Reflecting the noble efforts of its students, redefining the known world in experimental breakthroughs and subversive anthropology theses alike, Bwog has recently come upon a couple examples of Columbia’s own willingness to fight the dominant paradigm. Follow our earth-shattering eye to…

The World of Pop Culture: According to Metro (New York’s #1 newspaper…in contributing to subway litter) Columbia is involved in negotiations to take over TriBeCa’s ARChive [sic] of Contemporary Music, a private collection of two million recordings frequented by international DJs, and turn it into the “country’s first major center for the study of popular music”. The “ARC“, like Noah, has collected two of every album made since 1950, including a signed copy of the first Rolling Stones album on which “Keith Richards’ autograph is blurred because the original owner kept it in a pile where his dog always went to pee”. Sounds like something to finally replace that stage model exhibit that’s now been occupying Butler’s hallways for years.

The Source of That Nasty Smell: Whoever was in Manhattan on January 8th will recall (willingly or not) the horrific smell that permeated the borough’s atmosphere. In Sunday’s New York Times, Columbia researchers (with a Barnard associate) proposed what they thought was the answer to the quandary over the stench’s source. “The odor was caused by gases released from saltwater marshes in the metropolitan area,” the researchers state. The stinky swamps were, of course, in Jersey, which will no doubt give new meaning to the already encouraging nickname “Armpit of America”. But wait, there’s more – the scientists used “Columbia University instruments on rooftops in Manhattan” to measure the speed of the wind carrying the revolting odor. It all gives a new meaning to the name “Pupin”.

-CJS