On Friday
night, I went to Chinatown with a few friends. We ate dinner at Gourmet
Dumpling House. There was only a short wait, and the food was delicious. While
we were walking back to the T, it started pouring rain. We took refuge in a
shop called Beard Papa’s, which is a cream puff place. On Saturday, I went to
the MIT museum with a friend. The museum has a few exhibits including one on
early robotics, one on sailboats and steamboats, one on holograms, one on small
machines, and one on architecture. The one on small machines was extremely
cool. It was a collection of machines that were made from wire and other
materials. Instead of using chains or belts in some places, the creators used
knotted string or thin rubber tubes, since they were more effective in terms of
size and the odd orientation that was needed for the machines. We didn’t know
what to do afterwards, so we just walked around Boston for a while. It was
extremely windy by the Charles River. We got dinner at a place called Uno, and then
we walked back to campus.
When we got
back, we watched Gattaca, which is about a future where the genetic makeup of a
baby is almost always decided upon before conception. The main character was
conceived naturally, but because of genetic discrimination, he was not able to
pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut. He found a way to impersonate
someone who had great genes. The person had broken his back, and the story of
how he broke his back involved him being drunk and “stumbling” in front of a
car. He explains in the movie that he was completely sober when he walked in
front of the car. Earlier, he had gotten second place in swimming. With his
specially selected genes, he felt that he should have won. He tried to end his
life by walking in front of the car, but he only broke his back. Since he
couldn’t work a normal job, he was willing to let someone else “be him.” It was
a creative and entertaining movie.
On Sunday, I
woke up and learned about covectors. I then worked on a project for Cornerstone
of Engineering. We had to use wood glue to glue many little pieces of a frame
onto a base. After my morning classes on Monday, I went to the First Year
Engineering Learning and Innovation Center to glue the rim onto our project. I
had made a small paintbrush for more precise placement of glue, but since the
glue dried rather quickly, we needed another brush so that we could have two
people covering the many crevices where we needed to place glue. One of my
group members offered some of her hair to make another brush. She used scissors
to cut it off, and I saw one of the most confused expressions that I’ve ever
seen on the face of one of the TA’s who happened to be watching.
Cheers,
Adrian
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