MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Rainy, 40°F (9°C) Tonight: Clearing skies, 30’s F (4°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Sunny, windy, 50’s F (12°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 125, Number 15 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Fabolous to Perform For Spring Weekend By Hanhan Wang each year. The Spring Weekend committee Rap artists Fabolous and Lloyd tries to get bands on the rising road Banks will co-headline MIT’s annu- to fame. “This year, we had two that al Spring Weekend Concert this weren’t as big as one large band,” year. said Cooper-Gibson. The concert will be held at 7:30 Fabolous, popular for his rap hits p.m. on Friday, April 22, in the “Breathe,” “Tit 4 Tat,” and “Baby,” Johnson Athletic Center. The con- has been rhyming since high school. cert is open to MIT and other col- After mixtape star DJ Clue heard leges around the area and will kick Fabolous’s work, he immediately off the weekend’s entertainment signed Fabolous to his Desert Storm lineup. imprint. Fabolous’ fame quickly A Spring Weekend Committee took off from there, producing of 15 students has been planing songs like “In the Hood,” “Take Spring Weekend since fall. In previ- You Home,” and “We Don’t Give.” ous years, the committee surveyed “I’m actually more excited about students about their music prefer- Lloyd Banks — he’s part of G- OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH ences. The rock and hip-hop genres Unit,” Qi Feng ’05 said. Lloyd The MIT Chorallaries entertain students recently admitted to MIT at a reception in San Diego last topped the preferences every year. Banks was anointed as 2003’s Mix- Thursday, March 24. “Every year, the survey ended up tape Artist of the Year due to his being 50–50,” said Shawna M. work on G-Unit mixtapes and his Cooper-Gibson, head administrator Money in the Bank series. Lloyd for Spring Weekend, so the commit- MIT Places First in Putnam Again tee decided to alternate band genres Spring Weekend, Page 15 By Jenny Zhang were Princeton University, Duke exam, said he did not prepare NEWS EDITOR University, University of Waterloo, specifically this year, but 18.S34, For a second consecutive year, and California Institute of Technol- Mathematical Problem Solving, a OCW Continues Growing, MIT has placed first in the William ogy. freshman mathematical problem Lowell Putnam Mathematical Com- The annual Putnam exam, which solving seminar he took last year, petition. The MIT team, selected by is open to undergraduates in the was helpful. Sharing MIT’s Materials mathematics professors Hartley United States and Canada, takes In addition, Kane said, his high Rogers Jr. and Richard P. Stanley place on the first Saturday of school International Mathematics By Jiao Wang benefit from MIT’s OpenCourse- before the exam was taken, consist- December. It consists of two three- Olympiad experience was useful STAFF REPORTER Ware program. The initiative, begun ed of Reid W. Barton ’05, Daniel hour sections of six problems each because many of the problems were A 22-year old Vietnamese man in 2001, aims to put all of MIT’s M. Kane ’07, and Emanuel I. Stoica and has now run for 65 years. similar. steers his scooter to the front of a tat- 1800 subject offerings on the Web ’05. On the 2004 exam, more than half He advised students interested in tered house, climbs flights of stairs, by 2007. Three MIT students, Barton, of the participants scored zero out of participating in Putnam to do prob- and reaches The project, which has already Kane, and Valdimir V. Barzov ’06, a possible 120 points on the exam. lems from previous exams and look a computer, published more than 900 subjects, placed among the top five scorers, Rogers said the MIT median has typi- at some problem-solving books for Feature which dis- will publish 175 new classes over earning them each $2,500 and cally been between 20 and 30. general techniques. plays lecture two of Laboratory in the course of the next month, which recognition as Putnam Fellows. The Kane said he had not made par- Software Engineering (6.170). It is will push the total number of avail- MIT mathematics department will MIT competitors used experience ticular plans for using his reward, through these lectures that Lam Vi able classes to almost 1100, accord- receive an award of $25,000, and The top MIT scorers said they but would be “putting the money in Quoc sharpened his programming ing to the March OCW newsletter. each of the three team members will did not practice specifically for the the bank.” skills enough to developed a pro- receive $1,000. Team ranks are exam, but instead relied on experi- Barzov, however, had more gram that allowed local residents to Intellectual philanthropy determined by the sum of the scores