Pluto replies by Laura N. '09

So I was wandering around facebook today and I discovered this new group called “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet,” which I found excessively amusing. The creator of the group asked the group members to post better photos of Pluto, and I started to look through them.

One of the images was captioned “ThinkGeek to the rescue:”

ThinkGeek provides Pluto’s response.

I WANT IT.

(My birthday is January 10^th.)

Right now I’m supposed to be doing a 2.003 pset, and it really isn’t a lot of fun. Adelaide and I have been working on it for hours upon hours. Basically that means we worked hard on problem one for 15 minutes, and then spent hours and hours gossiping, telling funny and awkward stories, and trying to solve physics trick questions with the various people who have come by the suite.

2.003 is basically just advanced physics, you study things that move. Right now we’re working on reference frames, which are annoying. As far as I can tell, they only make the problem more complicated than it ever needs to be. For example, one problem describes the motion of a curveball towards home plate and asks you to describe the acceleration of one point on the ball at a certain point in its trajectory. This really isn’t hard, at all. But then the question goes on to describe three different frames of reference for the ball, without telling you…what the point of that is. Sigh. It’s one of the obnoxiously less satisfying questions you get on psets.

Don’t think I’m crazy, I mean the first problem we solved was a little tricky, but we got that awesome “aha!” moment when we figured it out. This one is just gross. I am looking forward to problem 4, because aside from being the end of the pset, it involves Captain Jack Sparrow falling off a cliff and seeing the trajectory of a spear being thrown at him by an island native. Hee. =)

Responses to Questions:
Shannon asked: How much time does a sport at MIT really take up? I’m sure you’ve talked about this before, but did you talk to the coach first before applying to MIT or what? Just curious.
The hours between 5 and 7 are reserved for athletics- so no classes/office hours/whatever can be scheduled during that time. So that means two hours of practice time each day (except for crew, which I believe may have extra practices since it’s a Division I sport, but I don’t really know). Of course, games involve a lot more time, especially when they’re away games and involve travel. I’d say I probably spend maybe 15-20 hours per week on field hockey (including travel and such). And I don’t think I talked to the coach before applying. I may have sent in one of those little response cards asking if I was interested in a varsity sport, but I definitely didn’t speak to the coach until CPW. Trust me, athletics won’t make or break your acceptance to MIT.

Karne asked: Oh! Here’s a really stupid question…but I want to know the answer. Does MIT have official colors? I can’t tell, because the My MIT page is all multicolored. Sorry this is so lame.

Fermion helped me out: To answer your question, Karen, their colors are red and grey. I’ve linked my name below to an image of the MIT logo which uses the exact shades of red and grey. :)

Thanks Fermion!

If your question hasn’t been answered here, it was probably lost in the transfer to the new site. Apologies! Just post again and I’ll get right on it.