Fund to Restore the Scholarship

Posted on 31. Mar, 2011 by Kelsey Breseman

Olin's scholarship is an important tradition of this school. It recognizes all of Olin's students as meritorious, and puts them on equal ground. It gives the students of Olin a fierce loyalty to the institution and the freedom to experiment with their education and education style.

The scholarship affects me, personally, very strongly; it's not why I came here, but it is how. I know I'm not the only student who couldn't afford Olin without the full scholarship. And having more pressure on a job through the college years would hurt the experience and grades of any student.

The "Anonymity" Policy

Posted on 30. Mar, 2011 by Ryan Mitchell

The anonymity of the Taboo and Therapy mailing lists at Olin has been sacrosanct in the minds of students for years. Until recently, it appeared that the security of the lists was impenetrable. However, on the weekend of March 5th, an Olin student discovered that the unfiltered archives of all Olin mailing lists (including senders email addresses) had been openly accessible to the world for several years.

April Fish

Posted on 30. Mar, 2011 by Celeste Maisel

Although April Fools’ day is not an official holiday, that doesn’t stop it from being celebrated all over the world. Here in America, it is a day for pulling pranks, both elaborate and simple, on friends and enemies, but other parts of the world have twists on the tradition.

In other countries, according to april-fools.us, the April Fools’ Day takes on different twists and traditions.

In Scotland, April Fools’ Day is known as Taily Day and it is dedicated to “spoofs involving the buttocks.”

Olin to Set World Record!

Posted on 30. Mar, 2011 by Graham Hooton

It’s been almost a week since my friend Oren and I e-mailed our plea to all students: Please save your one-sided print jobs; we want to put them to good use! We plan to break a world record – that of the largest ‘rasterbated’ image – for an Expo project. Preparation work is nearing its conclusion. Paper collection aside, all we need to do is to scrape our team of paper caper tapers together in order to assemble our masterpiece in the week before Expo.

A Candid Conversation with Lawrence Neeley

Posted on 29. Mar, 2011 by Kelsey Breseman

Lawrence Neeley has been teaching at Olin for four years. He grew up in Oakland, California before crossing the country to go to the honors college in Maryland, where he decided to be a mechanical engineer. He earned his master’s and PhD at Stanford, and then came to MIT for postdoctoral mechanical design work.

A Few Thoughts

Posted on 29. Mar, 2011 by John Rosenwinkel

I would like to challenge some of the underlying assumptions upon which much of the argument in “The Meaning of Empowerment” was based.

The author states that much violence is due to greed or hateful religious beliefs. This is a gross oversimplification of reality. The reasons that people commit acts of violence are complex, but I believe that people are driven to violence because they have needs that are not being met, whether those needs be physical, emotional, social, etc.

Smooth Moves

Posted on 23. Mar, 2011 by Kendall Pletcher

Walking through West Hall late at night, you’re likely to encounter a crew of satisfied patrons of FBE’s newest venture. You don’t even have to leave the privacy of your room to order up something sexy out of Smooth Moves’ diverse— and colorful— catalog. Whatever your tastes—light, sweet, rich, or saucy—Smooth Moves delivers. Literally.

'Like' This, 'Like' That

If you have ever had a teacher who was picky about conversational grammar, chances are they have commented on everybody’s usage of the word like.

Of all the common grammar mistakes we make daily, ‘like’ is the worst of them.

Unfortunately, even the most cautious speakers end up slipping the word incorrectly into their sentences, often not even noticing they have done so. We use it so frequently, we have become desensitized to its incorrect usage and accept it in any conversation.

Read more

Candidate's Weekend

Posted on 28. Feb, 2011 by Celeste Maisel

Well, it’s that time of year again.

For three weekends in a row, our small campus is descended upon by hundreds of candidates and their parents from around the world to be interviewed, judged, and not evaluated. Current Oliners, alums, parents, staff and faculty are called upon for help with the design build, interview panels, club fair, performances, Friday activities and the dorm Open House on Saturday.

How Olin Did (and Did Not) Prepare me for Postgraduate Life

Posted on 28. Feb, 2011 by Stephen Longfield

After I graduated from Olin, I went on to graduate studies at Cornell University, in a MS-PhD program. I work with and around a lot of people who went to many different schools, and I have taken classes at Cornell University. I can say one thing with absolute certainty: Olin is different.