Tilton: The Gathering

As this year at Tufts comes to a close, I realize I've learned some new things from my freshman dorm. And no, this isn't where the post gets sappy - it's where it gets nerdy. Over the past few months, I've been introduced to a sprinkling of awesomely nerdy pastimes, from card games to computer games. Here's the rundown.

Cards from "Magic: The Gathering"

Visualizing in Degrees

Students at Tufts University are happy to know that the old SIS (Student Information Systems) is being updated, scheduled to be operable by my senior year (2013-2014). It is certainly a much-needed improvement; the current system, aside from being incredibly slow during course registration and simply looking text-based and ugly, has an interesting sleep schedule. For example, the entire system goes down between 6pm-8pm every night, and "may be unavailable on Sundays from 6AM to 10AM EST/EDT for scheduled maintenance." I'm sorry, your database needs 18 hours of down-time per week? Yikes. So wonderful; SIS is getting an upgrade. It took a whole new building on campus, but it's going to happen. But what if SIS wasn't the only thing changing? I propose a makeover for our Degree Audit Reporting System, DARS. And it would look something like this:

(click image to enlarge)

Paint it Blue

During reading period, Tufts Mock Trial set out on our third attempt to paint the cannon. Our first attempt was undercut by Tufts Wilderness, which got there a few hours earlier to guard. Our second attempt was rained out. But the third time's the charm, they say! Here's a recap of our season, and some great shots from out painting expedition.