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A great 60s-tastic shot of Nassau Hall. (photo from www.princeton.edu)

A great 60s-tastic shot of Nassau Hall. (photo from www.princeton.edu)

As of this afternoon, Princeton has offered 726 students spots in the Class of 2016 from a 3,443-person applicant pool, the University announced at 3pm today.  It’s the first time Princeton has offered students the option of applying Early Action–meaning that admitted students are not contractually obligated to attend, and may apply to other schools for Regular Decision if they so choose–since 2006, when Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia all simultaneously eliminated their Early Decision programs.  Harvard took 772 students for the Class of 2016 out of 4,245 applicants, with an acceptance rate of 18.2%, while Yale had an 18% dip in Early Action applications this year, due in part to Princeton and Harvard’s reinstated programs.

Jury’s still out on how many admitted students will matriculate, though Dean Janet Rapeleye has said that the accepted Early Action students should represent about a third of the year’s total admits.

To read more about Princeton’s Early Action pool for 2016, including a demographic breakdown for admitted students, click here.

Still working on the perfect look for formals? Computer science students Daniel Chyan ’14, Angela Dai ’13, Tiantian Zha ’13 and Amy Zhou ’13 might be able to offer some advice.

They took first place at the Facebook Camp Hackathon last weekend, beating teams that qualified at earlier competitions throughout the country. Their creation? Color Me Bold, a program that analyzes a photo and offers jewelry and accessory suggestions. Whether you want to give your outfit an extra splash of color or just want to see what it takes to win a hackathon, you can test it here.

Screen shot 2011-12-07 at 4.41.00

Some tips from Zha:

  • After uploading a photo from Facebook, click and drag your mouse over areas of the photo where the outfit you want to match is. If coloring inside the lines isn’t your strong suit, you can right click to erase.
  • Next choose whether you want jewelry or accessory recommendations – jewelry works best at the moment.
  • Princeton’s network isn’t the speediest, so give it some time.

If you’re skeptical about taking fashion advice from a computer algorithm, well, Facebook’s seal of approval is pretty convincing. It’s even more impressive considering they had just 24 hours to put it together.

Princeton’s team was also the only one with more women than men, which might account for the fashion-forward hack. Zha said she got the idea when thinking about day-to-day problems she’d like to solve – “accessorizing can definitely take up as much time as I have available. The girls were totally onboard–and outvoted our one male team member.”

Check out an interview with the Princeton team and video from the hackathon here – considerably tamer than the Hollywood version, but the Ripsticks do look pretty cool.

Triangle sold out so fast when people thought this was a real Sondheim-adapted rap musical.

Triangle sold out so fast when people thought this was a real Sondheim-adapted rap musical.

Cornel West, African-American Studies/Religion professor and one of our many celebrity academics, recently announced that he will be leaving his Princeton post in 2012 to teach Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, the school where he first began his career in academia.

For his time at Princeton, West will be remembered for more than just his commitment to paideia (which I learned is not a Spanish rice dish), his multiple political arrests, and his theological bromance with fellow professor Robbie George.

Oh, and that time his cartoon self roundhouse kicked some R. Kelly supporter in the Boondocks.

Since he began teaching at Princeton in 2001, West’s radical liberal politics have made him a controversial figure. A smattering of editorials and always well-phrased comments in the Prince since his arrival highlight the various opinions on West: “Princeton’s foremost hire” to “clownish entertainer,” “hero” to “charlatan,” and “exemplary human being” to “media whore.” My crowd of friends isn’t a big fan of West either, and as one friend once put it: “Why is he in academics at all? Why does he matter?”

I’ll be honest. Despite his platitudes, gangster proclivities, and propensity for showmanship, I believe Professor West matters.

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Christopher A. Sims (image source: www.nobelprize.org, Denise Applewhite)

Christopher A. Sims (image source: www.nobelprize.org, Denise Applewhite)

Thomas J. Sargent (image source: www.nobelprize.org, NYU Stern)

Thomas J. Sargent (image source: www.nobelprize.org, NYU Stern)

After almost four decades of work exploring the causal relationships between policy decisions and the economy, Sims and Sargent received the Nobel Prize this morning in recognition of their independent, but complementary, research.

