Well, first the 1 wasn’t running. From an overcrowded replacement shuttle bus:

PA system: Thank you for using the MTA.

Old woman: Oh, shut up!

(Everyone cheers)

And then we had to come to terms with ill-advised decisions. At John Jay Sunday brunch:

Distinctly Continental chap, to a lady-friend: “I have been reminded of what I did last night, and I apologize.”

It happens to the best of us, pal. Blame it on MTA-induced stress. Or the booze.

David Petraeus may or may not referee your coin toss; photo via Wikimedia Commons.

What, you ask, could be more fun, more festive, more downright Mediterranean than a casual business lunch at Fancy Campo Fancy Westside Vareli? Well, how about the possibility of a free casual business lunch at Fancy Campo Fancy Westside Vareli?, along with the added adrenal thrill of a game of chance?

That’s what you’re getting with Vareli’s new coin flip lunch: when it comes time to pay, you flip a coin and call it in the air. If you’re right, lunch is on the house; if you’re wrong, you’re paying. The promotion (which, sadly, doesn’t include alcohol; we’re sure there’s a drinking game in there somewhere) starts today and runs through October 8th.

• Our own econ professor, Jagdish Bhagwati, won the Nobel Prize for Economics–on the season premiere of The Simpsons, that is. It’s in the first minute. (Fancast)
• Because we still care a tiny bit (even if we don’t want to admit it), James Franco says he wasn’t sleeping through class that one time he was sleeping through class. (Gawker)
• The MacArthur Foundation announced the 23 recipients of their “Genius” grants–among ‘em: a beekeeper, a high school science teacher, and David Simon, creator of “The Wire.” (Reuters)
• Mayor Mike: “TENURE BAD. MAYOR MIKE NO LIKE TENURE.” (New York Post)
• We seem to be getting along just fine without LeBron. Cavs fans, not so much. (New York; New York Times)

I lost a nikon d60 camera in Ferris Booth. It has priceless vacation photos on it and was last seen in its black carrying case. Offering reward with no questions asked.

Dear Friends,

Please join the staff of The Blue & White (pictured at right) for our meeting tonight, Monday night, at 9:00 p. m. in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel.

We ‘ll continue planning our next issue and getting updates from writers, for October layout is fast approaching. If you’re interested in working with the magazine and/or the Bwog, please stop by—it’s never too late to get involved!

The Editors.

Bwog, with all its Jewish grandmotherly wisdom, guided you through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Now grab your etrogs, kids: it’s Sukkot!

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is kind of like the Jewish version of Thanksgiving, but longer… and in huts. An eight-day-long harvest festival, this holiday recalls the 40 years when Moses and the ancient Israelites wandered through the desert before reaching the Promised Land. Jews eat in the sukkah (“booth”) to commemorate the Israelites’ make-shift shelters. Check out these avant-garde holiday huts from New York’s annual Sukkah City design competition in Union Square.

Yesterday, a Chabadnik (from our very own Columbia Chabad House on 625 W
113th St!) was chilling outside the bookstore. These members of the Hasidic movement, Chabad-Lubavitch, aren’t out to convert you—just to tell you about fun Jew things. Anywho, he was holding a lulav, a long palm branch, and an etrog, a lemon-like fruit. Waving the lulav and etrog—the Four Species—is a mitzvah specified by the Torah. Plus, etrogs smell nice.

On Yom Kippur, Bwog challenged you to get invited to a break fast dinner. Before Sukkot ends, eat dinner in a sukkah. Bwog’s friend counted eleven of them throughout Columbia University.

Our friends at Chabad encourage you to join them for Simchat Torah, the end of the festival, on Thursday night. This will involve dancing all night long with ancient Torah scrolls in hand!

Update, 6:15 p.m.: Cart chaser Conor Skelding spotted this Sukkot Cart trundling about campus this evening.

Photo by Conor Skelding

Last year, Bwog jammed with the JJ’s Place guys, shaked to Shakira with Dean Peña-Mora, and sang a Sesame song with Dean Denburg. We know how those crazy cats in Dodge Hall like to party, so we asked Music Department Chair and Ethnomusicology Professor, Aaron Fox, what’s in heavy rotation on his Ipod. Below are the musical selections he kindly shared with us.

