In light of CCSC's recent crusade against juicycampus.com, Bwog wanted to know if it were really possible to ban a website from the campus server. Apparently, it's not. Resident computer expert and Bwog Web Master Zach van Schouwen explains why in the following bullet-pointed list:

• It's expensive. They don't have an existing filter in place, so they'd have to buy expensive, unreliable software
• We're all forgetting the masterminds of SEAS. It would be approximately 30 seconds before any SEAS hack had a mirror of the site up that was accessible at a different address
• Proxy server. Let's say you're visiting Juicycampus. Normally your PC sends them a request, and they send back a website. A site blocker would prevent this request from going through. A proxy server is just a third-party server that you make the same request to; it then makes the request to Juicycampus and sends you the results. This can all be encrypted, too, in which case there's no way for even a smart CU programmer to know what you're doing.
• Google cache. You can get to any blocked site by looking at Google's saved copy. Nobody ever thinks of this. (There are other sites like this too.)
• Tunneling out. If you have login access to any off-campus server, anywhere, you can easily log into it remotely and view the site. (Like, say, the Bwog server.)
• Mirroring. Juicycampus can just change their address, put up a mirror site, identify themselves numerically...
• Copying. Some intrepid kid could just create a site that copies all their content every five minutes.
• CUIT's never made a practice of it, so it'd be pretty shocking if they shelled out the $1000s for a commercial-grade filter, slowed down everyone's internet, and blocked a single site. Liberty University probably wouldn't even do this, let alone... any real university.
  

Because we know you haven't heard enough about Phi Beta Kappa lately, Bwog investigates how one becomes a member of the illustrious society in the first place.

The bad news? There doesn't seem to be any magic formula for becoming a member of the elite squad known as Phi Beta Kappa. According to the PBK Society's incredibly thorough website, "The ideal Phi Beta Kappan has demonstrated intellectual integrity, tolerance for other views, and a broad range of academic interests." More specifically, to be eligible for PBK, "students must have pursued a broad program of study in the liberal arts and sciences and met other academic criteria as required by the electing chapter."

What does that mean at Columbia?

Bwog wishes all a happy end of classes and a grudging welcome to reading week! While writing a paper this weekend, one B&W editor wondered aloud whether there was any way to highlight text in Word and change the case of the selected text. As per usual, Master of Word Zach van Schouwen was standing by with solution on hand.

A short illustrated tutorial:

1 . 2.

Anonymous passerby wants to know why there's a tent filled with blankets in front of Barnard's Lehman library.

This morning, Bwog inquired about the painted, comforter-filled tent. Three girls manning the table behind the tent explained that the tent was symbolic of a call for discourse about academic issues concerning Barnard to take place on Barnard's actual campus, as opposed to across the street.

On the table at which the three girls sat, there were post-its written by passersby responding to issues such as Barnard activism, gentrification/expansion, and the reassessment of the 9 Ways of Knowing. Some post-its were more serious than others--as the proportion of exclamation points to words is always a fine signifier of seriousness.

In Bwog's ten minutes observing the tent city and table environs, no student actually went inside the tent, though a few stopped to glance at the post-its scattered across the table. The set-up is only lasting the rest of the for the rest of the day, "Unless it goes well! Then it will be here tomorrow," explained one of the three girls.

Bwog wanted to know why winter break is an absurdly long (some might even argue unnecessarily long) 31 days this year.

Bwog Webmaster and calendar analyst extraordinaire Zach van Schouwen points out several factors that contribute to augmentation of 2007's Winter Break—which is a seven day increase from last year's reasonably-sized 24 day break.

This year January 21st is MLK day, meaning that Martin Luther King's birthday (observed) is six days later than Martin Luther King's birthday (actual). Jesus' birthday (observed) is on a Tuesday, which means an early exam week. This trend will continue next year as well.

The combination of Martin Luther King's and Jesus' well-timed birthdays means 31 days of break—and that's without accounting for the fact that many students leave well before the final exam day. It's quite possible that if your only exams are on Friday the 14th (the first day of finals week), you will have 39 days of winter break this year.

This week's question for Bwog comes from Daily Editor David Iscoe who wants to know if hitting an electronic device such as a computer is a good way to get it to work? David requests an engineer's advice. Lucikly, webmaster Zach van Schouwen was on hand to answer David's question.