While Sargent’s research focused on more long-term economic trends as inflation targets, Sims, the Harold H. Helm ‘20 Professor of Economics and Banking, focused more on short-term economic developments. Through statistical analysis, Sims and Sargent investigated whether changes in economic policy cause these developments, or whether policy-makers anticipate these developments when shaping policy.

And although the Nobel Prize website has yet to post details about the research and the winners, congratulations have already begun to flow in from around the world, some more cryptic than others. A personal favorite? “go VIKINGS we fianlly [sic] won.” Surely somebody gets it…

In an interview with the New York Times this morning, Sims said that his research holds real and important implications for the current state of global economic affairs, and recovery from it:

The methods that I’ve used and that Tom has developed are central for finding our way out of this mess.

When pressed for a simple policy solution, though, he hesitated. Whoever finds one of those, it seems, will be in the running for the next Nobel.

HESSLER_ENVIRO_200There are probably a lot of Princetonians who fall on the genius spectrum, but not all of them get official recognition, much less official recognition and a no-strings-attached $500,000 grant.

Then there’s Peter Hessler ’92, one of 22 MacArthur Fellows for 2011. Hessler is a long form journalist who drew on his experience as an English teacher and foreign correspondent in China in three books where he crafts “richly illuminating accounts of ordinary people in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China.”

He’s written about Peace Corps projects in Nepal, a Uighur money-trader seeking asylum in the US, the effects of China’s auto boom on industrial centers and nearly-abandoned villages … yeah, pretty much everything. So, what’s next for a genius writer with half a million dollars to burn? Hessler hopes to head for the Middle East in search of more stories – check out his interview for more.

In the wake of the procrastination extravaganza that was the Dean’s Date Liveblog, we here at The Ink feel a little guilty about our unintentional, but, we fear, effective, complicity in achieving the grade deflation quotas.

There's a reason the logo is orange.

There's a reason the logo is orange.

Sadly, we can’t do much to help you out with that orgo final. But we can help you bone up on your Princeton knowledge, and maybe rekindle the trivia love that got us on Sporcle’s top 25 colleges last semester.

Quiz time!

1) How many pizzas were consumed at the dodgeball tournament? How many free t-shirts?

2) What’s the farthest spot from campus Princeton’s flag flies?

3) The first Ivy Leaguers to make the cover of Sports Illustrated were from Princeton. Which team took the honor, and in what year?

4) Which Princeton building lent its name to a chemical reaction?

5) What hidden message is embedded in the bricks of the computer science building?

Or maybe the bricks are just slowly falling out?

Or maybe the bricks are just slowly falling out?

6) The statues outside Nassau Hall weren’t always tigers. Who brought them to campus, and what did they replace?

7) When was the last Cannon Green bonfire? When will it happen again?

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Walking around campus at night, you see the typical sights: darkened trees, the occasional raccoon … and, you know, Justin Bieber staring at you motionlessly from the 3rd floor of Spelman 7.

A campus trend of late is to put stunningly lifelike cardboard cut outs of gossip.com’s favorite male heartthrobs in dorm windows, turn on the room lights when night falls and let the silhouettes do their creepy business.  Our current cardboard residents include Robert Pattinson adorned with a delightful mustache and delightfully menacing eyebrows, Anderson Cooper dressed in a snazz-tastic power suit and our love Justin Bieber frozen in his oh-so dashing hands-in-pocket shrug.

Pictures?  Why, of course.

Butler College: 1915 Hall, 4th Entry Way, 1st Floor

I wonder how Bella feels about those brows.

I wonder how Bella feels about those brows.

Whitman: Lauritzen Hall, 2nd floor

Power tie!

Power tie!

Spelman 7, 3rd floor, across from building with the STARCRAFT sign

At least in this case we know why his hair doesn't move

At least in this case we know why his hair doesn't move

So, who’s going to be next on our cardboard mancrush list?

I’m thinking this guy.

Sydney Johnson, in simpler times

Sydney Johnson, in simpler times

I hate Lane Kiffin.

I disliked him at Tennessee, but ever since he jumped ship after a year of SEC football and left for the greener pastures of USC and the PAC-10, I’ve loathed Lane Kiffin. To me, he symbolizes everything that’s wrong with coaches in NCAA sports — phony smiles, good haircuts, no loyalty, and a devotion to winning only as an end to their own means.

