Released in June of this year, Within the Wires stands as the third podcast released in the Welcome to Night Vale lineup. Welcome to Night Vale is a cult hit podcast known primarily for its surrealist take on everyday events, and its sister podcasts have a similar take on fictional story-based broadcasting. Within the Wires is the brainchild of writer Jeffrey Cranor, featuring narration from Janina Matthewson and original music by Mary Epworth. Despite having just finished its first season, the podcast has already been renewed for a second; currently, Cranor is running a fundraising campaign to cover the production costs of ten additional episodes. Read more...

Coming off a midweek 0-2 loss against the Panthers of Middlebury College, the Engineers rebounded on Saturday in their Family Weekend home game against the Vassar College Brewers, taking the game 1-0. A goal made by junior Nicole Clancy’s with nine minutes left of play went uncontested, propelling Rensselaer to 8-7 overall and 2-4 in league games for the 2016 season, of which three days remain. Read more...

From October 19 to October 21, the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas hosted the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Hosted by the Anita Borg Institute, the Grace Hopper Celebration is named after renowned Navy Rear Admiral and computer scientist, Grace Hopper. This is the largest event for women in computing worldwide, with 15,000 attendees from all over the world. The event includes an expo, a multitude of talks relating to different topics within the field of computer science, and two keynote presentations. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute provided full scholarships for twelve students majoring in computer science to attend. The scholarship included travel arrangements, registration for the conference, and hotel cost. Read more...

The Poly wants to take this staff editorial in order to give a shout out to the Pep Band. Every weekend during hockey season, the band rouses up school spirit and gets the crowd excited. They perform at all men’s and women’s home hockey games throughout the season. A classic saying is that even if the team loses, the band always wins the game; they continue to try to keep everyone amped and full of spirit. A lot of the band’s antics seem like they are designed to try to throw off the opposing team, such as playing during their time out and also taunting players every time a penalty is on them. Read more...

I’m a pretty lucky guy—my sister came over for Family Weekend, and my parents forced her to take me shopping (viva la Target!) and treat me to lunch. I’d been craving genuine Asian food lately, so on Sunday afternoon, we chatted with my big and his mother over some ramen. The drive to Albany was only 15 minutes, so we quickly arrived at the restaurant. Tanpopo Ramen and Sake Cafe is located in a slightly renovated old-fashioned diner, which gives it its own distinct feel. Somewhere between quaint and desolate, the diner had its charm, but the location was remote enough to make it feel slightly strange. Upon entering, we were quickly seated at a booth, which felt small but cozy. After a while, any feeling of being removed from civilization was washed away, and it felt like there were just the four of us. Read more...

Both men’s and women’s soccer teams saw success this week. The women’s team defeated the Bard College Raptors on their own turf 2-1 last Saturday. The men’s team took on Skidmore College at home last Wednesday with a 1-0 victory, then crushed Bard 3-0 on a rain-soaked field Saturday afternoon. Read more...

First on the Executive Board’s agenda last Thursday was discussion of Design for America’s budget. Over the summer, officers from DFA traveled to DFA Nationals, a conference for which DFA-affiliated clubs are required to have a minimum of two members in attendance to keep their affiliated status. Read more...

Hello RPI! I hope everyone had the chance to enjoy Family Weekend, regardless of the weather on Friday and Saturday. Luckily, it turned around just in time for the annual Grand Marshal/President of the Union Breakfast (renamed from the GM/PU Brunch recently). The Executive Board and Student Senate had a great morning and afternoon hosting the families here to visit, and we would like to thank everyone who participated in the event, especially our President, Dr. Jackson, and Vice President for Student Life, Dr. Ross. We would also like to congratulate Nickolas Ziter ’17, who was presented with the Frederick M. Nussbaum ’30 Memorial Award for volunteerism and community engagement during the event. Read more...

Rensselaer’s fifth annual National Manufacturing Day program, hosted by the School of Engineering, took place last Friday in tandem with many manufacturing organizations. Companies from across the country traveled to Rensselaer to inform the students, faculty, and staff on what manufacturing actually is, and to take charge of the public perception of it. Events included programs and keynote speakers, exhibits from student organizations, and undergraduate-led lab tours of several Rensselaer facilities. However, the most visible event was the landing of a Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk on Rensselaer’s ’86 field. Read more...

