“Keep the Cat Free” ISSUE 1511 FELIX 17.02.12 The student voice of Imperial College London since 1949 TALKING TO THE SABBATICALS As nominations open for this year’s Union elections, Felix talks to the current Sabbs to fi nd out what exactly they have been doing for you: Page 6 Black tie for Summer Ball SCIENCE Sit-down formal dinner back on the menu for this year’s event Matthew Colvin der to make the dinner viable, there will It is currently planned for one cash bar been approved by the Union’s Executive be a minimum attendance fi gure. If this to be located in each venue, but should Committee and a “Summer Ball Forum” In a paper brought to Imperial College fi gure is not reached by a yet-to-be con- the number of tickets sold approach will be organised to receive feedback Union Council last Monday (February fi rmed date, the dinner will be cancelled 1,500, a cashless system will be consid- from the student body. 13) Deputy President (Finance & Servic- and refunds will be provided to those af- ered. Speaking at the Council meeting, Mind-reading es) Michael Foster outlined plans for this fected. The fairground also makes a return, Foster confi rmed that this year’s Ball year’s Summer Ball, which will see the Though entertainment is also yet to be alongside fi reworks and the after-party would see “a return to the style of 2010 machines return of black-tie and a formal dinner. confi rmed, it is expected that acts will be (priced between £5 and £7), which will and earlier” while maintaining a “very The event, to be held one week later spread across the Queen’s Lawn Stage begin at 11pm in the Union building, fi n- conservative and low-risk budget”. This Page 8 than usual on Saturday 23 June, is cur- and the Great Hall, with one headline ishing at 5am. follows last year’s Summer Ball, which rently planned to begin at 5:30pm with act performing on each, accompanied by In the passed paper (calling for Coun- broke from tradition and took the format a formal sit-down dinner held in the support from bands and DJs. Entertain- cil to agree to the general plan for the of an all-day festival. The event saw ap- Queen’s Tower Rooms. The capacity ment will run from 8pm until midnight event) Foster writes that the goal for proximately 1,500 tickets sold, after a for this will be 350 people. Menus and and tickets will be priced between £25 this year’s event is to be “fun and af- projected attendance of 3,850, and saw prices have yet to be confi rmed. In or- and £30 pending further budget analysis. fordable”. The preliminary budget has an approximate loss of £100,000. BOOKS COULD YOU Alexander Karapetian RIG THE NATIONAL Taking a look at this year’s Picocon lineup STUDENT Page 28 SURVEY? Page 3 FOOD Possibility of impersonating students Results could be biased in A Fairtrade food Imperial’s competition favour Page 30 2 Friday 17 february 2012 FELIX HIGHLIGHTS What’s on UNION ELECTIONS CLASSIFIEDS Medic RAG Week It’s that time of year again... Yes ladies and gents, ICSM RAG Week is here! Consider this Freshers’ Week take 2, except bet- ter, because this time round you’ve all had prac- tice! Get involved – it’s for charity so anything goes It’s one of those (and when I say anything, i mean ANYTHING!) All the money raised will be going to the Teenage Can- cer Trust. Join the Facebook group for more info! weeks. Monday 20 February • 6am: Commuter Collect (SK/City) • 7:30pm: RAG Games (Reynolds) Need to sell some- Tuesday 21 February • 12pm: Midday MONEY (SAF Building/City/SK) thing? • 10pm: RAG @ Boujis (SK) Wednesday 22 February • 10am: Invasion (London) – meet in SAF Building Invasion of the Stick Men – I’m claiming royalties for the inevitable fi lm at 9:30am. Theme: OLYMPICS Let us know. • 7:30pm: RAG does Sports Night (Reynolds) So here we are again... Thursday 23 February Please. • 10:30am onwards: Circle Line Collect (SAFB/ Prepare yourselves for weeks of SAF Pad/Reynolds/Circle Line) • 10pm: Circle Line Afterparty at Walkabout, campaigning: lecture theatres littered with Shepherds Bush sugary bribes and outlandish heartfelt Just so we’re clear, Felix accepts no responsibility Friday 24 February for services bought or sold, capiche? Good. • 7:30pm: RAG Review (Reynolds) promises; campus littered with fl yers that • 9:30pm: RAG BOP – THINGS THAT CHILDREN LIKE & THINGS THAT LIKE CHILDREN (Reynolds) really do need recycling. Don’t miss out. You’ll regret it if you do! Things are a little different this year, as Lizzy Kostov – ICSMSU RAG Chair 2011/12 Faculty Union elections are being run at the same time, so why not take the time Lolcat of teh week Cupcake Sale to read up on the latest goings on at Help Project Nepal raise funds for a school build- imperialcollegeunion.org/elections? ing project at their Cupcake Sale on Monday 20 February in the Junior Common Room. Editor CUPCAKES Cupcakes FOR SALE! An