Posts by David Winer

In a move that likely followed years of administrative deliberation, Financial and Administrative Services announced January 19 that it would be phasing out the vending stripe on the Brown Card. Shortly, all vending purchases — including laundry, printing, and the sketchy personal pizzas available from the machine outside of Jo’s — will use the thick magnetic stripe and draw from students’ “Bear Bucks” accounts.

“Bear Bucks” is the new term for monopoly money Declining Balance, which will continue to serve as a payment option at Brown eateries and the bookstore.

According to a January 19 announcement in Morning Mail, only PAWPrints and copier stations have been upgraded so far, with upgrades to vending and laundry machines still pending. Most of the CVC machines on campus have been upgraded as well, so now only the CVC machines in the Bear’s Lair, the SciLi, and EmWool (outside of the V-Dub) will be available for adding money to the vending stripe. [Read more →]

Photo by Emily Gilbert / Herald

As you may have noticed, our beloved parent organization, The Brown Daily Herald, stopped production about a week ago, and yet we are still chugging away, doing our level best to bring you all the news that’s fit to blog. But, with the finals countdown reaching its bitter end, we must at last buckle down and do our schoolwork. We’ll still be here throughout finals period with breaking news and study breaks, but our regular posting will slow down.

Remember to keep sending news, tips and suggestions to blog@browndailyherald.com. Also, shoot us an email if you want to write for us in the spring. ‘Cuz we want you.  [Read more →]

AGAIN?!?!  Yes.

Just when you thought that finals period had completely sucked away your will to live, the Intergalactic Community of A Capella came to the rescue with a glass-shattering rendition of “All Rise.” The usual rules apply: bring blankets, food and, if you’re feeling especially daring, a bottle of Strongbow. The Facebook event also promises that the portraits in Sayles will come alive and join in the festivities, so, yeah, there’s always that if you’re not into the whole music thing. We know that you have a shit ton of work, but so does everyone else.

The concert, taking place in Sayles, starts at midnight (but get there earlier if you want good seats!) and goes until 2 am.

Image via.

Andy Suzuki ’09 and his band, The Method, are playing a “secret show” at the Gate. It’s completely free and happening right now (it began at 7:30). C’mon, take a study break. You know you want to.

Photo by Emily Gilbert / Herald

WiSE Study Break
6-8 pm
SciLi 3rd Floor

Enjoy gingerbread, eggnog and Christmas specials with WiSE to take a break from all that studying. Humanities concentrators welcome, too.

Breakthrough Collaborative Informational
7-8:30 pm

Learn about opportunities to teach middle school students over the summer! There’s no indication of what kind of free food will be available at this info session, but we’re hopeful.

All Class Holiday Study Break
Petteruti Lounge, Faunce
7-8 pm

Schmooze with your classmates and enjoy hot chocolate while building gingerbread houses. The Class Coordinating Board has extended this invitation to faculty as well, so we can only hope that our favorite dean will be in attendance.

Movie and Food with the NeuroDUG
8-10 pm
MacMillan 115

Come to get free Kabob and Curry and see The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

Sarah Doyle Women’s Center Parks and Rec Study Break
8:30-9:30 pm
Sarah Doyle Women’s Center

Watch the most recent episode of Parks and Recreation while enjoying cookies with the folks from the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center.

Sarah Kay ’10 has published an illustrated version of her poem “B”, the piece with which she opened her TED talk in March.  The poem, dedicated to a hypothetical future daughter, is poignant, funny, unbelievably wise beyond Kay’s years and hard to summarize in one sentence — which is why you should listen to it yourself.  Available for only $6, the beautiful hardcover features illustrations by Sophia Janowitz, Kay’s oldest friend and a 2010 Yale graduate.  With nothing but five-star reviews so far, “B” is #70 on Amazon’s bestsellers list and rising, surpassing even Tina Fey’s autobiography.  You can buy the book and read a brief interview with Kay here.

