This strange crate-box-plywood container sat on the Mudd 8 with an onerous warning affixed: DANGER ASBESTOS. Just, like, hold your breath or something while you walk by.

Isn’t asbestos bad for you? And didn’t scientists figure that out? Let’s just hope they’re talking about asbestos removal. Once this thing is out of the hallway we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Photo by DH

The long-awaited Maoz on Broadway still causes a stir, along with a mention of NOM^3. (NYMag)

People still can’t figure out how to make those pesky MetroCards work. (WSJ)

The MTA budget is still being cut. (NYT)

New Yorkers still have no compassion for people dying on the streets. (BBC)

And we still cannot get rid of the asbestos. (NYT)

Photo via Wikimedia

Photo by ESN

Bwog’s Airborne Contaminants Team has finally confirmed, after days of close analysis, that the sign posted on the Wien bulletin board earlier this week does indeed contain the word “asbestos.” We’re all gonna die!

Well, maybe only those of us who like to hang out anywhere that smells of the good ol’ John Jay garbage chute. Though the sign says that floors 3-9 will be affected, close inspection of another sign (with much smaller print) reveals that construction on floors 3-8 will be limited to trash rooms, where some asbestos-laden pipe insulation will be replaced.

On floor 9, residents might be a little freaked by the plastic covering the carpet from the staircase to the south end of the hallway. The construction crew, which is set to start work tomorrow, will be removing “350 feet of vinyl asbestos tile” from rooms 938 and 940.

You may be coming home to a freshly “inspected” room,  but just think – it could be worse. Instead of stealing your alcohol, Columbia could have stolen your dearly loved asbestos tile floor. Never leave your valuables behind, kids. 

Because a few interesting tidbits have been coming over the alias, and we’re tired of talking about grades too.

- We may have forgotten about the Minuteman dust-up, but the members of New York Immigration Control and Enforcement (a few of whom were in Roone on the fateful night) couldn’t let it go. According to CNN, “several” protested outside Lerner on Thursday, demanding that the offending students be expelled. Bwog has learned that eight students have been sent disciplinary letters and decisions are pending, but we’ll go out on a limb to say that they’ll be able to finish out their time at Columbia.

Meanwhile, protester-in-chief Karina Garcia will be back at school this semester after having taken the rest of 2006 off to go on a speaking tour of high schools, colleges, and radio stations, including a keynote address at the Socialism Conference in LA hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The College Republicans haven’t got anything on their docket–could 2007 be the year of chill at Columbia?

- Not weatherwise, anyway. It was 68 degrees today in the city, and 2006 marked the first time that New York had a snowless November and December since 1877. But really, it’s all just hype…

- Carrie Bradshaws of the world, take note! The Spectator is looking for editorial board members and columnists. Yes, including a sex columnist.

- Twenty-one blocks north, a much nicer subway story than those involving chainsaw-wielding goons.

- It seems that Macintosh is closed for asbestos removal. That explains some things.

- The Columbia crown has been turning up in some strange places recently. But considering Public Affairs still hasn’t decided whether the logo should be secular chic or trendily theist (in Bwog’s estimation, crosses and spades have aboout an equal presence on campus these days), Duke Nukem is the least of their worries.

Thanks to Julia Kite, Dan Gant, Jessica Cohen, Addison Anderson, and Miguel Lopez for the tips.

- LBD