MIT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Snow Flurries. 31°F (_1°C) Tonight: Overcast. 21 of (-6°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Cloudy. nOF (-3°C) Details, Page 2 Volwne 119, Number 69 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Wednesday, January 26, 2000 LEF Panel City Council Approves Allocates New Development Ban $25,235 Petition Creates IS-month Moratorium Zone G By Frank Dabek telecommunication utilities by an LSC to Dpansor _E_f)[_f_UR_I_N_C_II_It._." amendment introduced by Council- With the passage of the Larkin lor Anthony Galluccio. DO'Uglas Ad arns petition early yesterday morning, Resident after resident voiced the Cambridge City Council has concerns at the meeting about evic- By Karen E. Robinson imposed an tions, condominium conversion. and ASSOCIATE NEWS EDIlOR I 8 - m 0 nth commercial developments that they A speech by Douglas Adams, a moratorium feel are destroying neighborhoods in Latin American and Caribbean on large the eastern part of the city which Cultural Show, and an evening of de vel 0 p - has been increasingly targeted for Comedy will be funded in full by ments in new developments. the large event funding panel this east Cam- "It's getting scarier and scarier spring. Three other events will be b rid g e, to live in East Cambridge," Larkin partially funded by the large event across Main said of the encroachment of devel- fund. Street from opment. In total, the panel allocated the M IT School Committee member Fred $25,235 in grants among the six FRANK DABEK - TIlE IEel! campus. Fantini also delivered an impas- large events for spring term. The Shannon Larkin The peti- sioned defense of the moratorium. panel received requests for tion was sponsored by the East He called the passage of the Larkin $68,677 worth of funding for 14 Cambridge Planning Team, a neigh- measure a defining moment for the events with total projected budgets borhood group which includes MIT council and urged councillors to of $122,251. staff member Shannon M. Larkin "reflect on what our city will be like Adams, author of The Hitchhik- and passed by a vote of seven to two in 100 or 200 years." er's Guide to the Galaxy, will after being amended by the council. The vocal support residents' speak to MIT audiences in mid- The petition is designed to allow groups showed for the petition was April. This event was proposed by time for the city to conduct a com- matched by parties opposed to the the Lecture Series Committee. prehensive planning study of east moratorium. Adams' talk will be entitled "Par- Cambridge. The petition prohibits Attorney James Rafferty said rots, the Universe, and Every- any new development over 20,000 that the petition used a "far broader thing," and take place in Johnson square feet in an area bordered by brush" than its authors intended and Ice Rink. Main Street on the south, the that it denied fundamental property The first Latin American and Somerville border on the north and rights. He proposed dealing with the Caribbean Cultural Show will take between Windsor street and the problem through modification of place in late April, hosted by the Boston-Cambridge border. zoning regulations rather than a •. -V,II BII,IR,AIJII:.JJ- TIlE IECI! MIT Club Latino and the MIT A two-block area on Binney moratorium. CAC staff members Ted Johnson and Van Chu '99 hang a mir- Street at Fifth Street was exempted ror ball in preparation for this Saturday's Millennium Ball. LEF, Page 25 from the moratorium if used for Larkin, Page 16 'Bots inBlue' Complete Qualifying Round of 6.270 MIT Unveim By Kevin R. Lang ASSUCIATE NEWS Fo"DllOR Nanovation Hackers will be jailed. Students will remain on either East Campus or West Campus. Professors will be Partnership escorted across Massachusetts Avenue. $90 Million to Further Have the Campus Police Research in Photonics resolved their labor dispute and expanded their duties at M IT? By Matthew F. Palmer Hardly. This year's 6.270 S/;lI-T RE/'()R7ER Autonomous Robot Design Compe- Miami-based Nanovation Tech- tition, "Bots in Blue," features nologies Inc. announced Friday it will robots trying to capture "hackers," provide $90 million over six years to keep "students" on either side of establ ish a center at M IT for the "campus," and escort "professors" research of light-based photonic tech- across "Mass. Ave." nologies. which could make com- Round one finished up Tuesday munications hundreds of times faster. afternoon, with 27 of 60 teams qual- Nanovation's contributions will ifying for the final competition on fund a new laboratory on the MIT the first try. The final contest begins campus and research at MIT's Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in Room 26- Materials Processing Center. The 