Telling it like it is. In a Friday New York Times profile of BuzzFeed Editor-In-Chief and Yale alum Ben Smith ’99, Smith defended the depth and importance of the content provided by the popular website. As an example, Smith called BuzzFeed’s April 2012 post “33 Animals Who Are Disappointed in You” as a “work of literature,” arguing that it took the author “like 15 hours finding images of animals that would express the particular palette of human emotion he was going for … and that in some ways is harder and more competitive than, say, political reporting.”
Uh oh. It looks like Blizzard Nemo is not quite finished with the Elm City just yet. According to a Saturday email from Branford Master Elizabeth Bradley GRD ’96, there was a major gas leak by Branford under High Street on Friday night. Though the issue will be resolved soon, Bradley said in her email that it will require major road upheaval and repair in the spring.
To infinity and beyond. In celebration of “National Engineers Week” — a national event series that aims to celebrate the contributions engineers make to society — Yale will host activities throughout the week to honor the University’s engineering culture. These events will range from entrepreneurship panels and ice cream socials to networking sessions and engineering trivia night.
Activism on Cross Campus. Students involved with the Yale Global Health and AIDS Coalition were spotted on Cross Campus on Friday protesting President Barack Obama’s proposed budget cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In addition to asking students and passers-by to sign a White House petition urging the president not to “break [their] hearts,” the organizers launched a photo campaign to spread the word on Facebook.
Speak no evil. In a Sunday Washington Post editorial, Robert Barnes questioned why Supreme Court Justice and Yale Law alum Clarence Thomas LAW ’74 never asks questions during oral arguments. Thomas, who is famous for his silence on the bench, reportedly jots down inquiries once in a while and asks fellow Justice Stephen Breyer to pose them on his behalf, according to Barnes.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1971 The water bed arrives in New Haven and immediately causes a stir. Recommended for those afflicted by insomnia, arthritis and impotency, the waterbed drives Yalies to question whether the new product will replace the standard mattress, and even encourages one entrepreneurial student to start selling water beds out of his dorm.
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