Kids these days

Not sure you’re at the right place quite yet? Here are some potentially better fits….or you could go to Brown and be the next guy to uncover a lost Malcolm X speech. (Huffington Post)

In a bold and brave acceptance of the future, students at UC Riverside are pushing to make looming post-graduation debt a certainty, saving your parents some cash. We guess the question is: would you rather live on peanut butter now or in four years? (USA Today)

M.I.A flipped us the bird on Sunday. We thought it was sassy. The parents of young and innocent America are, unsurprisingly, still flipping out. (Gothamist)

What’s making us flip out instead: Columbia professors having a love life. (IvyGate)

Fresh-faced antics via Wikimedia Commons

Is it Monday already?

As the GOP primaries come to a close, one thing’s for certain: the Tea Party is dead. (Daily Beast)

The Giants won the Superbowl! But it, ain’t over till we say it’s over. It’s time to judge the best and worst TV ads from last night. (Slate)

Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is worth more than a billion dollars. But, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, director of the Gender and Policy Program at Columbia says we still have to put a kibosh on that whole sexism thing. (NYT)

Speaking of Facebook, you thought when you deleted your account in time for your summer internship, those pictures would go away, too. Hate to break it to ya, stud. (Ars Technica)

Is the Labor Movement dead? Former Speccie, Raphael Pope-Sussman joins the debate over unpaid internships, whether they’re legal, and how your mom should stop nagging you what unions should do about them. (NYT)

Art Hum lives on. And so does Jackson Pollock. (Brain Pickings)

Wicked Witch via DaveLandWeb

Better Looking than Eli Manning

For some people, today is only about one thing– the Super Bowl. (ESPN)

For others, it’s not so much about the game as it is about the halftime show, or maybe the drunk food. (MTV, Gawker)

If Madonna and nachos have no allure, you could always head to the library. But be warned–even once you’re fought your way into Butler, seductive alternatives to studying still await (Global Times, The Daily Beast)

In the end, you’ll probably just end up on Facebook but, as always, people are judging you. (NYT)

Top Priority Via Wikimedia Commons

"Call my broker -- I want in on that Facebook IPO"

Manhattan Wiccans prepare to launch a fundraising invasion of Union Square. (DNAinfo)

A different sort of witch hunt in a different hipster park: someone is actually ticketed for smoking! (Gothamist)

Prodigious birth! A ten-year-old makes a groundbreaking scientific discovery with her toy molecule kit. Guess we know who that girl will be in Gen Chem eight years from now… (Grist List)

Adorable, undeniably American, and yet oddly graphic: profiles of our obese pets. (CNN)

Sushi + France = chicken caesar maki roll? That can’t be right…a new Franco-Japanese import opens on the East Side. (NYT)

Witches’ Sabbath via Wikimedia Commons.

Bloomberg steps up after Komen for the Cure backs down on breast cancer screening. (The New York Observer)

Another type of cancer. (The Raw Story)

PrezBo would not be happy with the treatment of journalists yesterday on Capitol Hill. (Huff Po)

The economy might just be turning around. Or maybe it’s all an elaborate hoax. (New York Times)

Because ConEd has too much on their plate. (CNet News)

Sponsors via WikiMedia Commons

Look at this guy

Down: Our favorite Phil says we’ve got more winter. Because it’s been so harsh so far. Cute hats, guys. (USA Today)

Up: Columbia is picking local construction firms run by minorities and women for the Manhattanville campus project. (DNAinfo)

Down: Ajay Kumar Mangal, CC’10 Teach for America member and former John Jay RA, was arrested for an improper relationship with a 16-year-old student. (Columbia College Today, Houston Chronicle)

Up: Timothy Donnelly, teacher at the School of the Arts, received this year’s $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. (Washington Post)

Up?: Facebook filed for a $5 billion IPO. Bwog isn’t entirely sure what this means, but it’s a BFD. (CNN Money)

Large rodent via Wikimedia Commons.