So, why am I talking about Lane Kiffin? Just to make it clear that Sydney Johnson is no Lane Kiffin.

Because after a week+ now of having the Tiger sports fan inside me curled up in the fetal position, mourning the loss of our men’s basketball coach, I think it’s starting to all make sense. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I would have done the exact same thing. Is this the sports fan equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome? Entirely possible! But hear me out anyways.

The Princeton Ceiling

What was Sydney Johnson’s ceiling at Princeton?

Pretty much exactly what he accomplished last year.

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If you are anything like a certain Ink blogger who will remain unnamed, you spend your computing hours (known colloquially around campus as “lectures”) playing Dog Fight 2 and checking if your favorite web comics have updated yet today. In which case, we heard some very exciting news!

Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, will be giving a public lecture Monday, April 11, at 8 p.m. in New Frick (full details here). And to prove Mr. Munroe has some insight into the world of higher education and standardized tests, here are some classic xkcd comics:

Spring Break 2011: Geeks Gone Wild

Spring Break 2011: Geeks Gone Wild

Calling all math nerds, Pi lovers and Einstein devotees! If you’re staying on campus for spring break (so near and yet so painfully far), don’t miss out on the second year of a recently birthed Princeton tradition: Pi Day.

Mimi Omicienski of the Princeton Tour Company dreamed up this celebration of all things geeky last year, when she realized that March 14th coincides with Albert Einstein’s birthday. Last year, Omicienski worked with the Princeton Public Library and Joy Chen from JOY Cards (on Chambers Street, close to Masala Grill, FYI. Check it out if you want a cute alternative to Paper Source) to create the first ever Pi Day. It included pie-eating contests, an Einstein look-alike competition, and an intense pi recitation showdown. The winner? Gareth Conway, son of our own superstar mathlete John Conway.

But this year, the Pi Day people are stepping up their game. March 14th has been extended to an entire “Geek Freak Weekend,” featuring Dinky and plane rides with Einstein (as in, Einstein re-enactors. Not his dead body. That would be morbid), presentations from our plasma physics lab, pi-themed sales, more pie eating, and a math competition with a $314.159 prize.

“Think Disney, and instead of Cinderella, you have Einstein,” Omicienski said.

Yeah. Get excited.

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Princeton will reinstate its early admissions program, the school announced this morning.

High school students next year will be able to apply “single-choice early action.” The application is non-binding — if accepted, the student has until the end of the regular admissions process to decide — but students who apply early to Princeton cannot apply early anywhere else.

“In eliminating our early program four years ago, we hoped other colleges and universities would do the same and they haven’t,” said President Shirley Tilghman in an article posted on the Princeton homepage. ”By reinstating an early program, we hope we can achieve two goals: provide opportunities for early application for students who know that Princeton is their first choice, while at the same time sustaining and even enhancing the progress we have made in recent years in diversifying our applicant pool and admitting the strongest possible class.”

Harvard, the other school to eliminate its early admissions program in 2006, also announced today that it would reinstate its early admission program for next year.

Details to follow…

I’ll be honest: without Jane Randall on ANTM and CDY and Jonathan Schwartz on The Amazing Race, I was starting to go into serious Princeton-on-TV withdrawal.  For a couple of months, the Orange Bubble achieved the pinnacle of mainstream media fame — and then the world promptly forgot us, and I could no longer use the excuse of, “Oh you know, just keeping up with what’s going on around campus,” when a five-minute study break turned into a Hulu marathon.

But on Tuesday, Princeton will be back for another fifteen minutes of reality TV fame when our very own House of Cupcakes will compete for a sweet $10,000 prize on the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars.  Ruthie and Ron Bzdewka, HOC’s owners, will battle three other master bakers in a series of elimination challenges until just one cupcake genius remains.

cupcake

Go on ... you know you want one!

Don’t let the sugar and cute factor fool you — this is war, and may the best cupcake win.  So grab some of HOC’s creations (the red velvet flavor is their most popular, and perfect for a post-Valentine’s Day screening) and tune in to the Food Network channel at 9pm on Tuesday, 2/15 to watch the Bzdewkas battle for cupcake glory.  And in case you needed another reason to root for the home team, if HOC wins they’ll donate the prize to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.