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Billy Graham at MIT

In April 1982, during my second semester at MIT, Billy Graham came to speak at the invitation of the evangelical Christian groups on campus, including Campus Crusade for Christ, United Christian Fellowship (the MIT affiliate of Intervarsity), the Chinese Bible Study, and the MIT Seekers, affiliated with Park Street Church....

Posted by Michael Bates on February 23, 2018 4:40 PM

Paul Gray, RIP

Paul Gray, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1980 to 1990 and the man who handed me my college diploma, died today at the age of 85. Gray was the last true MIT nerd to hold the post, possibly the last who ever will. In his years in...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 18, 2017 11:07 PM

MIT shooters, Boston Marathon bombers: one dead, one in custody

I was up late last night anyway, but when my wife told about reports of a shooting at MIT, I tuned in to Twitter and the live streaming coverage of WCVB in Boston as they took phone calls from frightened residents of a neighborhood in Watertown where shots were being...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 19, 2013 11:13 PM

MIT prof Patrick Winston lectures on How to Speak

January at MIT is neither fall semester nor spring semester. It's the Independent Activities Period (IAP). Students can choose to stay back in their hometown, travel, or come back to campus, and once on campus there are hundreds of activities to choose from. Nearly every department offers for-credit courses in...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 14, 2013 7:29 PM

Bates's Law of Creeping Techno-Slavery

Here's an idea that's been on my mind for a while, and it's time to begin to flesh it out. As you read, keep in mind that this is a first draft. Your thoughts are welcome. This insight seems obvious to me, so obvious that I searched to find the...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 25, 2011 12:37 AM

Walter Lewin, MIT physics professor, retires

This past weekend I visited Boston and the MIT campus for the first time in 14 years to attend my 25th reunion, which coincided with the centennial of my fraternity's chapter at MIT (Xi Chapter of Zeta Beta Tau) and MIT's sesquicentennial. The headline in the latest issue of the...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 8, 2011 11:36 PM

MIT Commencement 1986

25 years ago today, I sat in MIT's Killian Court along with a thousand other students in a heavy academic gown made heavier by a steady rain. Officials thought the rain would hold off, but by the time it became apparent that it would not, it was too late...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 2, 2011 8:24 AM

An MIT cartoon on Ayn Rand's passing

It's odd what sticks with you over the years. A blogpal's Facebook quotation of a surprisingly emotional and romantic passage from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (the film version debuts this weekend) was a reminder that Rand and her admirers were not exactly Vulcans, and it brought to mind a...

Posted by Michael Bates on April 16, 2011 11:19 PM

Pi Day: Thoughts on MIT admissions

Flickr photo by Francisco Diez http://www.flickr.com/photos/22240293@N05/ / CC BY 2.0 Last Sunday was Pi Day, (3/14), and at 1:59 pm, MIT released its admission decisions for the class matriculating in 2010. ECs got to see the results Tuesday morning, and once again, some really bright, personable young men and...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 17, 2010 7:43 AM

"Let the rush begin"

I received an e-mail earlier this week from my college fraternity, Xi Chapter of Zeta Beta Tau, about their upcoming rush week activities. Saturday: All-you-can-eat steak and lobster dinner and a casino night. Sunday: Building potato guns, canoeing on the Charles River. Monday (Labor Day): Paintball, barbecue, geocaching. Tuesday: Bowling,...

Posted by Michael Bates on August 28, 2008 9:01 AM