• Mark Chesnutt, “A Better Class of Losers (Misery’s All the Same)”
• Justin Treviño and Wanda Jackson, “What Have We Done?”
• Lucinda Williams, “Sylvia” (“She Loves the Night”)
• Willie Nelson, “Darkness on the Face of the Earth”
• Marvin Gaye, “Mercy, Mercy, Me”
• Lyle Lovett, “LA County”
• Al Green, “Funny How Time Slips Away” (a Willie Nelson song, btw)
• Marty Stuart, “Badlands”
• Hal Ketchum, “Mama Knows the Highway”
• Stoney Edwards, “Blackbird” (the Chip Taylor song, not the Beatles’ one)

Professor Fox added the following in his email:

That’s my actual top 10 right now. The artists stay the same even if the songs change (plus throw in Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Chrissie Hynde, a few others). Pretty boring for an ethnomusicologist, huh? I mean, I spend more time perhaps listening to recordings of Native American music made in the 1930s and 40s, but that’s my work. This is what gets me to and from work. I have worn the exact same brand of boots and jeans for 20 years, and my personal musical tastes firmed up right around the same time.

Who knew the Chair of Columbia’s Music Department was a country fan? A little bird named Google informed us that Fox is actually a professional country guitarist. Way cool. Looks like Columbia has its very own Mr. Hyunh. (Bwog basically learned about country music from that excellent episode of Hey Arnold).

Head over to the 2nd floor of the Diana at 5:00 PM for a Potluck dinner, courtesy of Barnard Ecoreps.

spork

And this isn’t just a grab and go. The EcoReps will discuss “how we got into such an oily mess in the Gulf, what the ecological impacts really are, and what the spill and clean-up process do to the economy.”

The Ecoreps write, “Bring a plate and spork. We’ll do the heavy lifting.”

Sounds lovely!

UPDATE: In addition Columbia Model United Nations Conference and Exposition (CMUNCE) will be giving out free pizza at 8pm in Hamilton 702. They are looking for students who want to take part in planning a high school MUN conference.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

At 1:33 AM yesterday morning, a tipster sent Bwog an urgent message: “THIS WILL NOT STBAD.”

Koronet’s super-sized pizza, in all its greasy goodness, now costs $3.75. This 25 cent price hike follows a steady quarter-a-year trend.

It’s unnerving, because when you’re schwasted, you’ll throw down anything just for chow. Only the next morning will you realize you’ve lost that prized Hawaii state quarter— the one that finally completed your collection! By the way, anyone notice there’s a Guam state quarter now? Shenanigans.

Bwog’s very own Hannah Goldstein offered us her personal New York theory: pizza price increases foreshadow fare hikes. No, say it isn’t so! But still, intriguing.

Let it be decreed, our friendly Morningside Heights bat is named Batenawi, after Columbia’s latest controversial WLF guest, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

In the past year, we’ve had sightings of raccoons, coyotes, squirrels and one very special hawk.

Columbia is a jungle. Grab your safari hats, kids.

Adam Kuerbitz was there!

Last night’s CCSC meeting was a whopper, clocking in at just over an hour and a half. President Learned Foote opened the meeting with a discussion of the recent drama surrounding the council elections, particularly among first-year students. He specifically mentioned Grace Bickers’ recent op-ed piece in Spec about the need for a freshmen orientation to CCSC before elections. Council members discussed the possibility of reinstituting an orientation begun by former CCSC President Sue Yang CC’10, but there was also a consensus that confusion over the political process at Columbia is inevitable among first-year students. The council plans to continue the discussion next week.

Monique Rinere, Dean of Advising and Associate Dean of Student Affairs, then spoke about reform in the Center for Student Advising. While an informal poll of people at the meeting revealed that most students know their adviser’s name and have visited the new advising center, few report having a positive advising experience in college. Dean Rinere, who came to Columbia last year from Harvard where she began the undergraduate advising program and served as advising dean, seemed genuinely concerned about students’ lackluster experience and listened to suggestions including follow-up emails and more assessment of advisers. Following up on the Advising Partnership, a set of expectations of students and advisers released this year, Dean Rinere emphasized the need for greater collaboration between Directors of Undergraduate
Studies and CSA advisers. She welcomes further student suggestions.