apology for last Help us to raise funds for a school building project in Chitwan, a rural town week’s Hangman: in Nepal. Project Nepal Editorial – Page 12 Felix, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BB. Email: [email protected]. Tel: 020 7594 8072. Fax: 020 7594 8065. Printed by Iliffe Print Cambridge, Winship Road, Cambridge. Registered newspaper ISSN 1040-0711. FELIX Copyright © Felix 2012. Editor-in-Chief Matthew Colvin Deputy Editor Charles Betts News Editors Sophia David Alex Nowbar Reporters Tim Arbabzadah Alexander Karapetian Philip Kent Features Editors Katy Bettany Stephen Smith Sports Editor Indy Leclercq Sports Rookies Gabriel Oppetit Johnny Wong Science Editors Kelly Oakes Alexander Karapetian Politics Editors Rajat Jain Joseph Letts Technology Editors Chris Bowers Feroz Salam Comment Editors Tim Arbabzadah Samuel Horti Arts Editors Will Prince Eva Rosenthal Music Editors Mark England Simon Hunter Íñigo Martínez De Rituerto Alex Ramadan Fashion Editors Saskia Verhagen Alice Yang Television Editors George Barnett James Simpson Film Editors John Park Lucy Wiles Games Editor Laurence Pope Books Editor Maciej Matuszewski Food Editors Anastasia Eleftheriou Michael Krestas Travel Editors Dushi Arumuganesan Chris Richardson Online Editors Chris Birkett Philip Kent Jonathan Kim Puzzles Captain James Hook Photo Editor Miles Robertson Copy Editors Carol Ann Cheah Iulia Gherman Philip Kent Jonathan Peek Annina Sartor FELIX Friday 17 february 2012 3 News Editors: Sophia David Alex Nowbar [email protected] NEWS Flaws exposed in NSS Union to lobby council Student survey data could be skewed over Exhibition Road Alexander Karapetian Tim Arbabzadah quotation marks, everyone can rest as- sured it’s absurd. In a paper brought to Union Council on The ‘roundabout’ in question is lo- Monday 13 February by Deputy Presi- cated outside the Business School. This dent (Welfare) Nicolas Massie, the is, unlike every other roundabout, just Union proposed to lobby Westminster a crossroads with a circle painted on it. City Council about multiple concerns The paper also raised concerns over the with the new Exhibition Road layout. “800 metres [of Exhibition Road] with- The paper pointed out the “uncertainty out assisted crossing”. about the boundaries of the road on the The paper was ultimately passed, west side, particularly the tactile bor- and it was decided that the Union Rigging away? Information gained from the TeachDB database includes name, CID, and year ders”. should lobby Westminster City Coun- It went on to point out that the “use of cil to clarify several points, including the ‘roundabout’ (Prince Consort Road “whether it is a shared space”. Another Alexander Karapetian search again for third year and got a (or the student) batting an eyelid for and Exhibition Road) is unclear and issue to be lobbied for is to put up signs list of 200. Since we can’t be sure all suspicious activity. has increased the risk to cyclists”. informing people of the rules of the Students from the Department of third years are in their fi nal year, we’ll Felix contacted Jason Parmar, Dep- When even the Union begins to use road. Computing have teamed up with Fe- go with the dataset of fourth years. uty President (Education), about the lix to uncover methods which can be The information we got? Stu- ability to fi ll in the NSS many times, Jonathan Peek used to skew data being submitted to dents’ pictures, their login, their full since students were confused as to the National Student Survey (NSS) in fi rst name and last name, the degree what happened to their responses. In favour of Imperial College. they’re on, their CID number and year an inconsistent manner, accessing the The fl aws rely on the availability of entry. All in a neat, tabular and ma- NSS using the introductory email and of basic information required to pose chine readable format. With this in- attempting to complete it subsequent- as another student in the survey, and formation, it would be a piece of cake ly causes it to fail with the response: the process can be automated to mass to produce a proof of concept appli- “Thank you for your interest in par- impersonate entire departments. The cation that can automatically harvest ticipating in this survey. You have NSS is a survey for fi nal year students fi nal year student data from this data- already completed the survey”. Ac- conducted by Ipsos MORI, the second base, cross reference it with another cessing it via their website and click- largest market research organisation service like Facebook (made even eas- ing through to “complete the survey”, in the UK, on behalf of the Higher Ed- ier using their new social graph pro- however, allows students to redo it an ucation Funding Council for England gramming interface) for their day and unbounded number of times, leaving it (HEFCE).