Flyby Culture
Dean Hammonds or Tyga?
We asked people in the Science Center who they would rather share a meal with.
Grade Deflation at Yale?
With reading period just a few weeks away, Harvard students are busy preparing (or busy thinking about how they should be preparing) for the upcoming end of the semester. Yale students, meanwhile, work toward the end of the spring term with the knowledge that their grading system could undergo radical changes in the near future. Last week, after student protests, Yale faculty voted to table a proposal that would dramatically change Yale's grading distribution and scale.
Winklevi Invest in Anonymity
Call the Winklevoss twins "craggy" and "Neanderthal-esque" or "aggressively aristocratic" if you'd like... but don't accuse them of failing to learn from their mistakes. The Winklevosses again in the news once again, and this time we've learned that they're heavily invested in some internet technology that's definitely not Facebook. The New York Times reported yesterday that the Winklevosses own "one of the single largest portfolios" of bitcoins, a digital form of currency.
A PSA From the Internet, To You
Today the internet has a message for you, college students, and it is this: today's hottest social media channels are weapons, and they can and will be used against you (#you). And when they are, writers of well-read blogs will chronicle it and preserve it for posterity. This includes Flyby. This is a public service announcement, then, and it is in brief. If you are going to use the internet, use it wisely. There are many rules, and these are four:
Ben & Jerry's Teams Up With PBHA
Today may have been free cone day, but the more-than-usual goodness is lasting all month at our local Ben & Jerry's. People in Harvard Square now have a new option for delicious food that will satisfy both their physical hunger and their desire to do good. PBHA has teamed up with Ben & Jerry's to offer a new flavor of ice cream called "What-SUP."
Duck Penises, Perfect Chins, and Cornell's Inferiority Complex
The quick and dirty about what's been going on around the Ancient Eight (and other schools too). While Harvard traverses the murky and scandalous waters of cheating and lying, Yale's biggest scandal of late concerns duck penises. Apparently people aren't too happy that the National Science Foundation has dropped a cool $384,949 so that Yale scientists can investigate "Sexual Conflict, Social Behaviour and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia". What exactly are they going to do with all that money, you may be asking? Hopefully answer that pressing question of just how much duck penises shorten or lengthen depending on the time of year, the age of the duck, and its "social environment" (we'll leave it up to you to figure out what that means). Fascinating.
Harvard: No Longer the Stuff of Dreams?
For most students, gaining admission to Harvard is a dream come true. Or, is it? In a recent survey published by the Princeton Review, Harvard took second place to Stanford for top "dream" school among college applicants and their parents. For all those who bleed Crimson, this may come as a tough blow. We at Flyby took to investigating this ranking to determine what makes Stanford such great material for so many prospective college students' dreams.
Tyra for Yardfest (and Other Modest Proposals)
It's pretty clear that if the College Events Board cancels Tyga as this year's Yardfest performer, the chances of finding a suitable and affordable replacement for the rapper between now and April 15 are slim to none. But fear not! Flyby's come up with a list of some celebs who maybe, if we asked nicely enough, just might agree to come yell slurs at Harvard students on a Saturday afternoon in the near future.
Susan Patton's Marriage Advice for College Women
In this series, Flyby Staff Writer Olivia M. Munk identifies, dissects, and discusses ideas, articles, and opinions found in popular media and popular culture. She's here to inform you and to make you think—about what's out there, what it means to us, and what it might mean for you.
Feldstein's Top Secret Economics Notes Left on an Airplane?
"Some people left their economics notes on the plane. Can Martin Feldstein, Lawrence Summers, and Jeff Liebmann please come to gate C10 to retrieve your economics notes?"
'Do Good Well:' Advice from a Harvard Grad
mes, crimson and blue make a purple-ish color. Other times, crimson and blue make a book about changing the world. Nina Vasan '06, now pursuing a degree at Harvard Medical School, recently published "Do Good Well," a more-than-500-page guide for students and anyone interested in changing the world, with co-writer Jennifer Przybylo, a graduate of Yale University.
Yale's Salad Days
Dear Harvard, We know its midterms season and times are tough. From all of us at Flyby, here's something to put your mental anguish into perspective.
'now they're really gonna think you're high'
Since we last wrote on our Tip Box findings, we've seen months of great turmoil for Harvard, from freak weather storms to email hacking to contentious house rankings. One thing is clear: today's students live in uncertain times. Flyby tips from the past few months reflect the self-doubt and agitation of these trying months, as readers voice epistemological concerns (see Feb. 10), criticisms of society's materialism (Oct. 30), and possible drug-related paranoia (Dec. 13).
