makingThe excellentFen- progress toward a thesis although mation Services been identified, lions of dollars, but NASA’s bud- the self-proclaimed Athena Insecurity Squad captured over 600 Athena who don’t have the good acad- role in the movie? BRIAN HEMOND—THE TECH way heAlumniwas onlyCorporationinJOHNhis CLOUTIER—THEsecondandsemestercur- TECHat MIT, said Mathematics Profes- and Technolo- said Schiller, Dining, Page 19 Orientation,username andPagepassword 15 pairs last week in an effort to demonstrate to emic record basically, and they DK: …When I originally MembersThe ofForbesthe Boston Family Cafe,Chinese locatedFolk inand theClassical Stata Center,Dance openedTroupe for businessrent members,sor Monday.Pavel I.however,Etingof. would“He waslikae wonderful student, academically very gy, said that he the matter will MIT Information Services and Technology the need for increased securi- come from tough backgrounds. went, I didn’t have an audition perform a long fan dance last Saturday, Feb. 19, in Walker Memori- to keepsuccessful.”Fenway as an undergradu- received an e- be referred to ty on the Athena operating system. The Tech will be publishing June wasComics likeAnd Coach Carter NEWSwhen— Ken you al.wereThe dance was part of here.the entertainment for the Chinese New ate ILG,Funeral he saidservices. will be planned when Mao’s parents arrive, pend- mail from the William M. 10, July 6, and Aug. 3 this sum- Carter, the realStateCoach ofCarter the, InstituteCoach Improving Carter, Page 13World &Year Natio Banquetn O. PINION. . .sponsored ...... by. . the2 Chinese Students Club. Comicsing clearance of theirFvisas,EATURESYuhua Hu G said. Services will probably individual on Friday night and has sent is completely unacceptable.” Fischer, associate dean for student be held early nextFenway, week,Page she said.16 since received several more, though “I understand that the designers conduct and risk management, or mer. Page 7 Opinion ...... W. .ould . . . .you . . . vote. . . . for. 4 a politican The AskSIPB column addresses Worldhe & declinedNation . to. . comment...... on. . .th2e of Athena realized these vulnerabili- the Committee on Discipline. Faculty Discusses Advising and Comics ...... who . . . .changed ...... his. . .9 mind when he the basics of computing andMao con-, Page 18Opinionaturen . .of . .the . . other. . . . e-mails...... 4 ties and decided to leave the system “The point that I’m out to prove with these vulnerabilities present, Athena, Page 18 DiversityComics NEWS Campus Life . . was. . . .wrong? ...... John. . 13 Robert Durant Named necting at MIT. Daily Confusion ...... 9 Page 9 PageNovartis 15 Plans to Buy Hexal and New MIT Museum Director World & Nation ...... 2 Dining and Hotel Guide ...... 13 Become World’s Biggest Generic Page 5 Page 15 Opinion ...... Page. . . . .6 ...... Comics4 NEWSPage 18 MIT Ranks Eighth in Contribu- Drug Maker Harvard Faces Poaching of Campus Life ...... 9 ML Europe Papers Released tions to Universities Work hard. Play hard. Make the most of MIT. Read The TechWorld. & Nation ...... 2 Faculty Members Sports ...... 20 Page 9 Page 14 Opinion ...... 4 Page 11 Page 6 Page 15 Harvard Business Rejects Appli- Universe a “Strange Place,” Says Sports ...... 20 cants Who Hacked into System Physics Nobel Laureate Wilczek http://www-tech.mit.edu*Page 6 Page 13 Page 19 Submit letters for publication to: [email protected] 2 * (aka wt.mit.edu)

0 News Campus Life Production Photography 0rientation Opinion Comics Sports Business 5 Arts Technology