Without a doubt, one of my favorite pastimes on campus is participating in intramural athletics, hockey in particular. I know that is the case for many of my peers too. However, recent events within the intramural hockey circle have taken the fun and joy out of participating in such athletics. While I do applaud the work of the countless intramural sports coordinators and directors, they do a poor job of upholding the values and beliefs of the system. Read more...

From December 4–6, the Rensselaer community will be invited to participate in “Celebration Weekend: A Tribute to the Transformation of Rensselaer.” The weekend will be designed to celebrate several landmark events at the Institute: the successful completion of the “Renaissance at Rensselaer” campaign, the decade anniversary of The Rensselaer Plan, and the 10th anniversary of President Shirley Ann Jackson’s tenure. Read more...

In December, Rensselaer will celebrate the tenth anniversary of both The Rensselaer Plan and President Shirley Ann Jackson’s tenure at the Institute, in addition to the successful completion of the Renaissance at Rensselaer capital campaign. This event will bring “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin to the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, along with acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell—both Grammy winners who have serenaded President Barack Obama. Read more...

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, playing videogames was an anti-social affair. Games were designed to be a single player, pitting his or her cunning against the will of the game developers. In more recent years, though, many more games are made to make multiple players work together. Borderlands is one such game. It can be played alone or with four players, but seems to work best with a minimum of three people. When it does work, it works very well; there is lots of genuine fun to be had here. Read more...

Following the weekend’s opening sweep of ECAC play, the men’s hockey team is currently one win away from tying last year’s total regular season victories, a true step in the right direction for a rebuilding program. Friday evening—the seventh annual Black Friday—RPI dominated over No. 6 in the nation Yale University by a score of 5-2, followed by a 3-1 romp over Brown University the following night. The two wins place RPI a perfect 2-0-0 in the ECAC and 6-3-1 overall, while Yale drops to 0-1-0 and 1-1-0, and Brown sits at 0-1-1 in the league and a winless 0-2-1 overall. This is the first time in 12 seasons that Rensselaer began conference play with a sweep. Read more...

Last Wednesday, the RPI community gathered in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center for the semi-annual town meeting. President Shirley Ann Jackson spoke to attendees on “Signs of Progress: Rensselaer Vignettes,” rather than the typical retrospective talk that accompanies the meeting. Read more...

As a member of the RPI community, you’ve probably heard about President Shirley Ann Jackson’s accomplishments numerous times. As the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from Massachusettes Institute of Technology, her résumé is packed with academic accomplishments, and she’s certainly done a lot to increase the prestige of Rensselaer. In addition, The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported that she was the highest-paid private university president in the nation, something Vice President for Strategic Communication and External Relations William Walker called “a reflection of her extraordinary accomplishments, envisioning and leading a comprehensive transformation at Rensselaer, moving it to a top-tier, world-class teaching and research institution with global reach and global impact.” Read more...

If anyone had asked me a year ago if I planned to be writing for a school paper when I got to college, I would have laughed in his face, turned back to typing a paper for English, and cursed my teacher for an assignment that I left until the night before it was due. As acceptance letters rolled in, I took solace in the fact that I would be going to a tech school, and as a result, would have to do a minimal amount of writing. However, as last year passed, I learned a lot more about writing than I had in any year before that. I had my own style of writing before this, sure, but I never had the ability to articulate exactly what it was I was trying to say. Read more...

We often take our student-run Rensselaer Union for granted. We see a streamlined system with over 180 clubs and endless activities, all dynamically changing and catering to the needs of our classmates, and know that the system will work without blinking an eye. For most of us, this Union is all we know, and sometimes that leads to a lack of appreciation for what we have. This past weekend’s Association of College Unions-International Region 2 conference in Rochester was a real eye-opener for me. Read more...

There has been over a month of debating future “AfPak” strategy since General Stanley A. McChrystal has released his assessment of the war and his request for more resources, including at least 40,000 additional troops. The Obama administration is supposedly exploring every option on the table, but one option, very popular among the people, never found its way to that table. Something that really should be reassessed is just how necessary this “War of Necessity” is. Read more...

