Volume 129, Number 31
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Your guide to Residence EXploration, Pages 9–16 MIT’s Oldest and Largest The Weather Today: Cloudy, 72°F (22°C) Newspaper Tonight: Cloudy, 60s°F (16°C) Tomorrow: Rain, 60s°F (20°C) Details, Page 2 http://tech.mit.edu/ Volume 129, Number 31 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, August 28, 2009 Institute Planning Task Force Suggests Major Cuts, Changes Interim Report Released; Students Can Give Feedback Until Oct. By Michael McGraw-Herdeg by a special committee charged with million by 2010-2011, according to EXECUTIVE EDITOR long-term planning. the report. In the long run, some of No more paper Add/Drop forms? But some of those ideas could the more exotic ideas — opening an Undergrads forced out of their dramatically alter the face of MIT extension school, offering master’s dorms after three years? Online in years to come. If you want a say, degrees online, tweaking class sizes master’s degrees? GIRs taught dur- you should speak up before October, — could amount to tens or even hun- ing the summer? Shuttered Athena when MIT will make a decision on dreds of millions of dollars in saved clusters? the ideas. The report, and a way to money and new revenue. Creative thinking could save share your thoughts, are available But if every single one of those MIT money, preventing layoffs and online at ideabank.mit.edu. 200-plus ideas were to come about, protecting campus research, if the The easiest-to-do ideas could, in Institute implements ideas proposed aggregate, save MIT perhaps $10–15 Task Force, Page 21 MIT Partners with Island Nation To Build New Technology School By Ana Lyons Singapore. tion with Singapore in Their Creation STAFF REPORTER In addition to overseeing the for- of a New University,” at the May 20 In line with its mission to ad- mation of the two new institutions, faculty meeting, along with Institute vance scientific knowledge “that will there are also additional plans which Professor Thomas L. Magnanti. CHRISTIAN J. TERNUS best serve the nation and the world would potentially include the con- Frey said that MIT collaborators Students work late on Sunday evening to finish a multiple-sto- in the 21st century,” MIT is working struction of an MIT sister-institution are beyond the planning stages but rey wooden tower in the East Campus courtyard. Traditionally, on a new international collaboration located somewhere along the MIT “aren’t quite at the point where we East Campus builds a variety of projects for Residence Explora- that will include aid in overseeing the campus, as part of the new collabo- have agreements about this.” Instead tion, which have in the past included a roller coaster, a water opening of a new design-based uni- ration. Frey describes that “there is an ex- slide, and a giant pendulum. versity and an international design Professor Daniel D. Frey PhD center which will both be located in ’97, gave a presentation, “Collabora- Singapore, Page 23 After Discussions, EC Residents and Admins Resolve Security Gate Conflict By Camille McAvoy tion, and Nathan A. Pallo ’11, Presi- tween Buildings 62 and 64 in the STAFF REPORTER dent of East Campus met to discuss security gate plan. A new parking security gate is be- the issue Friday, June 26. The gate is Pallo wrote an e-mail to East ing built between East Campus and expected to be completed by the end Campus residents following the Building 66. The gate’s construction of September 2009. meeting. The e-mail detailed the sparked controversy among East EC residents feared that the con- security gate plan, assuring resi- Campus residents, who feared that struction of the gate would eliminate dents that their needs and concerns the new gate would infringe upon an important loading and unloading had been taken into consideration in residents’ ability to drive up to the area for the dorm. As a result of the planning the gate project. dorm. meeting, Pallo and Brutti agreed to Pallo said that the new gate will Larry R. Brutti, Operations Man- include an unloading zone for EC ager of MIT Parking and Transporta- residents by the EC courtyard be- EC Gate, Page 20 MICHAEL MCGRAW-HERDEG—THE TECH ‘The Tech’ Checks Out 31337 Conferences: Senator Ted Kennedy spoke at a rally celebrating Deval Pat- rick’s win as Massachusetts governor on election night, Nov. Blackhat, DEFCON Spice Up Las Vegas 7, 2006. Kennedy passed away Tuesday after battling cancer. By Nathan Rittenhouse as Black Hat, but it is less corporate, ploiting server vulnerabilities is a lot Code breaking, party going, and with contests involving lockpicking, harder than it used to be, and soft tar- general electronic mayhem. These hardware hacking, and wifi antenna gets are either very close to the hard- phrases describe the seemingly one