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MIT student blogger Chris S. '11

40 Hours Left! by Chris S. '11

The time is 0500 EST, 12/15. I am studying for finals. You are waiting for decisions. Let's procrastinate!

Following the old tradition

Go and change the world! Buena suerte! :)

—-

Some things I learned this semester:

Dilbert.com

Here’s a fun experiment. How do we perceive emotion? The faces pictured below are either Angry, Fearful, Disgusted, Happy, Neutral, Sad, or Surprised. Two are used more than once.

Taken From: “Coding Facial Expressions with Gabor Wavelets.” Michael J. Lyons, Shigeru Akamatsu, Miyuki Kamachi, Jiro Gyoba. Proceedings, Third IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, April 14-16 1998, Nara Japan, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 200-205.

Taken from Hood, Clifton. 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York. John Hopkins University Press, 1995.

A 1907 ballad, “The Subway Express” depicted the Interborough as an arena for sexual flirtation where the motion of a crowded rush hour express threw two strangers, a young man and a young woman, into each other’s arms. As the train sped from lower Manhattan to the Bronx, they fell in love:

(Boy)
It was in no sheltered nook
It was by no babbling brook
When romantic’lly we met.
(Girl)
Ah, the scene I can’t forget
We were thrown together in the Subway Express.
(Boy)
You were clearly all at sea
As you wildly clutched at me
When around that curve we swung.
(Girl)
Yes, and though I’d lost my tongue
I made a hit with you, you must confess.
(Boy)
Yes, you hit me in the back
And as around and round you flew
I inquired if I could tender a supporting arm to you.
(Girl)
To which I answered, “No sir!”
When the guard yelled “Move up closer”
And clearly there was nothing else to do.

(Boy)
We first met down at Spring Street
And then upon my word.
(Girl)
I felt I’d known you all my life
When we reached Twenty Third.
(Boy)
You won my heart at Harlem
(Girl)
At the Bronx I murmured yes,
(Boy)
We lost no time in that hour sublime
On the Subway Express.

Now isn’t that an amazing way to fall in love?! :P

ps. Just in case you were confused, some of the classes I took this term were Ecology (1.018/7.30), Neuroscience (9.01), and History of New York City (21H.235). That’s where all the things are coming from. :)

Back to studying!

30 responses to “40 Hours Left!”

  1. VAL ('14?) says:

    LOL. “I’m afraid you have humans.”

  2. nate ('14?) says:

    yeah i pretty much cracked up at the “I’m afraid you have humans” joke too smile

  3. Baransel'14? says:

    pavlov’s dog was the best!

  4. Lydia AK says:

    That was such an uplifting song…and hilarious (and cute) comics and stories. smile

    I’m curious about 1:45 (in the video) though. I doubt they were brave enough to bring a camera that close to a moving bowling ball (unless they were….). So what then–zoom? lighter/fake bowling ball? treadmill? I’ll never know, but it’s killing me….

  5. D says:

    Hey Chris. Thanx for a new blog….and a funny one too.

  6. Su ('14?) says:

    Pavlov’s dog LOL I have my psych final on Thursday and I’ve finished one of my math finals, my neuro final and eng final. Ahh! Only 3 more to go smilesmile

  7. tree says:

    “I’m afraid you have humans.”

    LOL the third

    ————
    Seriously, who’s behind the selection of reCAPRCHA words? They’re so ingenious.

  8. T says:

    Thanks, uh, Chris. You should keep this here as the latest entry on end. It’s all we really need to know.

  9. Hahaha, thank youu!! Awesome post. I was starting to wonder where the bloggers had gone. raspberry

    (The lyrics to “The Subway Express” remind me of Edith Piaf’s “La Foule,” though her song has a sad ending…)

  10. Anonymous says:

    Here in Mauritius, it will be the 16th of December in exactly 6 minutes.

    Good luck to all early applicants!

  11. Natalia says:

    Wow, the encouragement is definitely appreciated…the wait is agonizing!!! Good luck on your finals 8D

  12. Valerie says:

    That just made me feel oodles better.
    Teehee, oodles. I should have slept.

  13. Valerie says:

    Also that song was definitely in the credits to Inuyasha, which I haven’t seen in years so maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m crazy, I’m going to stop babbling now.

  14. Oasis '11 says:

    ^ It is! Good job smile +100 points

  15. Val'14? says:

    Thanks for the good laugh. =)

  16. makesense says:

    Hahaha awesome song!! I am now pumped for all my finals haha

  17. Zeki '14? says:

    It is like a typical Eurovision song.Maybe Taiwan should join it next year.raspberry

  18. Tim says:

    Starting from top left and going as if reading a book: Surprised, sad, disgusted, happy, fearful, neutral, neutral, angry, surprised.

    Pavlov’s dogs was brilliant! Good luck on your finals.

  19. Oasis '11 says:

    ^ 6/9, not bad!

    Think more about top center, top right, middle right.

    (one can argue that there are no “correct answers,” but I guess it’s still interesting to see whether your perception of emotion is the same as what most people think raspberry)

  20. Anonymous says:

    These are really cute! But I’m still dying… I need to know!!!!

  21. Buena suerte en tus finales!!! (Hablas español?)

  22. tree says:

    I came from the future and knew, just knew, that I am rejected. OMG, such crappy days rain like cows of the Beloved.Just crappy days.

  23. tree says:

    thanks for the video! Revived me. I guess even if MIT rejects me, it isn’t the end of the world.
    An education is how much one puts into it, not where or what the name of the education is.
    Gotta remember the self-taughts and the misfits of society. My comrades, despair not!

  24. I’m so excited! This will literally be the happiest day in my life. I want to study economics and become the next major theorist in history.

  25. Hamsika says:

    Good luck everyone!!!!!!!

  26. anon says:

    哇~帅哥~~
    Êôï~

    surprised
    sad
    angry
    happy
    disgusted
    sad
    neutral
    disgusted
    fearful

    so many negative feelings -.-

  27. shell says:

    left to right: surprised, disgusted, angry, happy, fearful, sad, neutral, angry, fearful

  28. Luiz ('14?) says:

    Thanks for the post! It definitely pumped me up for what’s going to be an intense two days:

    Wednesday:
    -Diff Eq final
    -MIT decisions

    Thursday:
    -Flight to Brazil

  29. noob says:

    Yeah that was definitely the first OP to Inuyasha.

    …What?

  30. Vivian '12 says:

    Oh god, Change the World was one of my favourite songs back in 7th grade (just shows how old I feel, eep!) I listened to it while I did homework, before I slept, before tests, everywhere. Glad to see some good old-school J-pop boybands are still being appreciated =)