Next came the weekly rigmarole about meal plans, but this time with good news. The most recent CCSC meal plan poll, sent out this week, reveals that more students approve of the current options and fewer disapprove, a new trend in the polling data. The poll also showed that many students want another dining hall open on weekends to relieve congestion around Ferris Booth. The council is waiting to collect more information before making an official recommendation.

The meeting closed with the council voting by an overwhelming majority to support the new Eco-Takeout container system in John Jay Dining Hall. Under the new system students can purchase a reusable takeout receptacle for $5 (students with meal plans receive them free of charge) or pay a small fee to use the disposable, clunky plastic boxes. Despite concerns that more students eating at Ferris Booth, which uses disposable dishes and silverware, mitigates the benefits of the program, the entire council voted to pass the measure with one member abstaining and one voting nay. The new plan is part of the PlaNYC carbon reduction goal, Mayor Bloomberg’s program to reduce carbon emissions 30% by 2030.

Bloomberg and Prezbo: the newest Planeteers.

Wikimedia Commons“>

Quarters!

Something terrible happened yesterday. On the way to do laundry, Bwog stopped at a vending machine, and put in a dollar bill, then pressed the change button.

We waited for the clang of our four quarters, but it never came. The machine had eaten Bwog’s (parents’) hard-earned money! After an angry march to Hartley, Bwog went to the Hospitality Desk, and upon inqury received the Canteen Vending Services Refund Form. Columbia bureaucracy, you are relentless!

Without any verification whatsoever, Bwog wrote down name, date and location of said financial arrears. Voila, four quarters. The same form works if a vending machine fails to vend, something we’d wish we knew last week when we were late for class trying to kick our peanut M&Ms out of the Schapiro vending machine.

Bwog got something else for free, too: a stern lesson. Vending machines are not made to give change, so get your quarters at Hartley. Or if you’re a freshperson, use free money (Flex).

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

One of the greatest perks of an Ivy League education is having all sorts of guest lecturers and talks hosted right on campus. Yet many of these great talks are not publicized enough. Enter Bucket List, a weekly feature that aggregates these events in a single location that will hopefully make you realize, like Bwog has, how special our campus is. Our recommendations for this week are below; the full list is after the jump. Have a gander, who knows what you’ll find!

Recommended:

Mon, Sept 27

• “The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma” 208 Knox Hall, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm, Gucharan Das and Sheldon Pollock
• “Screening of Slingshot Hip Hop” 603 Hamilton, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Students

Tues, Sept 28

• “Barnard Career Development’s Kick Off Event: Jammin’ Java” Lehman Lawn, 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Rozatones, Finotee, Various Other Artists
• “Inter-Faith Vigil for Pakistan” Sundial, Low Plaza, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Students

Wed, Sept 29

• “Ethnic Cleansing in the Partition of India” 707 IAB, 12:15 pm – 2:00 pm, Steven Wilkinson and Pavithra Suryanarayan
• “Global Aid in Africa” Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, Joseph Stiglitz and Louis Kasekende

Thurs, Sept 30

• “The Impact of Immigration on the Distribution of American Well-Being” 801 IAB, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Gary Burtless
• “The Weather of the Future” President’s Room, Faculty House, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Heidi Cullen

Fri, Oct 1

• “The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons: New START and Nuclear Posture Review” 1501 IAB, 12:15 pm – 2:00 pm, Elbridge Colby and Austin Long
• “Martian Invasion: NASA’s Army of Exploratory Robots – And Free Stargazing” Pupin Hall (Follow Signs in Lobby), 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Jeff Andrews

Read more…

Something else that's sticky

Federal Officials want to wiretap teh interntz. Columbia computer science prof, Steven Bellovin calls this “a disaster waiting to happen.” As if Google isn’t invading our privacy enough already…. (NYtimes).

Business Week (yep, Business Week is on Bwog) addressed the plight of the Hellevator with cartoons (Business Week).

According to New York Magazine’s Gangs of New York Map, Morningside Heights is home to the Bloods and the Trinitadios. No worries, though, members are “less likely to be battle-hardened parolees than ‘puppies’” (NYMag).

Prezbo talks to the USenate about the Manhattanville campus. Sounds like he’s ready to get going. Back during NSOP, we told you what you need to know (Spec).

NY Times Book Review doesn’t have the best things to say about The Last Utopia, a new book on human rights by History professor Samuel Moyn (NYtimes)

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

If you need to print out that half-assed response paper, go to Butler or Kent.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons