Bwog is languidly clearing our virtual newsdesk today, bringing you a selection of interesting and possibly relevant headlines from the past few weeks. We hope that these stories, tenuously connected to Columbia, will reflect a similar degree of detachment from the establishment in your minds.

Oh yeah and Nadal won the French Open

One of the undercover cops in Operation Ivy League was undercover in more ways than one; while working for the NYPD, he ran an illegal gambling ring on Staten Island! (DNAinfo)

Professor David Epstein has pled guilty to charges of attempted incest, and conservative blogs have gleefully picked up the story. (eCourts, The Other McCain)

Turns out the whole Westside/Morton Williams debate misses the point. Both, along with most grocery stores in the city, are cheaper than everywhere else in the US. (WSJ)

Before kicking them out of the store, a white employee of our local UWS Apple Store allegedly told two young men that “before you say I’m racially discriminating against you, let me stop you. I am discriminating against you.” (Gawker)

The Class of 1941’s graduation was bittersweet, since Columbia sports hero Lou Gehrig died the day before commencement. A member of that class recently wrote a touching reflection in the Times about the tragic coincidence. (NYT)

Also in the Times, Room For Debate asks if college is worth it. Columbia associate economics prof Till von Wachter says “those from less prestigious schools and those students majoring in humanities” have the worst job prospects. Humanities majors also make less than engineers. So great news if you’re in SEAS and bad news if you’re in NYU. (NYT, Georgetown)

If you miss the (possibly late) Hawkmadinejad, why not watch Pip, the baby NYU hawk, live? (CityRoom)

What is it with economists and sexual assault? Another top international finance official sexually assaulted a hotel maid in New York—and the hotel tried to cover it up! Hopefully this will stop happening now that hotels are giving their maids panic buttons. (Daily Show, NYT, NYPost, WSJ)

Joseph Stiglitz has some advice for choosing the next IMF head: don’t worry about their nationality, just whether or not they can save Europe. Jeffrey Sachs also has advice for the IMF, but you might not be able to see it because the Financial Times doesn’t want broke college kids reading their precious op-eds. (Slate, FT, Observer)

Columbia researchers used a “back of the envelope calculation” to show that reducing levels of surface ozone could save businesses $1.1 billion in lost worker productivity. It’s not like it could also save all of humanity from being destroyed or anything. (Globe and Mail)

And go Mavs. Yep, sometimes we take sides.

Rafa (this photo is actually from 2006, but his outfit is a very close approximation of what he wore during the final at Roland Garros this year) via Wikimedia