<3 The U-StoreLast weekend, Nobel prizewinning economics professor Paul Krugman took part in a panel discussion on the jobs crisis that’s hit Newark and other New Jersey cities particularly hard. Whether you agree with his views on the economy or not, you have to admit he’s pretty good with metaphors. A few favorites from his talk:
- On the financial crisis and mounting consumer debt: “It was our Wile E. Coyote moment. We were going along just fine until we looked down and realized we’d run off a cliff.”
- On Occupy Wall Street: “The state of discussion was so surreal, the emperor had no clothes, yet no one was saying it. And then a fairly ragtag group started camping out in a few parks in major cities, and it’s like the country woke up.”
- And then there was the whole business with aliens. After explaining that the surge in demand accompanying World War II is what finally ended the Great Depression, he suggested a modern-day equivalent – defense against an intergalactic invasion. Turns out, he’s kind of a fan of the belligerent extraterrestrials metaphor. According to this CNN interview, a massive buildup of outer space defenses could end the current crisis in as little as 18 months.
More on the jobs panel here.
Consider a device the size of a grain of salt that can process information a billion times faster than the human brain. Inspired by animal nervous systems, the “photonic neuron” uses light instead of electrochemical impulses to process information at lightning-quick speeds.
It’s getting to be that time of the year when classes are finally in full swing, first papers are due, and hours spent in bed are slowly trickling away. If the readjustment to the grind is taking its toll and you’re getting grilled for yawning during that 50-minute lecture, Andrew Gallup, a researcher in Princeton’s EEB department, has a new explanation you can try on your professor.
“Wait, we have our own student-run radio station?” Lindsey-Paige McCloy ‘12 gets that question a lot.
The second most important lineup this spring (after Lawnparties!) is finally out. Brooke Shields will be the Class of 2011’s Class Day speaker, as announced today. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg will speak at Baccalaureate on May 29.
Princeton University sophomore Ben Levenson still has two years before he gets his degree. But he knows what is waiting after graduation: $50,000 of debt.
