For the 90% of you undergrads that weren’t present in Sanders Theater for CS50 today: you missed quite a lecture. Well to be fair, even those in attendance probably missed most of what was going on due to a number of outbursts in the orchestra section.

A rather scruffy looking individual sitting in the lower section (pictured above), shouted intermittently at Professor David Malan over the course of the 1.5-hour lecture.

Most noteworthy among his loudly spoken outbursts were things that made us blush and giggle uncomfortably. Phrases like: “C**k!“, “WTF?“,  and “This is crap, this is total crap!“ At around the middle of the lecture about pointers and RAM, he even shouted, “ZUCKERBERG!” 

Within an hour, this man’s seating row was completely vacated of students, leaving him more or less free to lay across the bench, make unnerved faces, and make wild, rhythmic hand gestures (what was described by one individual as “a crazy swap dance”). David Malan to his credit, handled the situation rather equanimously, even entertaining the man’s inquiry as to why he kept using the phrase “sanity check.” During a break in the lecture, Malan came down from the stage  to speak to the disruptive individual. And that was pretty much that.

We won’t speculate as to who or what this man was about, but we can say this: he sure as heck wasn’t taking any notes.

If you wanna see how it all went down, listen carefully for the expletive exclamations on the Week 5, Monday video at cs50.net.

Source: Telephone Pictionary

A new website, Harvard Top 10, has gained a large amount of controversial attention from Harvard students. The site was pulled off the web however earlier today, probably due to the fact that it was pretty much ridiculous. It has not been confirmed whether or not the website was part of a CS50 final project, but judging from the timing of its launch and the nature of the website, it sure looks like one.

The website allowed users to create new lists of top 10 for whatever category they wished — including categories like “Hottest Asian Boy”, “Best Drunk” and “Top Reasons People on this Site Are Assholes”

For the benefit of those who have not had a chance to see the website while it was live, here is a screengrab of the site before it was pulled, along with some of the most recently created categories on the left.

The question remains: Are the people who created Harvard Top 10 douchetools, or are the people using it simply douchetools?

UPDATE: The site is now back up–there is just now the change that you have the ability to delete a post or e-mail the creators if you think that a list is abusive.

As it turns out, using technology to enhance the dating scene at Harvard isn’t just a phase, it’s a lifestyle. After ISawYouHarvard (which debatably creeps your prospective dates out more than encourages them), Harvard Lunch, and various matchmaking efforts by HoCo and yours truly - The Voice, CS50 just rolled out CrimsonSpark, a quasi-”dating” website, as its latest creation.

Noice would like to think of CrimsonSpark as a hybrid of its precedents: less public than ISawYouHarvard, less creepy than normal online dating sites, and less random and seasonal than online matchmaking services. Read the amusing email below, which was sent out tonight over the Eliot House’s list from its creator, for more details.

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Dear Eliot,

Time to breathe new life into the Harvard dating scene. Not that we don’t find the dance-floor-makeout culture on campus to be charming, but maybe a change is in order. CrimsonSpark is a dating website, but not a “dating” website. That is, we aren’t matching you with a stranger based on some compatibility test or extensive profile. Because let’s face it- that’s a little creepy.

CrimsonSpark works on the basis that there is some one you know at Harvard and would like to know better. Maybe it’s a guy in section, a girl you eat lunch with or just some cute sophomore who you always say hi to. That’s where CrimsonSpark comes in.

How it works:

1. Register.

2. Start “sparking.”

“Sparking” entails searching for your prospective date, filling out a short checklist of date options you’d be willing to go on with this person, and then clicking submit. It’s that easy.

If there is a match (both parties spark each other), one or both of you will receive an email with the other one’s checklist, so you can get a sense of what that person is game for. All that’s left from here is the date itself. Of course, we don’t ask the other person out for you–the ball’s in your court.

We would love it if you could sign up and check out the beta version of the site that is up now at www.crimsonspark.com. Have fun with it, and get your spark on.

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Sounds worth a try? Spark away!

Is IvyGate/Yale/Gawker/etc. going to make fun of us for yet another online attempt to savage our non-existent dating scene? Probably. But would you rather go through unorthodox ways to have dates or stay sexually frustrated? Exactly our point.

