By my bedroom door, there’s a big porcelain cat that my parents gave me years ago. I’ve blogged about it before. Next to it, there’s a stack of framed diplomas. They’re my diplomas. I’m quite proud of the degrees they represent. It was hard to get into MIT and into the graduate school program I attended, …
Tag Archives: MIT
River view
Here’s my view this weekend. I’m at the MIT reunion — the 25th year reunion for the Class of 1988 — and I’m staying in a graduate student dorm. Yesterday poured rain for most of my drive here, and this morning started gray and damp. But this afternoon is the kind of afternoon that makes …
Forget jetpacks; I want this
Instructions and software for making a SixthSense device are available for free. The one element that throws me is having to use a Windows mobile device. There is an Android port in the works, but it doesn’t sound like there’s been much progress. There’s also a Java port underway, but again it seems to be …
Why you should stay at the Charles Hotel
A little more about my stay at the Charles Hotel last weekend: Lovely orchids in the lobby when I checked in.
Rialto bar
Arnie Barnett explains how to improve the U.S. electoral process
One of my favorite professors at MIT was Arnie Barnett. He’s the George Eastman Professor of Management Science, but more to the point he’s a wizard of statistics, able to make statistics understandable (and dryly funny to boot — as tired as I might be, I always made a point of attending his lectures). He …
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Everybody loves pi!
Pie!, originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey. Today is Pi Day! It’s March 14, which is sometimes written as 3.14, which in turn is the mathematical constant pi rounded to two decimals. When I taught computer camp in the summer during high school (yeah, yeah), one of the other instructors was working on a project in which …
Mastermind
Amy in the dorm (photo circa late 1980 or early 1981) A notable passing: Gary Gygax, one of the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died today. When I first heard, I was surprised that I recognized the name. My high school friends and I played a lot of D&D, and his name …
Sazarac
Saturday night in Boston, and I’m too tuckered to take advantage of it. Between late night discussions the last two nights and early morning start times each day (OK, 9am, but it felt early), I’m worn thin. So I’ve settled for a few moments in the hotel bar. I love hotel and airport bars, the …
Immersed in the environment
Continuing my Cambridge/Boston nostalgia trip: I ate lunch at Legal Seafoods. When I was an undergrad, my parents were apparently concerned that I would not eat properly. So my dad gave me a credit card, and instructed me to eat at Legal Seafoods once a month. He’d eaten there when bringing me up to school …