And it’s back: the week in Princeton-related internet happenings…
Res college listservs
The war continues:
Princeton FMLs
On (un)common accidents:
Articles filed under “Internet”
Much like the late Kim Jong-il who liked to stare at things (and not unrelated to his son Kim Jon Un clapping at things), our beloved and often incomprehensible mathematician John Nash also likes to look at things. Edit: We realize this is probably not good for any of his lingering paranoia that people are watching him at all times. Apologies to Dr. Nash.
Looking at a sandwich wrap in Frist.
Looking at Peter Klein, producer of CBS News
Looking at the Prince.
Kudos to the clever Princetonian who came up with this tumblr, as spotting a rare John Nash out in the open is a momentous occasion.
EDIT: They never accepted my submission, “John Nash NOT Looking At Paul Krugman”:
Look at Krug's adoring face.
Just like last week, allow us to provide you with this week’s best/most provocative/quirkiest in the world of Princeton-related social media. In other words, here’s a way to catch up on what you’ve missed, join in the debates, or (most likely?) relive this week’s procrastination material.
Res college listservs
On lost things:
Prince comments
On the controversial mention of the women’s crew team in In Defense of: Blacking Out:
On the debate over Beyond Annual Giving:
And, constructively:
Princeton FMLs
Gastro hangs on…
Prince Comments:
On West GS ’80: ‘I’m having a wonderful time … getting arrested.’:
Com ’12 : The Center for African American Studies will soon be posting the new job opening for “prophet-in-residence.”
On Virus linked to restaurants:
it was: Panera.
Princeton FMLs:
Woke up early this morning to prepare for an important interview. Checked my email at the last minute to confirm time; it was last Monday. FML
There’s no such thing as a stupid question, just the stupid people in my lectures who ask questions. FML
My phone alarm went off this morning, and in a sleepy effort to turn it off, I bumped it off the shelf and knocked it under my bed. I reached under to turn it off, but instead of a vibrating BlackBerry I grabbed a cockroach. FML
Memes:
Also, many have pointed out the recent strange thing that happens when you search for the Princeton English Department on Google:
Because Francis Bacon wasn't causing enough boners.
Have something we missed? Throw it in the comments!
Awkward and selective censorship
[NOTE TO READER: THIS POST MAKES FREQUENT USE OF EXPLETIVES.]
This shit was going to happen eventually. Add it to the list of national trends trickling on to this campus (see Occupy Wall Street). On January 17th, BodyHype unleashed its own spin on “Shit girls say,” a YouTube phenomenon where in dudes in drag make videos saying, well, shit girls would say. Most would agree that “Shit Princeton Kids Say!” – a slightly less gendered adaptation of the original – does a pretty good job, hitting all the major tenets of campus life. At the moment of this post, it’s closing in on 15,000 views.
Depending on how closely we look at it, it can tell us a lot about ourselves, namely that no matter what social boundaries divide Princeton students, at the end of the day we can all bond over our common future careers in finance. Have a look at the video and a thoughtful analysis after the jump.
It may not rival the College Freshman or College Liberal memes, but Quickmeme’s new Princeton Problems speaks the truth:
More after the jump, but if you want the less safe for precept ones, click here.
The higher your tuition, the hornier you are. At least, that’s what our friends over at OkCupid concluded after studying the activity of nearly 20,000 of their users. Among their most interesting claims?
Given a 36-week school year and the average partner, every $2,000 spent on your college tuition is an extra time you could be having sex that year.
Yalies desire the most sex at 5.4 times a week, while the more reserved Harvard and UPenn students clock in at 5.1 and 4.9 times a week. Princeton is noticeably missing from the chart, perhaps because of this or, more likely, maybe we just don’t use dating sites all that much.
And … cue next poll.
That red dot at the top? Sarah Lawrence. Think about it.
For those who don’t take the time to pore over the details of Yaro’s emails, his latest introduced a new initiative that may be the most astute campus project that the USG has ever undertaken: a FREE FOOD listserv. The email blurb reads:
Do you like free food? Then you’ll love our new FreeFood listserv. It’s a spam-free listserv intended to let students know where the free food is (e.g. “Free pizza in 20 minutes” or “Excess Indian Food in Frist 302″). To sign up, simply send “subscribe freefood” to listserv@princeton.edu in the body of the message (remember to take out any email signature). Thanks to Rodrigo Menezes and Dylan Ackerman for setting this up.
