True fact: Sarah Palin doesn't eat babies.

Cars don't run into you in Riverside Park.

The stock market crashed! Now what?

Fight Club was released nine years ago. Don't you feel really old? Like, over nine years old?

Columbia wants to demolish and rebuild in every direction! Watch out Lincoln Center.

Columbia students may not like lines in John Jay, but they sure do like to spend their parents' money!

So yesterday the Empire State Development Corp. voted to approve Columbia's $6.28 billion expansion expansion into Manhattanville.

In doing so, the state designated the area as blighted, which is necessary in order to invoke eminent domain.

The decision came as a result of a blight study by AKRF Inc., which found that Manhattanville consisted of "aging, poorly maintained and functionally obsolete industrial buildings with little indication of recent reinvestment to revive their generally deteriorated condition."

Turns out we're not the only Manhattan university looking to expand. According to Washington Square News, NYU has proposed adding 6 million square feet to its campus, and is looking outside the Village for about half of that space. The current candidate neighborhoods are Midtown, Northwestern Brooklyn, and, most intriguingly, Governor's Island, the perpetually-redesigned, super-historical former military base on the banks of the charmingly-named Buttermilk Channel. No word yet on who NYU's plans will be displacing.

Manhattan poll takes calculated, er, "responsible" stance on expansion: city's "success...difficult to absorb". There's always Bounty.

Mudd to get greener (does that mean less muddy, or more?)

Police rubber-stamp 11-block strike walk...

...but in opinion, we find self-conscious Iraq caution, and the same message with a lot more braggadoccio...plus, to top it all off, love is slaughtered by science. With V-Day and the aforementioned strike looming, we predict such selections will stay the course.

On Thursday, Harvard released its 50-year plan for expansion in the Allston neighbourhood (think Manhattanville, except 341 acres instead of 17, Boston instead of New York, and more parking lots than people). It's long, like 72 pages (even Penn kept theirs to 32!), and Bwog didn't read the whole thing, but if we were Harvard alums with lots and lots of money, we'd probably give serious thought to sending it Allston's way.

Why? They've got everything planned out to the last street sign, and want all their buildings to be built to LEEDs Gold standard (Columbia hasn't committed to any LEEDs certifications), and think they can generate 15-20 startup businesses per year. Although it also helps to have about $25 billion on hand to make sure the thing gets finished. But really, we don't know, because all we can find is pro-Harvard propaganda (OK, and the Crimson). They're at a ten-year disadvantage, but maybe the folks up in Low should be taking lessons from their homies in Cambridge anyway.

Also! We knew Barack hated Columbia, but we didn't know he was such a buzzkill as well.

Also! Have you noticed that the Morton Williams receipts still have "Welcome to the Class of 2008" printed at the bottom? I mean, juniors are great, but '10 probably would appreciate the open arms a bit more...

Also! The Current wants YOU!

Finally! The Columbia University Model United Nations Conference and Exposition (a.k.a. CMUNCE, a.k.a. seamonkey) is underway, which means there are hordes of coiffed high schoolers running around. Be nice to them, maybe they'll give you food.

- LBD

Columbia alums congegate from Switzerland to Suffolk County...

...to relive their youthful protests against Alma Mater's expansion

Meanwhile, the administration creates an office to actually help students, then hides it away deep in the bowels of Dr. No's waterborne fortress and swears its employees to a code of Masonic-like secrecy

Andrew Martin boasts indie credentials, "bathe[s] in the collective sweat of victory"

Difference between ennui-riddled rat and ennui-riddled human: only one can be miraculously cured by a jazz singer's condescending remark

A Chinese Bazaar? Whatever, East is East