In the coming weeks, The Polytechnic will be testing a new way of publishing. Instead of waiting for Wednesday to roll around, we will aim to publish content to our website as it comes in. We live in a world where social media is a dominant news source—everything happens faster today than it did 10 years ago. Waiting until Wednesdays for coverage of events happening today simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Read more...

The past week saw the music world shaken, records rewritten, and a new bar set for the industry. The group in question is an international sensation, boasting YouTube fame and topping iTunes album charts in 27 countries, ranging from Russia to Sweden. Yet, despite these artists dominating the news, odds are that this is the first time you’re ever hearing about them! Read more...

Women’s Soccer had two away games this past weekend as they traveled to face Clarkson University on Friday and St. Lawrence University on Saturday. The Engineers, who had just come off a 1-2 loss to Vassar College in overtime last weekend, were out for redemption this time around. Read more...

This past Wednesday marked the retirement reception for Linda Teitelman McCloskey, founding director of the Archer Center for Student Leadership Development and 30 year veteran at Rensselaer. Prior to her role in the Archer Center, she served as Associate Director of Student Activities. Read more...

Food is an interest of mine. Big surprise for a college age male, right? But it’s not just the consumption of food that I’m interested in, it’s the production: how it’s grown, harvested, and shipped. In high school I discovered a passion for hydroponics—the growth of plants without the use of soil. The roots often are left to dangle in reservoirs of nutrient-rich water, with inflated clay pellets used to support some of the roots and hold in moisture. I was fascinated by the ability to grow plants in such a controlled environment; in that, I saw a future. Read more...

Released in 1942, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters serves as the author’s second standalone novel, and is widely respected for its original concept and smart reimagining of Christian themes. Lewis is primarily known for his children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia, wherein he adapts biblical stories into an easily digestible fantasy world for young readers. In The Screwtape Letters, however, Lewis abandons his goal of making Christianity an easy concept for the reader; the novel takes an infinitely more grim approach to the idea of sinning and salvation. In an interview with Dr. Shirwood Wirt of Decision magazine, Lewis stated that of all his books, The Screwtape Letters was “was only one [he] did not take pleasure in writing.” Read more...

Senior Ben Fazio finished the men’s 8000 meter championship race ahead of 371 runnings with his fourth-place time of 23:35.1 on Saturday in Glassboro, New Jersey, at the 45-school Inter-Regional Border Battle hosted by Rowan University. The men’s and women’s teams, both ranked No. 11 in Division III heading into the meet, represented one of ten nationally-ranked schools at the meet. Colleges from as far away as Georgia attended. Read more...

The Senate meeting opened with a presentation of proposed changes to the Institute core curriculum by Associate Professor of Biology and Faculty Senate Core Curriculum Implementation Committee Chairperson Lee Lignon and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Linda Schadler. The committee has been working on a proposal to make changes since “no one can remember the last time core curriculum was updated,” according to Ligon. Ligon said that the proposals are guided by the intersection of three main areas: the Science and the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences core, major requirements, and co and extracurricular activities. In fact, one of the guiding principles behind these changes would be to more deliberately intersect the varying segments of the student experience here at Rensselaer. Any changes would not be implemented until the fall of 2018 at the earliest (and then only for incoming students), so the Senate was asked to provide feedback on behalf of future students. Read more...

I’ll be honest that I was one of those freshman nearly three months ago who came to RPI and was instantly overwhelmed by opportunities, whether they were academics, meeting new people, or that endless stream of emails once you sign up for RPI Jinder (JobLink) alerting you that companies are interviewing in your area. Read more...

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know I’m a fan of Netflix’s original programming. In general, I think it’s one of the most consistently entertaining and high value programming of any service, from TV channels, HBO, to other platforms like Hulu. However, I have seen Netflix stumble. Jessica Jones wasn’t to my liking, and I was mixed on Daredevil Season 2. So, what do I think of Luke Cage? To be honest, I am a bit conflicted. Read more...