The 2010 valedictorian is Seth Davidovits from the Applied Physics department and the salutatorian is Rodney Chang, a mechanical engineer.

Congratulations!

In what surely will be talked about for generations as one of the greatest free food events of all time, the SEAS 2011 Class Council is sponsoring a study break where they will be serving Mimi Truffles. Yes, those Mimi Truffles, and specifically a “specially CU decorated red velvet truffle.”

The event will be held today at noon in the entrance of Mudd, so be sure to stop by and grab some delicious truffles (and career advice, if you’re into that) before they’re all gone!

Update, 1:05pm: There are free cupcakes and T-shirts on Low Plaza right now, courtesy of College Days. There’s already a huge line forming, so get them while you can!

Image via Mimi Truffles

Architecture students, take note: Jenny Hsu, SEAS ’10, made this 7-layer model of Low Library out of 100% edible ingredients! Says Hsu, “I just wanted to make it. I’m a second semester senior.” More photos of the cake, as well as photos of an earlier Alice in Wonderland-themed cake, after the jump. Read more…

Bwogger Anish Bramhandkar found this mysterious board in Lerner yesterday:

Points to anyone who can guess what this hodgepodge of math, physics, and almost biology means.

You seemed to enjoy our JJ’s Playlists a few weeks ago, so we’re bringing you more. SEAS Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora kindly responded to Bwog’s request to share his favorite musical selections. Instead of a list of songs, Peña-Mora has his pick of the albums he enjoys. Stay tuned for more playlists from other campus notables– email us back, Lee C!

• Juan Luis Guerra: “Para Ti”
• Marc Anthony: “Amar Sin Mentiras”
• Victor Victor: “Bachata entre Amigos”
• Sonia Silvestre: “Esta es Sonia”
• Shakira: “Pies Descalzos”
• “In the Heights”
• Il Divo: “Il Divo”

The latest issue of the Fed is out and aping another Columbia publication. Bwog highlights some of its cringe-worthy crassness…

Ergonomics of shaving (ew)

“The Columbia Animal Farm (Get it? They’re communists!) Becomes an Animal House (like the movie!!)”

Same-old hipster hating

Erotic fiction

One of the draws of coming back to school is the Super Fast Internet Connection.  At Columbia, we boast a roughly 10 megabits per second internet connection for both uploading and downloading.

Sound like gibberish?  For reference, consider that a typical MP3 (music file) is about 48 megabits in size, so it would take about 5 seconds to download.

We were curious how our speeds compare to other top schools, so we pestered our million friends across the country.

Just this once, we bow to our friends in New Haven…

…and extend our sympathies to our continually slow compatriots in Providence. Click on the graph for a larger version. A few technical caveats after the jump.

Read more…

SocketHop explains technology affairs to the technologically-impaired.

Today marks the public release of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7.  There’s a lot of information and a lot of technical details flying around the web, so we’ve tried to distill it down into a chunk of need-to-know information.

What is Windows 7?

Windows 7 is the newest version of the Windows operating system from Microsoft.  The “7″ signifies that, with a little magic counting, it is the seventh version to be released.  It comes out barely three years after Windows Vista, the much-maligned successor to the still-popular Windows XP.

Is it as bad as Vista?

Almost all reviews call Windows 7 a variation of “Vista done right.”  Rather than a massive overhaul, Windows 7 improved the good parts of

Windows Vista and redid the clunky parts.  Microsoft decided to douse the public relations fire that raged after Vista and created a solid operating system, instead of playing a game of lengthen-the-features-checklist.

What’s new in Windows 7?

In short, it’s less annoying and more intuitive.  A major complaint with Windows Vista was the constant interference of User Account Control, which was designed to keep your systems settings safe.  However, it turned out that no one appreciated double-confirming every action they wanted to take. Read more…

It may be free, but it’s hard-earned by the honest sweat of a SEAS student’s brow. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is giving out homemade ice cream today at 3:00 in the 13th floor lounge of Mudd.

“Homemade?” you repeat dreamily, as your mind’s eye conjures your mother in a frilly apron and a beehive, brandishing a rolling pin in one hand and a Madison Avenue frying pan in the other.

Yup. Homemade with liquid nitrogen. Freaky, smoky liquid nitrogen. The cryogenically frozen Dippin’ Dots didn’t make it to the new Yankee Stadium, but we got your scientific sweet treats right here. So go chill with the new IEEE board. (Did you get that? Did you?)

Hiding in Butler, you’ve got six papers due in ten hours but you’re engaged in a poke war on Facebook.  It’s time to buckle down and get some real work done.  SocketHop is here to help.

Image via Flickr

Lose the Clutter

There’s a million ways to have distraction-free word processing, but Bwog has two favorites.  Dr. Wicked’s Write-or-Die is a website that allows you to set word count and time goals to keep you writing at a consistent speed.  Should you fail to keep typing, the website will flash heart-wrenching colors and spout horrible music.  Writer is a web application that provides stripped-down editing with .txt and .pdf file export options, as well as limited save options.

Half of writing a research paper is, well, Googling other people’s research papers.  And reading all those random articles can be hard on the eyes.  In comes Arc 90′s Readability bookmarklet.  A bookmarklet is a bookmark you can store on your bookmarks toolbar that performs a function (rather than just linking to a Web site).  Readability removes all the clutter from your web-based reading and formats the text with clear fonts in narrow columns.  All this can be customized, as well, creating a distraction-free reading environment.

Save Your Eyes

Late nights in Butler mean late nights staring at your bright, white LCD screen.  That translates to red, sore eyes by morning.  Enter F.lux, a small tray application (Windows and OS X) that solves this problem.  In a nutshell, F.lux modifies the color temperature of your screen to match the time of day.  This means that as the sun sets, your screen transitions from a blueish hue to a yellowish hue, matching the color of your fluorescent hell.  It sounds like a strange idea at first, but once you become used to it, you’ll never switch back.

One more tip and a geek level-up after the jump. Read more…