At Harvard, that is.

Half of the campus might be harboring a crush on David J. Malan ’99, but the course that he lectures, CS50, is actually churning out awesome applications that might make your life at Harvard that much easier. Check them out!

Shuttleboy: Never miss that shuttle again! Arguably one of the most famous and loved “boys” on campus, the web-based application that tracks the time and duration of trips for all of Harvard’s shuttles also features text-messaging and voice-calling options. Text: Sboy [first 3 letters of origin] [first 3 letters of destination] to 41411 for a list of departure times. For instance, if you want to go from Boylston gate to the Quad, text: Sboy boy qua to 41411. Or call 617-BUG-CS50 (617-284-2750), and select option 1 to talk to an automated machine. Or just access the URL. My friend prefers calling shuttleboy than the actual Harvard shuttle operator because “i don’t have to talk to a real person!”

HarvardEnergy: A detailed ranking of how “green” Harvard residential houses and dorms are, according to a multitude of categories like Carbon Dioxide emission, usage of electricity, etc. By measurement of CO2, Currier is the greenest house (how appropriate! It is called the Tree House for a reason), while Leverett is the least environmentally friendly. Clearly, Harvard’s largest house is only about quantity. Among the freshman dormitories, Matthews is the greenest and Canaday is the least green.

HarvardEvents: A comprehensive list of the gazillion (literally) events that are happening on all of Harvard’s 12 campuses, including everything from cultural nights, to parties, to the most random shindig like the Harvard Breakers’ Initiation. It also has a function that allows you to add all the events directly to your iCal, GCal or whatever else people use these days to schedule classes, functions and bedtimes into their lives. You’ll never miss a mixer with hot law school students again!

HarvardMaps: Like Google Maps, but specifically for Harvard.

HarvardNews: A comprehensive list of all news articles and blog entries that are written across the University campus. All Harvard publications and blogs, including the Voice, the Crimson, Harvard Gazette, and graduate school publications, are included. It is updated simultaneously as the article gets published!

HarvardTweets: Twitter updates from every Harvard-related person who is on Twitter, from Niall Ferguson to the IOP JFK Jr. Forum (Secretary of Homeland Security was at the IOP today!). Contact CS50 to get your name on the list!

HarvardIdeas: Clearly, CS50 has a solution for virtually any issue on campus. If you have any suggestion (like a Harvard Sports website perhaps?), use the link and drop them a line! An anonymous idea reads: “Add an option on harvard college facebook to allow us to search by room #.” I have no words.

Also worth checking out are some of its students’ projects: CrimsonList , CrimsonDining, Rover, and of course I Saw You Harvard (i’m curious how the Senior Bar episode goes!)

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

Here at the Voice, it’s pretty obvious that we have a special place in our heart for internet memes, particularly those that take advantage of online anonymity. That’s why we fell in love with I Saw You (at Harvard), a CS50 project serving as the “source for posting and browsing missed connections,” according to its founder Tej Toor ’10.

Browse through the first page to see if anyone is professing his/her love to your oblivious “Hunky Australian philosopher” blockmate. A more interesting aspect of the site is the posted stats, collected from the submission demographics. Of all four classes, seniors are submitting the most sightings, perhaps in attempts to take advantage of the last opportunities to get to know the Serena van der Woodsen lookalike or the guy stuffing his face with pita chips at brain break. But most surprisingly, sightings occur more frequently at the 12 Houses than anywhere else on campus. Looks like more than a few people are too shy to chat even in the dining hall.

Read Noice’s favorite declarations of unrequited love after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

CS50 professor David Malan has introduced a specialized feed for CS50-related Harvard FML posts on CS50′s main website. Is this cool? Totally. Is this also sad? Totally. While CS50 is one of the most popular and most talked about classes at Harvard, it seems like its latest p-set has caused students more grief than is desirable. Oh well. Keep submitting those coding frustrations to Harvard FML!

Side note: Check out the pretty sweet CS50 logo customized just in time for Halloween. Noice thinks Malan is a pretty cool guy.