Many of Kay’s spoken word poems can be found online. Kay first performed for a national audience when she recited an original poem entitled “Hands” on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam in 2007.  Since then, she has become a YouTube sensation; her videos regularly receive upward of 100,000 hits, and the recording of her performance on HBO boasts over 700,000. She has performed in the UK, India, the Czech Republic and South Africa. Joined by Phil Kaye ’10, Kay co-directs Project V.O.I.C.E., a nonprofit that brings spoken word poetry to grade school students.

Kay is currently working toward an MAT in Secondary English Education at Brown.

Eat free or dine trying.
_______

“Quantum Computing: A Great Science in the Making”
4-5 pm
CIT Room 368

Andrew Chi-Chih Yao of Tsinghua University in Beijing will discuss the challenges and promises of quantum computing. The CS department generally holds pretty good (read: generous) receptions after its lectures, so definitely check this one out if you have any interest in the subject of the talk.

MMI Fall Seminar: Leo Lefrancois, Ph.D.
4-5 pm
Biomed 291

Wattup refreshments. I see you being served at 3:45 pm.

(Be)Longing: A Workshop on Race and Desire in the LGBTQ Community
7-9 pm
Robert Campus Center, Petteruti Lounge

Sponsored by TWC, QPAC and the LGBTQ Center. There will also be free pizza!

The Reporter screening
8 pm
List 120

Disclaimer: this film is not about an intrepid blogger/Brown student who, through his misadventures in cyberspace, discovers his true calling in life. It’s about, like, a crisis in the DRC and some NYT reporter. Whatevs. Free Nice Slice.

Yele Haiti — a charity run by former Africana Studies visiting fellow and hip hop artist Wyclef Jean — spent less than a third of its $16 million revenue on emergency relief efforts in 2010, according to a report published by the New York Post on Sunday.

In addition to spending millions on various dubious contracts, Jean’s charity also paid $1 million to Amisphere Farm Labor Inc., a Florida-based firm that “doesn’t seem to exist.”

After the Haiti earthquake struck on January 12, 2010, Jean asked his twitter followers for $5 donations, which immediately came pouring in. Prior to the earthquake, the charity had been especially cash strapped, reporting a $244,000 net loss in 2009.

These allegations mark the second time that Jean’s charity has come under serious media scrutiny for its use of donations. Four years ago, Yele Haiti spent  $250,000 on a Haitian television station jointly owned by Jean and his cousin, Jerry Duplessis. This expense was then publicized in a 2010 report by the New York Post that first criticized Yele Haiti for its spending practices. [Read more →]

Mugging difficulties? Learn how to deal with a sticky situation and get some much-needed post-Thanksgiving exercise with this baffling Japanese instructional video. Disclaimer: BlogDH and its staff do not in any way endorse ‘80s-style dancercize as an effective response to assault. Attempt at your own risk.

You know the look. It’s one you get when you have “This is Why You’re Fat” open in a fullscreen window smack in the middle of your upper-level English class. You feel its arrival from the judging eyes of the holier-than-thou student behind you, boring a hole in the back of your head. The ‘look’ says, at once, “I’m better than you” and “I feel sorry for you.” It transmits the universal sentiment that every student thinks about his or her distracted peers at some point during the semester: “Is this really what you’re paying tuition for?” Coincidentally, it’s the exact same look that the strangely old City Politics Head TA would give you every time he walked through the aisle and realize that you were on Facebook, rather than paying attention to the supposedly fascinating chair of the Political Science Department. It’s not a good look.

It’s hard out there for an internet pimp. Not everyone appreciates the importance of staying up-to-the-minute on one’s favorite blogs. Gawker is not going to read itself. And, no, not everyone realizes that it is, in fact, okay to read the crown jewel of the Herald empire when you’re supposed to be learning about the British crown jewels. Sometimes education really does get in the way of true learning.

So, don’t let anyone give you shit about your in-class reading habits. Stick to your guns, and, using our new favorite site, send all the folks behind you shooting you the ‘look’ a (big ass) message. I be readin’ my internetz, bitches.