This watch, stamped from a solid block of steel, features “luminescent hands and markers,” “Swiss-made Quartz” technology, and, yes, the Brown University crest. You can add this notable Tag Heuer watch to your Amazon.com wish list, but with its nearly $2,000 price tag, you might as well commemorate your love for Brown by getting a building named after you instead.

“Unlike most colleges and universities, Brown imports no Commencement speaker for the College ceremonies,” according to the university’s Commencement website (though we’ve ‘exported’: President Simmons has given commencement speech at multiple campuses). Last year, we got journo Fareed Zakaria for the baccalaureate address, (which is apparently very similar to, but not the same thing as, commencement?!), and the year before that it was Dave Eggers. This year’s speaker — who addresses only graduating seniors in a small ceremony, rather than the whole mess of PhDs, MDs, and family and friends at the big Commencement — has yet to be announced, but here’s a — completely subjective — list of the most interesting people addressing the class of ’10 on other campuses:

10) Vanderbilt University: Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns

9) Western Connecticut State University: Wyclef Jean, musician and producer

8 ) Vassar College: Lisa Kudrow, actress [Read more →]

A Providence police union has said Mayor Cicilline’s proposal to test members of the Providence Police Department randomly for drugs violates state law. The office of Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Patrick C. Lynch has expressed agreement with the union.

Central Falls High School students held a silent vigil outside the school Tuesday for the teachers the district fired.

A seal that the Mystic Aquarium rescued off the coast of Maine in January has been released back into the wild. Watch that little guy go!

1950 — Sharpe Refectory opens. In 1952, the lunch and dinner meals are carried to table by student waiters, and dinner music plays every other night. Seriously!

1952 — A new “chit” system promises to put an end to free-loading at the Ratty, until the invention of the backpack later that year.

1964 — The Ratty re-instates a coat-and-tie dress code. No riots ensue. [Read more →]

Princeton undergrads work “100-hour weeks” and opt for ” ‘bitchwork,’ ” while “superhero undergraduates” at Harvard create 28-hour days. Evidently, “Harvard kids don’t want to do 5,000 things at 97 percent; they’d rather do 3,000 things at 150 percent.”

For a glimpse of what your life could have been like, check out the start of Princeton’s “three-part series on careers in investment banking and consulting” or this feature on why students in Cambridge are just so busy.

Experts in one article call the nonstop lifestyle “overcompensation.” Others hypothesize that students hope to validate their undergraduate experience.

But perhaps it’s just one big cry for help because they simply aren’t happy.

For all you scientists out there (social scientists included!), here’s a falling sand game for you to practice your gravity/physics/chemistry skills, outside of lab.

Eat free or die trying.

——
Tea and Feminism: Men and Feminism
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Sarah Doyle Women’s Center
So it’s not quite food, but tea is restorative.

Hiccups in Investigation
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Smitty B 201
Royce fellows talk about unanticipated blunders and surprises; you eat refreshments

The Inaugural WiSE Wednesday Event at the Science Center!
7 p.m.
Science Center Lounge
(Pizza) dinner with Professor Jan Tullis
RSVP required to wise.at.brown@gmail.com

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: the official Spring weekend lineup, straight from BCA. And it’s good. In order of performance:

On FRIDAY, we’ve got widely hyped reggae/dancehall-inflected Diplo side project Major Lazer.

Grammy-nominated MGMT will headline. Coming to us after a stop at Coachella, we’ll be among the first to hear live versions of the Wesleyan University progeny’s new CD. And we’ll probably be the millionth to hum out loud with “Kids.” [Read more →]

In a surprise move, the V-Dub served chicken fingers at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. After apparently running out of Beef Stew, the dining establishment turned to its most trusted fare for the last 15 minutes of the lunch session.

At the time, there were only a handful of diners huddling over their remnants of Tomato Quiche (unappetizing), and few seemed to notice the surprise arrival (more appetizing).

Even if it was an obvious cost-saving measure (leftovers, thawed), we’re not complaining (yet). Although that mystery Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Roll that kept appearing (Friday, Monday lunch, Monday dinner)? Not cool.

What to do when you want to simultaneously enjoy the sunshine AND stay in bed? Make like this resourceful Pembroker, spotted outside Smitty B, and take a sleeping bag outside.