ence. immediate plans for his reward; he find bus routes by destination. The OCW concept can be seen as of the three pre-selected members. Kane, who was also a Fellow Today, educators and learners The next highest-scoring teams and MIT team member for the 2003 Putnam, Page 13 like Quoc from around the world OCW, Page 18 Winter Shuttle Service Extended, Improvements Planned for SafeRide By Brian C. Keegan problems could be fixed inexpen- STAFF REPORTER sively,” she said. “We’re trying to An ad-hoc student committee is make SafeRide safe again.” addressing concerns regarding The committee was initially start- SafeRide, and the Parking and ed by the Panhellenic Association Transportation Office is planning on and includes representatives from upgrading its fleet of shuttles. the five sororities, the Women’s Independent Living Group, the Committee addresses concerns Interfraternity Council, and the Ellen Sojka ’08, co-chair for an Undergraduate Association. Sojka ad-hoc student committee on said the committee remains open to SafeRide, said there are a number of suggestions and hopes to make rec- problems that the committee is try- ommendations to the administration ing to address with the administra- by the end of the term. tion. Among the priorities listed on a Major changes for shuttle fleet document obtained from Sojka were The Parking and Transportation more accurate online tracking, Office is planning to purchase or extending the Boston Winter Shuttle lease several new buses in order to service in IAP, rerouting or optimiz- upgrade the entire fleet over the next ing routes, increasing shuttle capaci- two summers. The changes include ty, and a signaling system that noti- heavier duty and larger capacity fies drivers if there are riders waiting buses and come as a result of at a location. increasing numbers of riders and “We’re not sure how much resis- services provided by the fleet. tance we’re going to get from the YUN WU—THE TECH administration, but a lot of these SafeRide, Page 16 Students wait to board a crowded shuttle at 77 Massachusetts Avenue. CAMPUS LIFE Comics NEWS Wonder what it’s like in a strip Three MIT Students Win Barry World & Nation . 2 club? Goldwater Scholarships Opinion . 4 Campus Life . .7 Sports . .20 Page 7 Page 9 Page 16 Page 2 THE TECH March 29, 2005 WORLD & NATION Report Cites Flaws in CIA Earthquake Hits Indonesia, Assessment of Saddam By David E. Sanger and Scott Shane THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON No Major Tsunamis Reported The final report of a presidential commission studying American intelligence failures regarding illicit weapons includes a searing cri- By Maria Newman Lanka and coastal parts of Malaysia are going, which means an evacua- tique of how the CIA and other agencies never properly assessed THE NEW YORK TIMES and Thailand, the areas devastated by tion is taking place.” The Pacific Saddam Hussein’s political maneuverings or the possibility that he no An earthquake with a magnitude the Dec. 26 tsunami. Tsunami Warning Center in Honolu- longer had weapon stockpiles, according to officials who have seen of 8.7 shook Indonesia Monday three Sirens wailed and tens of thou- lu said that the authorities in the Indi- the report’s executive summary. months after a somewhat stronger sands of people were evacuated after an Ocean region should monitor the The report also proposes broad changes in the sharing of informa- quake triggered a tsunami that caused tsunami warnings were sounded, situation to determine where evacua- tion among intelligence agencies that go well beyond the legislation widespread devastation in the region while others drove or ran from the tions might be warranted. passed by Congress late last year creating a director of national intel- and killed tens of thousands of people. coast to higher ground, Reuters said. “This earthquake has the potential ligence to coordinate action among all 15 intelligence agencies. The U.S. Geological Survey said A senior police officer told the to generate a widely destructive Those recommendations are likely to figure prominently in the confir- Monday’s quake was centered about news agency that he had seen three tsunami in the ocean or seas near the mation hearings of John Negroponte, whom the president has nomi- 125 miles west northwest of the bodies and that many others were earthquake,” the warning center said nated to be national intelligence director. Those hearings are sched- northern Indonesian island of Suma- trapped in damaged buildings. in an advisory just after the quake uled to begin April 12. The report particularly singles out the Central tra and began around 11 p.m. local “The earthquake was massive, it’s rumbled through the area. Intelligence Agency under its former director, George Tenet, but also time.