The Same Thing We Do Every Night

SEAS puts New York in check, when it comes to how green it is. (NYT)

The mystery over the Westside cheese labels, and all the existential crises it’s inspired, is solved. (Gothamist)

We already figured out how to not be that guy. Now people are learning how to avoid it on Twitter. (The Atlantic)

The Economist finally figures out how Columbians got so fly with our cray cray abbrevs.(The Economist)

Totes Casual via StyleSouffle

It could be raining!

You could have gone to Fordham and been one of these students (plus a baby). (NYT)

Your overheard comment on the train yesterday could have been made public to the world in general. (Overheard in NY)

Your innocent desire to party could have been tragically misinterpreted by American customs. (Gawker)

Columbia could have cared about its USNWR ranking this much. (CNN)

You could have gotten this surprise in your Art History textbook this semester. (Huffington Post)

Tailgating the old lady via Wikimedia Commons

Another thing we don't have.

Educational Reform: Changing with the times is not exactly Ivy League style, but the former president of Harvard says it should be. (NYT)

‘Celluloid Barriers’: Barnard’s Athena Film Festival is burning them. (Guardian)

Football: In a land far far away, football is taking over university culture. (NYT)

Transferring: Based on stellar retention rates, we have “happiest” freshmen in the country. (CBS)

Happiness: Based on this study correlating working long hours and depression, we might actually
be lowering our chances at the good life. (LATimes)

Copious amounts of snow via Wikimedia Commons

CANNED BEER: check out this history of the official container of real college’s official drink. (The Daily)

This stuff is pretty great too

VINTAGE CHAMPAGNE AND SKYLINE VIEWS: Bwog knows it’s never too early to start thinking about Valentine’s Day plans (or to start repressing these same thoughts), so why not a private dinner and rooftop pool swim at the Peninsula for $1500? Gothamist recommends White Castle for “real players,” but Columbians can always do one better. (Gothamist)

POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM: a new Mitt ad makes Tom Brokaw uncomfortable, and he’s not ok with that. (Gawker)

FACEBOOK: neurotic New Yorkers share real life “defriending” strategies. Digital rejection is always easier to palate than the real thing, as these high school seniors will tell you after Vassar accidentally accepted them before rejecting them an hour later. (NYT)

SWITZERLAND: live from Davos at the World Economic Forum, the blog of econ department luminary Joseph Stiglitz’s wife, Anya Schriffin. Protip: wait till Zurich for a “decent cup of hot chocolate.” (Reuters)

Sliced bread via Wikimedia Commons.

He's got your back.

It’s another scandalous day in the Ivy League. Patrick Witt, the Yale quarterback who was lauded as a sports hero after he opted to play in the Harvard-Yale game rather than sit for his Rhodes Scholarship interview, has been accused of sexual assault. Turns out the Rhodes committee found out about the (unofficial) accusation and suspended Witt’s candidacy before the interview. (IvyGate, NYT)

Perhaps having heard recent student complaints, Obama has promised to work on bringing the cost of college down. No word yet on his plans for the Hamilton elevator. (NYMag)

If this doesn’t seem like an exciting occasion for political action to you, you’re not alone. According to a new study, college students these days are more liberal but less politically active. (HuffPo)

No matter how traumatized you were by your freshman roommate, these stories will remind you that it’s all relative. A warning to the brave souls who read them: graphic squirrel violence awaits. (Gawker)

POTUS via Wikimedia Commons

Imperialize me, Teddy.

In case you want to keep track of all the crazy-entrepreneurial things Columbians are doing, The Next Web reports that Neu Venture Capital has rolled out a new Visualizer which shows the connections between Columbia’s affiliated start up companies. (The Next Web)

As many major countries prepare to return to the polls this year, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has begun attacks against the U.S.’s foreign policy as part of his campaign platform. Putin claims that the U.S. does not seek allies, but “vassals.” Though he is definitely Russia’s resident badass, these attacks are a bit ironic coming from a man who chose his own successor to the Presidency. (Bloomberg)

Though humanity’s settlement of space has just begun, NASA reminds us just how awesome our home planet is in a new HD version of the famed Blue Marble image of Planet Earth. (HuffPo)

We all know Columbia is the snark-iest Ivy. Penn’s class of 15 seems to think so too, as they appropriated a joke from our homecoming shirt a few years ago. You know, those ones that said Pen 15 on the back? (FAIL Blog)

Teddy Bear Imperialism via Wikimedia Commons

Look out!