"The master walks in to find the student flipping his machine on and off in an effort to solve a technical failure. The master shakes his head, and says "It is futile to power-cycle the machine in lieu of understanding the problem." The master then flipped the machine on and off, causing it to work immediately. At that moment, the student became enlightened," Zach explains. He then clarifies that the official term of computer repair geeks is "percussion maintenance" and that yes, hitting a computer—for example if a laptop's wireless slides out of the motherboard—can quite possibly get it to work.

The idea is that hitting a computer can "dislodge the heads if they've become stuck on the platters, or otherwise misaligned," says Phil Dotree of Associated Content. However, he warns that the risk of damaging your hard drive is high if you choose to slap your computer around a bit.

Ask Bwog thanks the always-helpful Zach van Schouwen and Phil Dotree of associatedcontent.com, whoever he may be.

AskBwog: Special Double Useful Question Edition

The first of this week's questions comes from Bwogger Maryam Parhizkar who wants to know where she can convert her loose change into dolla dolla bills, yall.

The Bank of America on 107th and Broadway has change-converter machines that are free for anyone to use, regardless of whether they have an account at Bank of America. Although, one should expect the machine to take a commission.


The second question comes from an anonymous student who wants to know if he can add Flex Points and Dining Dollars online. "Who wants to wait in line at Kent and Hartley?" Who indeed.

Well, yes and no. Luckily for Anonymous Columbia Student, both Flex Points and Dining Dollars can be added on the SSOL website. (Bwog has added Flex Points in celebration of the new Crumbs cupcakes at Ferris.) Log onto your SSOL account on go to Dining Services. It's as easy as entering your credit card (or your parents' credit card) number.

Unfortunately, Columbia Dining Services does not have access to the accounts of Barnard, Teacher's College, or JTS students' accounts, thus system is unable to allow them to add Flex/Dollars online. These students, can of course, purchase Flex or Dining Dollars, but hanging out in Hartley at Dining Services is a steep price to pay for a Crumbs cupcake.

AskBwog thanks Columbia Dining Services, SSOL, and bank-savvy Paul Barndt.

Everyone's favorite Morningside newspaper is taking a midterms hiatus, so no QuickSpec today. There will, however, be Ask Bwog. Bwog will be taking on questions about anything—Columbia-related or not. For instance, "Why does Lerner 4 smell like vomit?" or, "Why does the M104 smell like vomit?" both make excellent queries. Send questions to bwog@columbia.edu and they'll be posted and answered the following Tuesday. Today's question comes from Paul Barndt, a senior and Blue and White editor who wants to know:

How can I become a celebrity personal assistant?

The obvious starting point would seem to be doing a stint as a non-celebrity personal assistant. As lame as that may sound, it's probably correct. A friend of Bwog recently made an off-hand comment in one of Bwog's seminars that he was looking for a job. The professor happened to be looking for an assistant and— voila!— a personal assistant was born.

When celebrities are in need of assistants, chances are they're not going to advertise on Craigslist. What's more likely is that they will advertise via word of mouth. The most likely scenario is that there will be a lengthy interview process in which the applicant will be screened by several managers, lawyers and agents before actually being interview by the celebrity in question.

To ace these interviews, an applicant must have a squeaky-clean background and probably must have some experience as an assistant, nanny or babysitter. The applicant should be extremely organized and at least have a semblance of competence. Finally, if all goes well, the prospective assistant will have a casual meet and greet with the celebrity. If sparks fly, chances are that the celebrity is looking to hire someone as quickly as possible.

Each Friday, Bwog will be airing a new feature: . Ask Bwog about Columbia, college life, or anything else...we'll find you the expert and post the results. This week, one of our staffers wondered about the accuracy of the cardio machines up at Dodge. He looked to Stacy Toner, the aptly-named acting coordinator of the Personal Training Program at Columbia for some answers.

Bwog: According to the calorie counter on the cardio machines in the gym, the
elliptical trainer burns more calories per hour than just about any other exercise, treadmill and stair climber included. But when I use it, it feels like I'm using a lot less energy than when I run, and I'm certainly putting forth less effort. Am I really burning more calories, or is the machine lying to me? What gives?

Toner: There are a few explications for your fitness results on the elliptical.

1. Elliptical machines use the upper and lower body during the activity (if you are pushing and pulling the moving handle bars). Whereas, the treadmill, bike, stepper do not use any upper body resistance. Therefore, this may increase the amount of calories burned.

2. You may be feeling less effort on the elliptical due to the low impact movement and the smooth fixed gait pattern. It could also be that the muscles you are using on the elliptical are more fit (endurance and/or strength related) than the targeted muscles on the other machines.

Send us your questions! Email us at bwgossip@columbia.edu