Now that Halloweekend’s over, and you’ve finally found the remnants of your slutty [insert animal here] costume scattered around campus, it’s time to look to the future: responsible balancing of school work looking for another excuse to drink.

Here are some of the stranger red letter days for breaking out the red cups.

The Big Ones

Hannukah – Why party on just one holy day when you can party for more than a week straight? Here’s to having another miracle: a single handle of vodka that lasts for eight whole nights. Mazel tov! December 20th-28th

Holi – The Queer Alliance can’t hog the rainbow; break out the color in a giant pigment fight to celebrate the beginning of spring. Just don’t dare throw glitter—that shit’s the herpes of craft. March 20 [Read more →]

Despite what Jersey Shore may lead you to believe, recent studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between your intelligence level and your level of drinking.

According to various studies, you are boozing it up because a.) you are an early adopter of this marvelous new thing known as “alcohol,” or b.) you are making up for a childhood spent time mastering the intricacies of D&D, or c.) it’s the only way you can deal with stupid people around you.

Drunk as F[uck], kinda like a FML for drinking. Be regaled with stupid/disgusting/poorly advised stories of people drinking too much. Maybe it’ll make you feel better about your weekends. Or give you an anonymous forum to air your dirty laundry.

There aren’t new posts terribly frequently, so evidently it hasn’t quite taken off yet. Maybe if you like it, you can make it happen.

As it’s beginning to reach mid-October, students–sophomores, especially–are starting to think about where they might find themselves in the world, studying abroad, next year. When trying to decide where to go, there are lots of things to consider: do I want to spend three months in this country? Will I get to travel around? What will I be studying? How will I meet people? Will I speak the language?

These are all important things to consider, but according to The Huffington Post, there may be one more thing to add to your list of considerations: booze. An article in The Huffington Post entitled, “Students Learning Abroad Increase Drinking: Study,” declares, “Students who go abroad while in college are likely to increase or even double their alcohol intake while they’re away, a new study has found.” Maybe not, but isn’t that kind of obvious? In most other countries, drinking under the age of 21 is either totally legal or not a problem. And the survey mirrors that fact saying, “Students who were less than the legal drinking age in the United States increased their drinking while abroad by about 170 percent…The overall increase was about 105 percent.” It makes sense that if the drinking age is legal and you’re studying away from home, you’re probably going to drink more. But worry not, concerned citizens remaining on campus — your peers’ new drinking habits won’t stick with them when they return to their U.S. campus.

So if you’re considering studying abroad in Europe, Australia, or New Zealand, you may want to keep this so called “spring-break drinking culture” in mind.

Photo via The Yale Daily News

According to The Yale Daily News, police officers raided an off campus More-Ezra Stiles “screw” (a Yale version of SPG?) as part of “Operation Nightlife” to “curb violence in the downtown entertainment district.” Apparently, a dozen police officers stormed the club with SWAT gear and assault rifles, ultimately resulting in the Tasering of one student and arrest of 5…and I thought Brown was supposed to be a dangerous place.

So in the problem-free utopia that is New Haven, the question begs to be asked, why is the NHPD spending $15,000 a weekend targeting college kids, especially Yalies?  Has ResCollege competition gotten out of hand? Are the Whiffs at war with the Doox? Is tapping stirring up strife between secret societies?   We Brunonians may never know. But hey, that’s why we didn’t choose Yale.

A video, clearly showing that the popo meant business, after the jump.   [Read more →]

Courtesy of Chattahbox

Don’t get us wrong; we relish saving the environment as much as the next college blog, but ever since Brown discontinued the sale plastic water bottles, other (more trivial) issues have surfaced.

According to the Providence Journal, Brown is the first Ivy League school to purge itself of the environmentally-offensive plastic water bottles. (And that is pretty tremendous. Of course Brown had to be first. That’s who we are.)

“While plastic water bottles are often more practical, Brown has been really good about distributing reusable ones,” freshman David Jacobs commented while sipping from his aluminum canteen.

Based 100% on anecdotal and flimsy evidence, however, some Brown students seem slightly insulted by the dearth of expendable, portable potables.   [Read more →]

Graph made using GSS by Blog staff

Okay, not quite. But someone over at Discover had a bit too much time on their hands. Using apparently existing stats on alcohol consumption and demographics, the blogger produced drinking data on various cross tabs of the population, including religion, gender, and region.

But perhaps the most relevant to Brown students would be the finding that people who drink more scored higher on a vocabulary test.

Obviously that’s not to say that the drinking made these people have better vocabularies. It’s correlative, not causative (or some mumbo jumbo I don’t remember from high school Stats class). But it may make you feel a little less guilty about the Friday night activities you’re about to engage in.

In case you have an entirely different conception of an awesome Friday night, you can create your own cross tabs if you want to check Discover‘s work or if you’re curious about other demographic trends.

Party on, Garth.

Company of fish
No seafood, but hot bodies
Flutter in the breeze

…Be safe children, but don’t forget to submit your fishkus (FishCo themed haikus) to fishco@browndailyherald.com.

Students at Bates, the liberal arts college in a quiet town in Maine, got excessively rowdy at a party last night, according to the Sun Journal.

Police were called in from neighboring districts, and several people were taken away in ambulances.

Let’s hope Campus Dance doesn’t end with quite this much excitement.

Due to the insanely bizarre freak thunderstorm that just happened (you may have noticed the thunder, lightning, pouding rain and hail), SPEC has sent out this message via Facebook regarding its Carnival, which was due to be on the Main Green at 5.

Hey everyone. We just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all of your support these past few days. Due to rain, rides and carnival games cannot be set up outside. Fortunately, we still have PLENTY of food!

COME TO THE BLUE ROOM between 5-8 TONIGHT FOR SNOW CONES, COTTON CANDY, POPCORN, HAMBURGERS AND HOT DOGS!

See you then!

Thanks,
SPEC

P.S. Stay tuned for Carnival Part 2!

Terribly disappointing news for all those who hoped to partake in some inebriated inflatable obstacle course races. Of course they’ll still have food in the Blue Room. And not sure what that Carnival Part 2 thing means. Maybe we’ll have another day of inflated fun on the Green?

Anyway, thanks, Rhode Island weather.