This is the one listserv I will never get annoyed at.
And it’s already working! I got my first [FreeFood] email 35 minutes ago:
Free Turkish Food in the main lobby of Murray Dodge. It’s all vegetarian. There’s hummus, pita, grilled veggies, stuffed grape leaves, and almond rice.
And another one just now:
free cookies and water at J.Crew. no purchase necessary
This should be a godsend to all independent upperclassmen, expert scavengers and generally hungry Princetonians (read: the majority of our student population). Kudos to USG for being so attuned to the masses’ desires.
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:
Check out all that cretin ivy (image source: ee.princeton.edu)
Oh, sorry, that’s “New Ways to Procrastinate.” In case you were running out of brief (?) diversions to get you through the upcoming week, or simply looking for new websites to add to your Self Control app, here’s a good one that can keep you going for a while. (If you don’t believe me, just check out today’s Tower Talk e-mails — 49 e-mails later, it’s still funny. Sort of.)
Just type in your name, a friend’s name, perhaps a mortal enemy’s name, and let the little website do its work. What you get out? Hilarious – and often terrifyingly accurate – anagrams of what you put in.
Take, for example, a small controlled experiment done on the site to elicit its true feelings about the Ivies. Inputs of each university’s name yielded the following:
Princeton University: “I spurn cretin ivy” (Possibly Princeton students’ favorite activity…)
Harvard University: “Try hard an’ survive” (At least that’s what “The Social Network” would have us believe.)
Columbia University: “Evil scum in obituary” (Really? I’ll have to start reading the obits more often.)
He is The One.
Don’t scorch the skies yet — New Jersey Congressman (and former Assistant Director of Princeton’s Physics Lab) Rush Holt may just become this century’s Neo from the Matrix.
After IBM supercomputer Watson trounced all-time champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a game of man vs. machine Jeopardy! a few weeks ago, it looked as if the world was doomed to artificial intelligence supremacy. (Especially after Jennings revealed himself to be a traitorous robot sympathizer, writing “I for one welcome our new computer overlords” on his Final Jeopardy answer.)
![Benedict Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. (source: ABC)](http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tvsquad.com/media/2011/02/jeopardy110216kenjennings.jpg)
pictured: Benedict Arnold (Schwarzenegger)
Holt was a former nuclear physicist and five-time champion on Jeopardy! over 30 years ago, making him a seasoned contender against the supercomputer.
According to the L.A. Times, Holt kicked Watson’s hard drive in categories like “Presidential Rhyme Time” and “Also a Laundry Detergent.” (Whitman College residents who watched the fateful Jennings v. Watson episode in February noticed the computer isn’t very good at wordplay. Are puns the last refuge of humanity?)
Despite Holt’s redeeming victory, I still don’t trust robotic technology. It’s not too long before a couple of THESE buggers get a mind of their own and begin attacking us like a swarm of killer bees.
Looking for a trip to San Francisco? Have experience in information technology and database management and still looking for a summer internship? Most importantly, does your personality scream, “I’M WONDERFUL, TERRIFIC, AND AWESOME?!”
Yesterday, while combing through the reams of recently added internships on Tiger Tracks, I came upon the most brag-worthy position title of all. Nestled between jobs like “Software and Hardware Development Internship,” “Application Development and Management Adviser,” and “Real Estate Capital Advisory Summer Analyst” was the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it listing from Rapleaf, a private start up company:
“Amazing Engineer.”
Makes you wonder what qualifies one as ‘amazing,’ right? Well, according to the sparse job description:
“We need people who can deal with any challenge thrown their way. We only employ engineers who are incredibly hard working, extremely intelligent, and passionate about solving problems. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, we would love to hear from you.”
I’m still not quite sure what they’re looking for, but then again, I’m not an engineer so that’s pretty irrelevant. So for the non-engineers out there, keep your heads up high and repeat to yourself: “I’m amazing, and amazing I’ll be!”
Well, my mom tells me I'm pretty amazing...