100. goal of the research is to develop The first round featured false- photonic devices that will connect starts galore, non-functioning computers and telephones to high robots, and some flying Legos. speed fiber optics. Many teams had been finishing Nanovation's president and CEO work both on code and on their G. Robert Tatum said in a printed robots late Monday night and into report, "N anovat ion's relationship Tuesday morning. Controller boards with MIT is part of our strategy to this year were significantly delayed, fonn partnerships with the nation's despite course organizers' attempts best universities to expand research to debug the boards since last year. that will allow the telecommunication "We were just figuring out how industry to develop and commercial- MING.lAIIIUII- HIE THH long I'd been awake," said contes- ize new photonic technologies." Two• Lego robots clashed during the qualifying round of the "Bots in Blue" 6.270 contest. The final round will be held Tomorrow at 6 p.m. in room 26-100. 6.270, Page 17 Nanovation, Page 15 Undergrads Comics FEATURES World & Nation 2 publish Get ready to practice that smile! Opinion .4 research in Charm School returns for its Arts 6 MURtJ. eighth fun-filled year. Features 12 Sports 32 Page 16 Page 20 Page 13 Page 2 THE TECH January 26, 2000 WORLD & NATION Surprise Blizzard GOP Opposition Target Bush Wreaks Havoc on East Coast LOS A.vCELES T!.\IES WASHINGTON As Campaign Moves to N.H. An unexpected blizzard stunned the eastern United States on Tuesday, snarling traffic and shutting down schools and businesses By Anne-Marie O'Connor, we're all going to be here the same political world was flying. from South Carolina to Maine. Most federal agencies in the nation's Mark Z. Barabak amount of days .... There's no One candidate, Republican Alan capital were closed. and Cathleen Decker doubt about it, he's a tough candi- Keyes, fell victim to the weather Packing winds up to 40 miles per hour, the fast-moving storm dis- LOS ANGELES TIMES date to beat. We'll see beyond New and found himself stuck in the rupted air travel and closed many major airports, including New MANCHESTER. N.H. Hampshire what they choose to Detroit airport through the after- York's La Guardia and Washington's Ronald Reagan National Air- His Iowa caucus victory only do." noon. The sixth Republican, Utah port. Flights were canceled up and down the Eastern seaboard and air hours old, Texas Gov. George W. The Democratic winner of the Sen. Orrin Hatch, was not in New traffic was snarled over much of the nation. Bush fell into an ideological pincers caucuses, Vice President AI Gore, Hampshire and The Associated Amtrak canceled operations south of Washington, including auto- attack from his two chief chal- buoyantly pledged not to take victo- Press reported that he was leaving train service to Florida, because of the storm, spokesman Cliff Black lengers in New Hampshire Tues- ry in New Hampshire for granted, the race. said. He said that rail travelers faced delays along the Washington-to- day, taking shots on taxes and abor- but just for good measure criticized The Republican underdogs were Boston corridor. tion as he sought to translate his both his primary opponent Bill fighting most fiercely Tuesday. At least four people were killed in weather-related traffic acci- Midwestern success into an advan- Bradley and his probable Republi- Forbes' return to taxes as his bul- dents in the Carolinas, and a 5-year-old girl was missing and feared tage among the traditionally prickly can opponent Bush's "huge, risky, wark issue was a replay of his 1996 dead in Massachusetts after falling into a river while walking to voters here. tax scheme-giveaway." presidential campaign, which he school in heavy snow. Businessman Steve Forbes Bradley, for his part, tried to based almost completely on eradi- The only political battle at the White House was a snowball fight thrashed Bush from the right on shake off his lopsided Iowa loss - cating the Internal Revenue Service outside the West Wing between press secretary Joe Lockhart and his taxes and Arizona Sen. John he was defeated by a nearly 2-1 and replacing it with a 17 percent aides. Senate testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan McCain came at him from his more margin - by emphasizing his cre- flat tax on income. Greenspan, usually a much-anticipated event, was canceled. moderately conservative perch on dentials as a former New Jersey "People are going to look at the "We knew it was coming. It just decided to hit us a day earlier abortion, both trying to knock down senator and pledging reform, both record on taxes," Forbes told (than expected)," said U.S. Weather Service meteorologist Tim Mor- the national front-runner.