Today's Top Stories:
Procrastinate better: the best of your professors' Facebook pages
The results from SGB's Town Hall are in!
The Center for Buddhist Studies just released the recording of a panel entitled "Tibet's Future... Does it Have One?" The discussion features prominent Tibet and Buddhism scholars Robert Thurman, John Kenneth Knaus, Amit A. Pandya, and John Tkacik.

The roundtable is a particularly topical one: Last week, for the first time since 1989, ethnic Tibetans publicly demonstrated against Chinese rule. China has since expelled all foreign media from Tibet and shut down access to the internet. Discrepancies in the purported number of Tibetan deaths have also arisen, with the Tibetan government claiming nearly a hundred dead, and the Chinese government saying just seven.

As the semester's coursework has come to an all-too-brief halt, now is as good a time as any to learn about something you might not have known about before. (And it's only going to get more press coverage as the Olympics approach.) Plus, Robert Thurman's voice is hypnotic. Trust us.


After weeks of breathless waiting, university administrators found out yesterday how their school fared this year on that outsized arbiter of institutional excellence, the US News and World Report college rankings. Nothing much changed, at least in the range Columbia cares about: the span between number one and number nine, where it's been stuck for three years running.

While we're playing with statistics, other people like putting things in order too! According to Newsweek, Columbia is about as good as it is global--we come in tenth on a list of the world's most international universities. Columbia looks a little better in China, where Shanghai Jiao Tong University puts us at number seven in the world, and rankings for research universities done by an independent group give Columbia a preen-worthy fourth place.

Alma Mater, however, does not fare so well on the altruism index. The Washington Monthly, a left-of-center political mag, ranks schools in the categories of Community Service, Research, and Social Mobility--which shakes things up a bit. Columbia languishes at number 36 on this list, behind the likes of Alabama A&M and Ohio State (but ahead of Princeton).

The Monthly's choice for the school that's best for America? MIT. Proving once again that geeks make the world a better place.

This morning, an anonymous tipster weighed in on the origins of the "cHiNA?" graffiti that can be spotted in every other campus elevator:

I thought you should know I have a theory that could possible solve the "CHINA?" elevator riddle. That is, what started it before the ignorant copy cats took over.

It's dorky and obvious and asks the question on every poli-sci international relations major nerd's mind.

Is China rising?

Get it!? Get it!? China + ? + on an elevator going up and down all the time!

Though the mystery remains unsolved until the founder of the "cHiNA?" movement is identified, the Bwog thinks this might be the start of what will hopefully be a fruitful investigation.

Need a break from the harsh rigors of the housing lottery? Try Chinese mysticism!



Using the power of the I Ching, the Bwog is empowered to give you a meaningless, random fortune based on your lottery number and the powers of our ancestors. Try it!







Enter your lottery number:








See also: China, Housing

At 17 Lingxi Kong was named one of the Top 10 inventors in Wu Han province. By 20 he was in jail as a Chinese political prisoner. This week Lingxi talked with B&W staffer Brendan Ballou about classical history, the world's fastest bicycle, and how President Bollinger won his freedom.

You run a website, Pax Sinica. What is it?
Pax Sinica is a newsgroup distributing newsletters about China and articles about humanity subjects for promoting academic performance and intellectual experience in an extended community. I started it because my goal is to promote academic experience and interactive performance in the extended Chinese community. By extended Chinese community I mean my friends, who are interested in the topic of China and the humanities.

What are the general messages about?
They are about China. Current news, insightful news. Almost every article I write my own opinions. You know, we are choked by news but starved by opinion. If you see CNN and read the New York Times you see a lot of facts and many unimportant facts. Most of the facts are irrelevant to creative man. So I send selective insightful articles and I also add my own opinions because, as I said before, I read both Chinese and English articles, so I have the ability to write about them.


Bwog is proud to bring you gossip from abroad - because everything is funnier when it's not American.

While doing his time in the 'Nam, your loyal correspondent noticed the following exchange gracing the guestbook in the museum at the former US marine base of Khe Sanh:

Intruders are doomed to be kicked out, no matter in North Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq. -Wang Y, China

What about Tibet? -[Illegible], UK

- Nick Frisch


About Us

Bwog is compiled by the staff of The Blue and White, Columbia University's undergraduate magazine.

Contact Us

Please send tips to bwgossip@columbia.edu.

Questions or concerns? Email bweditors@columbia.edu.

Bwog is always looking for new writing talent. Email bwog@columbia.edu.

In Print

Search

Comment Policy

Our Favorite Comments

omg: [read]
"the GSSC VP Student Life is like the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher"
Clearly: [read]
"the freshmen yearn for a return to the womb."

Bwogroll

Technical

Our headlines are syndicated through Atom.
This site is powered by the Publicate Content Management System, which is available for free.
Our interface icons are from the free Silk set.