Unfortunately, I’ll be in NYC on Thursday. But if you’re in or around Cambridge, I can’t think of a logical reason to miss this. Here’s a video of the Piano Drop from 2009: And here’s the first ever, from 1972:
This is why I love MIT…
Category: Current Events
Sexy Sax Man
I spent the weekend in Maine with some friends. At one point we spent a good hour sharing some favorite youtube videos. This was the highlight for me:
Push for Drama
The Daily Show: Easter vs. Passover at the White House
Via Kid Dynamite: Part 1: Part 2:
MIT Korea Trek on Korean TV
A group of my classmates from our trek were interviewed about a Korean cooking class they took in Seoul, and made it onto the Korean news. I can’t figure out to embed the video, so here’s the link. “I know that once people try it, they’ll want to keep having more and more.” – Jeff Anderson
Stimulus Plan Brings Foodie’s to Southie
There’s been a lot of debate about whether or not the stimulus plan worked. At the time it was passed, many argued that it wouldn’t be fast enough, that the projects would take so long to get underway that it wouldn’t be able to accomplish its purpose. And now, according to many economists, it definitely helped create jobs. But here we are, three years later. Our financial system didn’t self destruct, but economy is still growing at a pretty pathetic pace (although there have been some encouraging signs over the past two months). So, knowing we can’t change the past anyways, maybe its not so bad that some of the effects of the stimulus plan have yet to hit the economy. I’ve lived
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Sunday was the annual St. Patrick’s day Parade in South Boston. A tradition that’s been running since 1901. It’s the only day of the year when any South Boston bar can get away with charging a $20 cover. And of course, they all take advantage of this rare opportunity. Even my neighborhood bar, a bar with free pool that charges $1.50/beer and didn’t have a sign for thirty years until the police forced them to put one up last year, charged a $20 cover. It’s the type of bar where there’s never a line. Except Sunday. Even though I’ve been to the parade four times, this year was my first time seeing the entire thing through. This wasn’t intentional. It’s usually
Happy Pi Day
And a classic cartoon via xkcd: Thanks to Leah Fotis for the MIT pi(e) picture, while I stole from facebook.
Poor-People Programs
Via Ezra Klein, Mitt Romney’s budget in about 150 words: Let’s try to make this as simple as possible. Money comes into the federal government through taxes and bonds. The vast majority of it is then spent on old-people programs, poor-people programs, and defense. Mitt Romney is promising that taxes will go down, defense spending will go up, and old-people programs won’t change for this generation of retirees. So three of his four options for deficit reduction — taxes, old-people programs, and defense — are now either contributing to the deficit or are off-limits for the next decade. Romney is also promising that he will pay for his tax cuts, pay for his defense spending, and reduce total federal spending by more
Why Aren’t iPhones Made In America?
Via Marginal Revolution, the answer has less to do with wages than you might think: This is an excellent article, and perhaps it will win one of David Brooks’s Sidney Awards, excerpt: Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing iPhones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States. In China, it took 15 days. …Foxconn employs nearly 300 guards to direct foot traffic so workers are not crushed in doorway bottlenecks.