It’s been a whirlwind week; I was part of a student delegation and Rensselaer Union administrative staff to the Region 2 Conference of the Association of College Union-International in Rochester, N.Y. It was a three-day event that included tours of local college unions, discussions on present student government issues, and presentations on what makes college unions great. We visited a lot of Rochester-area schools, including Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John Fisher College, and the University of Rochester. Their college unions/campus centers were nice, but nothing compared to our Rensselaer Union. RPI made a presentation on Concerto, the student-run campus digital signage system, and, to say the least, the audience was blown away. It’s especially satisfying to see our peer institutions amazed by what we do here at Rensselaer. Read more...

When was the last time you heard a song about space exploration on the radio? Sure, we have classics like “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, and “Rocketman” by Elton John. But that was over 20 years ago. To Touch the Stars aims to be a “musical celebrations of space exploration.” It is a compilation of 16 diverse songs that are brought together under one flag: the flag of space activism. As a space enthusiast, I enjoyed all 16 tracks and I can guarantee that there are a couple of songs for you in this album, even if you are not a space fanatic. Read more...

Apple released the fifth generation of its iPod nano in September. The new nano has many additions, including a built-in video camera, the largest color screen yet, and a built-in FM radio. All of these additions make this nano more versatile than its predecessors. But, this nano still has some improvements that could make it even more user-friendly. Read more...

In 2008, Astra Taylor wandered the streets with a handful of modern philosophers, asking questions of ethics. These conversations were first shown in the documentary Examined Life, which will be playing at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center on Thursday, November 19. Transcripts of the interviews have also been published in a book of the same name. Examined Life is essentially a collection of dialogues, and though these conversations lack the cognitive conflict and clarity of the historical dialogues, the brilliance of the interviewees is a suitable substitute. Read more...

It’s that time of year—the leaves keep piling up, Jazzman’s is selling pumpkin smoothies, and you’re already avoiding work on your final project. Yep, winter is coming, which means we’re about a month away from “Oh my god, it’s cold.” We then promptly start paying a great deal more for heat during the very season we’d rather be using that money on other things. So how can we stay warm and cheap this winter? Read more...

I’m not going to lie. It was 9 pm on a Sunday and I had one of those, “Oh no! I need to have a review for this week!” moments. Thankfully, Google is a more than adequate replacement for foresight; in 0.32 seconds I was back in business. Read more...

Despite falling to Union College for the second time this season in the Liberty League Tournament semifinals, the RPI men’s soccer team still has much to look forward to after earning berth to the NCAA Division-III soccer tournament to be held this weekend. The Engineers, who finished the season 13-2-2 overall, ended their run to the Liberty League crown after two overtime sessions on Wednesday evening. The Dutchmen improved to 11-5-0, but ultimately fell to Hobart College in the tournament finals. Read more...

The women’s hockey team snapped its six-game losing streak on Friday afternoon after demolishing the Colgate University Raiders by a score of 10-4, but could not keep that momentum up in Saturday’s match, losing to the No. 10 Cornell University Big Red in a 3-1 decision. The win and loss place RPI 1-3-0 in league play and 3-6-3 overall, while Colgate falls to 0-2-1 in the ECAC and 1-7-1 overall. Cornell improves to a perfect 4-0-0 in the conference and 4-2-0 overall. Read more...

The Engineers suffered yet another divisional loss against the Hobart College Statesmen last Saturday by a score of 10-0 in Geneva, N.Y. The loss drops RPI’s overall record to 4-4 and Liberty League record to 2-4, while the Statesmen improved their Liberty League record to 4-2. The offense that turns the ball over less usually wins, and on Saturday, that was the case. Read more...

The Interfraternity Council held its weekly meeting last Wednesday. Representatives from the men’s hockey team and the Houston Field House, including Norris Pearson ’11 and John Kennedy ’11, spoke about plans for Greek Hockey Night and extended their appreciation for greek support at games. Additionally, elections continued from last week and members of the executive board gave their weekly reports. Read more...