A bizarre question on a standardized test inspires students to rebel against this most central of US education practices. (NYT) The government giveth and it taketh away, and Americans are really kind of over it. (The Atlantic) Coca Cola abroad may have killed a woman who consumed it by the gallon. (Gawker) In light of […]

“Am I celebrating 4/20? I’m not sure what you mean, officer.” “Fishermen? What fishermen? I didn’t see no fishermen…” (NPR) “Heroin? No, that’s not my heroin. Those kilos spontaneously appeared out of my 13th story window.” (NY Post) “Atlas Shrugged? Nope, never heard of it; I’m just going to nationalize this multinational oil conglomerate over here.” (NYT) “Corruption? We’re just […]

Three US Secret Service men involved in a prostitution scandal are being forced out, while the service tries to regain secrecy.  (NYTimes, CNN) Sudan has attacked recently-independent South Sudan in an attempt to “liberate” them and teach a “final lesson by force.” (Bangladesh News) Dick Clark, American icon, passed away yesterday, prompting many to wonder […]

Rejected by Gmail yesterday? It wasn’t just you. (Gawker) Nelson the parrot has a face that not even his mama could love. (Daily Mail) Reports have surfaced that Zuckerberg did not include any of the Facebook board in the Instagram deal, Social Network style. (NYT, Wall Street Journal) Following the laughable North Korean missile launch, the […]

There’s now a name for the behavior of awkward, anti-social New Yorkers—or at least for one facet of behavior. Have you played sidewalk chicken today? (Gothamist) There are now delightfully invasive photos and a livecam of the baby hawks of Washington Square Park. Now it’s just time to name them! Perhaps not as majestic as […]

You might have enjoyed some nip-slips at Baccha90s this weekend, but watch out when you move off Columbia’s campus. In Utah, you get taxed for showing some skin. (Time) However hard you’ve been trying to do so in your Global Core lecture, you should consider getting bored more often. (The Dish) The cop who pepper-sprayed […]

Will making the pre-meds of tomorrow take more humanities classes save them from soulless despair? Worth a try… (NY Times) A mobile medical facility in Las Vegas is devoted to instantly curing your hangover. Can we lure it to College Walk? (Las Vegas Review-Journal) Secret Service agents have a wild night in Colombia before a […]

We protest, tenaciously. (NYT) We plan for the future, bureaucratically. (Scribd) We lose connections, digitially. (Atlantic) We see ourselves in animals, irrationally. (NY Mag) We ink ourselves, unwisely. (Slate)   Sick Tat, Bro via Flickr

Well, this is embarassing. A North Korean long-range rocket launched this morning broke up after launch, raising many eyebrows and more than a few guffaws. (CNN) Core references in real life! Well, in a movie at least. (New Yorker) Not so fast, international censorship laws. (AKAScope) NASA might have found life on Mars! In 1976… […]

While Charles Manson was denied parole, George Zimmerman was charged for second-degree murder.  (Los Angeles Times, New York Times) Not one but two Columbia University affiliates were published in HuffPost – Ravita Segal, Barnard research assistant and TA, and Rosario Quiroz, CC’11 (Huffington Post) In another instance of California natural ailments striking the east coast, […]

Heroin in a five-year-old’s pockets. (NY Daily News) A Big Mac in a diabetic ward. (USA Today) Fuel in North Korean rockets. (Reuters) A bullet in store-bought cleats. (HuffPo) A transgender competitor in Miss Universe. (Daily Mail) Ikea in a London city planning initiative. (HuffPo) NYU in Greenwich Village. (NY1) Unlikely places to dune-buggy via Wikimedia Commons

We know you’re missing Philip Kitcher this year, so here’s a little taste of him to tide you over ’til the fall. (New York Times) New York public phone booths are getting a lot more high tech… but we can’t help but thinking of all. The. Hand contact. On those touch screens. Think subway poles […]

When your wife divorces you for making her speak Klingon. (NYT) When that girl in your econ class turns out to be a Russian spy. (Bloomberg) When the nation begins a crusade against white bread. (Slate) When the weather is how we got out of the recession. (WashPo) When Amazon throws $1 million at the small, […]

As much as we thought eating chocolate eggs and wearing fun pastel dresses showcased our religious devotion on Easter, it turns out we’re all just a bunch of pagans. (Daily Kos) In case you questioned whether or not you’re literate, you are. Woot. (The Atlantic) Those hipsters in Brooklyn might be on to something. The […]

Collectivism might not be quite the way to go, but using money as an incentive is making us poor problem solvers. (Nature Blogs) Remember, remember, the fifth of November: David Cameron comes under fire for attempting to make the UK a police state. (LA Times) Congenital birth defects may soon be a thing of the […]