construction. ware or very close to the user. After Summer Hiatus, Student constant in Since 1997, the pair of confer- Although remote exploitation is the world of ences provide a general yearly over- still thriving, the learning curve need- Center Post Office To Reopen Feature information view of computer underground and ed to understand current exploitation security: the passing of the annual information security activities. Jeff techniques is steep. As a result, more By Robert McQueen On July 30, the Postal Regulato- DEFCON and Black Hat hacker con- Moss, the founder of both of the con- and more remote exploitations use STAFF REPORTER ry Commission, an agency charged ferences. Both held the same week of ferences, was recently sworn in to flaws that are not specific to a particu- The MIT Post Office, located in with maintaining oversight over the July 29, 2009 in blazing hot Las Ve- Barack Obama’s Homeland Security lar operating system. For example, one the basement of the Student Cen- Postal Service, released a document gas, Nevada, these conferences are the Advisory Council. method involves attacking users of a ter, will reopen and resume regular stating that the Postal Service would life blood of the industry and hobbyist The briefings portion of Black Hat particular web application by caus- hours on Monday, August 31 after conduct a nationwide examination communities alike. began on July 29 and lasted until July ing their browser to execute Javascript being closed for six weeks. of 3200 postal offices in an effort to Black Hat offers professionals the 30. DEFCON officially began on July code that steals private browser infor- Its future, however, is uncertain find and close down facilities that do opportunity to catch up on the lat- 30 and lasted until August 1. mation, like cookies. and under review by the United not meet adequate service levels. est security threats and grab copious As has been the trend in the pre- Another direction is using memo- States Postal Service in a nationwide Along with several other Boston- amounts of vendor swag. DEFCON vious few years, the conferences em- survey aimed at permanently closing shows many of the same presentations phasized the following: remotely ex- Hacker Conferences, Page 20 possibly thousands of post offices. Post Office, Page 22 In Short ¶ Graduate students can enroll support coordinator for more than a ARTS World & Nation . 2 now through Sept. 15 in the Gradu- decade. Where to eat outdoors in Boston Opinion . 4 ate Student Dental Plan. The plan ¶ John L. Hecker, Residential Life costs $239.52/year, or $605.76/year Associate for East Campus, Senior Page 7 Campus Life . 6 for families. For more information House, and Simmons Hall, is leav- Maggie Liu reviews Cobra Starship’s Arts . 7 about what the plan covers, visit ing MIT to pursue other professional Hot Mess Daily Confusion . 9 http://graddental.mit.edu/. options, he told students and admin- ¶ MIT has laid off Lynn A. Rober- istrators last week. Page 7 Comics & Fun Pages . 18 son, who served MIT as a women’s E-mail [email protected] with tips! Page 2 THE TECH August 28, 2009 WORLD & NATIO N FDIC Says Banks Lost $3.7 Billion Massachusetts Bids Goodbye In 2nd Quarter By Eric Dash THE NEW YORK TIMES To Senator Kennedy Even though financial stocks have rallied nearly 70 percent since the end of March, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued another grim By Abby Goodnough lost a part of my family even though rang 47 times, once for each year Ken- quarterly report Thursday on the health of the nation’s banks. THE NEW YORK TIMES I wasn’t related to him, just because nedy served in the Senate. The agency reported that the banking industry lost $3.7 billion in BOSTON growing up he was so dominant in my Several onlookers expressed regret the second quarter amid a surge in bad loans made to home builders, Tens of thousands of Sen. Edward house.” that Congress did not overhaul the commercial real estate developers and small and midsize businesses. Its M. Kennedy’s constituents gathered As the motorcade sped along a 70- health care system — a goal that Ken- deposit insurance fund dropped 20 percent, to $10.4 billion, its lowest Thursday along sidewalks, highway mile route from Cape Cod to Boston, nedy recently called “the cause of my level in nearly 16 years. And the number of “problem banks” increased medians and overpasses to glimpse taking Kennedy on his final journey life” — before his death. to 416, from 305 in the first quarter, and is expected to remain high. the motorcade that carried Kennedy’s through the state he represented for 47 Family members in attendance in- Indeed, federal officials warned that while the economy and finan- body from the sea-scented village of years, people of all ages, races and na- cluded Rep.