The Columbia Republicans are considering bringing Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist back to campus to promote free speech. We can’t help but wonder if they learned nothing from last time he was here. Well, it has been a while since we had a nationally-covered protest in this city… (Spec)

Oh wait except for that whole Occupy Wall Street business. Reporters Without Borders released their latest Press Freedom Index – a ranking of countries by how journalism-friendly they are – and the US has dropped 27 places due mainly to the arrests of journalists at Occupy protests. But we still beat North Korea! (Reporters Without Borders, Gothamist)

Following a student field trip to Death Valley led by Nicholas Christie-Blick (Frontiers in action!), a research team at the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory discovered that a volcano in the valley is younger than initially thought and will likely erupt soon-ish. It last erupted in 1200 and has an eruption cycle of 1000 years or less. Ruh-roh. (Daily Mail)

In an attempt to take this year’s title of most controversial frat scene, a tempest is brewing up in Hanover. A former Dartmouth student and SAE brother wrote an article listing some truly horrific things he had to do during rush. Bwog couldn’t read past the first quote, but we’re sure there’s going to be some problems with the administration. (IvyGate)

In lighter news, Scooter Hollis, All-State second team QB from Kentucky, has committed to Columbia. Meanwhile, Chad Ochocinco of the Patriots discovers politics. (Courier Journal, Politico)

Something blue via Wikimedia Commons

Can't we all just get along?

Last night the POTUS took some time out of his day of slaying pirates to give the SOTU. Quick on the rebuttal were Republican candidates Rick Santorum and Gov. Buddy Roemer, who jumped on the live-tweeting bandwagon. (Reuters, Twitter)

Getting into his own debates was Columbia’s own adjunct professor Ian Bremmer, who challenged Harvard’s Associate Professor Aldo Musacchio in a defence of liberal capitalism against state capitalism. Roar, lion, roar! (The Economist)

Yesterday’s release of Oscar nominees has spurred the inevitable lists of surprises and snubs. While Scorcese’s family film Hugo swept the nominations, Tim Burke of the Harry Potter movies’ visual effects thinks it a “shame” that the Harry Potter films have been once again “shunned.” (LA Times)

Gothamist is a little angry that Travel & Leisure has once again misrepresented their reader survey on the friendliest city in the world, making New York out as the “rudest” city in America when it is merely the least friendly of 35 options. Yeah, what the f@#% is that?? (Gothamist, Travel & Leisure)

Refreshingly free from contention is the fact that the largest solar storm since 2003 is currently hitting the earth, generating beautiful aurorae for our neighbors to the North and diverting some flight paths. (Discovery, Reuters)

The world today via Wikimedia Commons.

Coming soon to a Starbucks near you?

Remember when puppies came to Columbia? So does Bwog. Some of Columbia’s more unorthodox study break tactics—including the biannual Primal Scream and therapy dogs bringing furry comfort—were chronicled in a spot on various schools’ stress relief methods. (NYT)

In more somber news, be careful with the late-night antics when there’s a 13-minute wait at the subway station: there have been a startling number of subway-related deaths in the past few days; most notably on the L train. Please remember to stay behind the yellow line, guys. (WSJ)

Times when you wish you went to school in Georgia: select Starbucks locations in Atlanta and California plan to add wine and beer to their menus this year so people can “unwind and connect.” Next expansion, 114th street location? We do deserve it, based on the rise of Starbucks prices in Manhattan. (Reuters, NYT)

Maybe John Jay’s festive decorations yesterday were on to something: recognition of the Lunar New Year is being fought for in New York in order to make the day an official holiday, citing the 15% of Asian American students in the city’s schools. Now all New York students can come to John Jay brunch to celebrate! (Gothamist)

And finally, the 2012 Oscar nominations are being released at 5:38:30 AM Pacific Time. That’s…right now! Time to go find the synopsis for The Artist. (LA Times)

Wine snobs everywhere via Wikimedia Commons