Image via blogspot.com Real estate is a steal: PrezBo’s henchmen nabbed two new buildings this past week.  One can reasonably assume that the Manhattanville location will be absorbed into our financially-delayed behemoth.  But the 113th Street purchase?  It’d make a killer residence hall. Impossible decisions are everywhere: Change we need, but probably not that we […]

Columbians and their associates spent the last week expounding their well-honed opinions on everything.  From the Core and finance we find ourselves traipsing across a vast field of subjects, much like Frontiers.  Raised on words, we now present AltSpec: The Epic Narrative.  Photo via phys.ufl.edu Bwog’s favorite horn-rimmed glasses wearer Andrew Delbanco sounded off about […]

A mixture of the genius and the obvious–it’s AltSpec.  Image via Blogger.com The state created another commission, then forgot about it. Guys: you only have so long to make babies.  Have at it. We prefer not to remember embarassing moments in our past. Vaginal gel: “it’s preventative.” CUIT wants to charge us for wireless?  (Our […]

They mean one thing but they say another: it’s this week’s AltSpec. They tried to provide us with health insurance, but they forgot to pay up. This Columbia grad likes what Obama has done for affirmative action, but he ends up pushing assimilation instead. It was built for the people, but might have done more […]

Editor’s Note: Although news is still coming in about the death of a SEAS freshman, we will continue to be running the blog as normal. With that, here’s this week’s AltSpec. Columbia researchers give pointed advice. If you’re not happy with your weight, stop looking in the mirror. If the years are getting to you, […]

Everybody’s commenting on this whole “new president” thing [Ed. note: zomg OBAMA].  Even Bwog couldn’t filter through all of it.  Here’s a taste. She was displaced by a Katrina prequel, but then she got into Columbia.  And all was well. He took the lessons of Columbia’s on-campus activism and fought for causes in the real […]

Classes “begin” in a few days, figuratively because a few of Bwog’s have already been canceled for CC’83 Awesomeness Festivities.  But your fair university didn’t get nearly as much sleep as you did over break.  Here’s what Alma Mater’s been up to. People of Old Alumni provide proof that we’ll all find jobs, eventually.  In […]

Entrenched in finals, begging for mercy.  Outside the reading rooms, the real world keeps working. Sex Starting with the good stuff:  CollegeOTR may have been correct in saying Columbians are “oversexed“:  A Columbia sex ed professor (oh yes, we have those) is worried about the rise of what a popular television show termed “What What […]

From New York City, this is AltSpec, in which we collect references to Alma Mater’s dubious deeds in the wider world.  This week, while we’re all burrowed deep in Butler, the outside world is busy pointing fingers.  A smörgåsbord of topics and lots of straight talk. Jonathan Last’s column in The Weekly Standard has been […]

Things slow down before reading week, but there’s plenty of winter cheer and music to look forward to. Monday Crash Test Dummies: We all love those slow-motion videos of dummies in cars, but what about the science of engineering for safety?  11:00 AM @ Davis Aud, Schapiro. Tuesday Columbia Classical Performers: Morningside’s musicians come out […]

The thirteens are coming (really, they are), and everyone is taking notice. Thirteens cometh, thirteens goeth: Because without a scholarship, we’re far too expensive. And there’s always those pesky test scores to stop people. And the oh so quotable: Chalfie: “I basically tickle worms.” CU Neurosurgeon Richard Anderson: “Since there are a million different types […]

This week, it’s all about the magic that happens at CUMC.  And some other things. Harry Potter would’ve turned out quite differently: a simple injection of testosterone cures “werewolf syndrome.” Brilliantly, we connected an inability to concentrate to an inability to concentrate. When it comes to detecting rather than curing, all Columbia can do is […]

Everyone’s upset and running amok.  Bwog covered it all. The Ivy League is dismayed, and it’s our fault.  Lively prefers us over Yale, we virtually destroyed Brown’s virtual campus, and football actually tore up Cornell’s (actual?) football field. Columbians are panicked; knives and germs are everywhere.  Someone was assaulted and someone was stabbed.  Public Safety […]

Columbia has long had a penchant for the hazardous. Shopping carts, to your hands.  Just by touching them, you risk diarrhea and worse. Sleep deprivation, to your heart.  Nearly everyone with a college degree will probably have a heart attack 50 years after graduation. Cancer drugs, to your fetuses.  But now, the miraculous techniques of […]

Everyone’s elections predictions (which took up most of the “Columbia University” hits this week) came out alright, but there are still more predictions to come. Stiglitz says “Yes We Can…eventually” Eisenbach says “See?  I told you this one would be different.” A Columbia scientist says, “The predictions were too late.” Those who were around in […]