Facebook Yes, You Can Get Busted For Underage Drinking Based Off Your Facebook Photos
Well here we go: we fought the law, so the law decided to go on Facebook and browse random teenagers’ photos. The latest case in point: a 19-year-old University of Wisconsin student (that’s his profile picture, to the left, and no I don’t know which one he is specifically) accepted a friend request from a “good-looking” but unfamiliar girl. Shortly thereafter, the police contacted him and told him to come to the station, where they charged him with underage drinking. Great!
Eight students from the University of Wisconsin have now been charged with underage drinking based off Facebook photos. And you don’t even have to have uploaded the incriminating photo yourself! According to the article, “Someone else posted photos on a Facebook site of UW-L sophomores Brianna Niesen and Cassie Stenholt holding beer, but they still ended up in court Wednesday pleading no contest and getting fined.”
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Politics Senator Rudy Guiliani?
Senator Rudy Guiliani?
Former New York City mayor and professor of 9/11 studies Rudy Guiliani will not run for Governor of New York against either David Paterson or Andrew Cuomo, according to The New York Times. But fear not! Rudy will not leave New Yorkers to the sanity of Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The AP reports that Guiliani is “seriously considering” challenging Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand was appointed to the seat only last year, so Guiliani’s OCD (btw, 9/11) might not be as heavy a burden as it would be against Schumer.
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Gay Rights Your Early-Morning Gay News Roundup
Your Early-Morning Gay News Roundup
- If you’re a gay couple living in New York state that got legally married outside New York state, you can still be considered married here. But if you want to get married within New York state, you still have to wait for the Senate to actually, you know, vote on the issue. (Will hopefully happen by the end of 2009.)
Occupation UC Students Occupy UCLA Building to Protest Fee Increase (Updates)
UC Students Occupy UCLA Building to Protest Fee Increase (Updates)
In Westwood, Ca., hundreds of UC students have organized a TBNYU-esque occupation at UCLA, protesting the likely approval of UC fee increase — UC students don’t pay tuition, but “fees” — to help the state overcome its absurd deficit.
About 50 students have taken over building Campbell Hall, where they have chained the doors shut and are wearing intimidating bandanas. Naturally, hundreds more (representing various UC campuses) have joined them outside the building, with picket signs and even more bandanas. Hm, this all sounds so familiar.
The group (with no distinct name) has released an audio statement encouraging students “who work two or three jobs while going to school” or for parents who will lose “the prospect of affordable education” to join in on the protest. Their only demand asks that state leadership find “other alternatives” besides increasing UC fees.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 16:09 - by Kenneth Hsu
health care Proposed Senate Health Care Bill Ditches Stupak Amendment. Kinda.
Proposed Senate Health Care Bill Ditches Stupak Amendment. Kinda.
Vexing conservatives, pacifying liberals and clearly telling moderates to strap on a pair, the proposed Senate health care bill revealed last night is a favorably nuanced version of the House bill passed earlier this month to “save lives, save money and protect medicare,” in the words of majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the plan will cover 94% of Americans and cost $849 billion, which will reportedly reduce the number of uninsured by 31 million and the budget deficit by $127 billion in the first 10 years. The bill also allows States to pass legislation to opt out of the public option.
The proposed Senate bill also relaxes the stringent limitations imposed on abortion coverage by the Stupak Amendment. Federal funding for abortions remains forbidden, but women on the public option could conceivably receive insurance for abortions as long as the Secretary of Health and Human Services verifies that Federal money doesn’t contribute to the particular payment plan for it.
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Recession NYU Endowment Weathering Storm
NYU Endowment Weathering Storm
It has been a rough year and a half for anyone investing in the stock market. Although Wall Street is showing some signs of life (even as unemployment is looking is bleak as ever), the pain is only just starting to subside. College endowments across the country took a beating during the recession, forcing layoffs, hiring and pay freezes, and service cuts.
The downturn was certainly not kind to NYU. As we speak, the reengineering efforts are trimming budgets and staff across the University in order to offset some of the damage to the university’s finances.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that in the Fiscal Year 2009 (ending June 30th) the NYU endowment shrank by 12% to $2.2 billion, down from $2.49 billion. You might be surprised to know that this is very encouraging news. Continue…
Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:14 - by Charlie Eisenhood
Breaking: Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” Has Gone Rogue
Breaking: Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” Has Gone Rogue
Going Rogue, Sarah Palin’s obnoxiously omnipresent new book has, in fact, gone rogue itself. From shooting sprees to godless sex with a heretical text, the account of “a reformer who cast aside politics-as-usual and pushed through changes other politicians only talked about” has clearly snapped under the weight of so much jingoism.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 13:01 - by Lily Q
Recession NYU Prof. Roubini Predicts More Economic Woe
NYU Prof. Roubini Predicts More Economic Woe
Likening our fate to one of the apocalyptic films on Dan’s list is probably a more optimistic outlook on the future of civilization than NYU Stern Professor Nouriel Roubini’s latest column about the economic crisis for NY Daily News.
He predicts unemployment will rise throughout 2010 and plateau at 11% for at least two years. Roubini cites the weak labor markets as a possible catalyst for a (terrifying) double dip recession. To avoid imminent doom, he advocates “a bold prescription that increases the fiscal stimulus with another round of labor-intensive, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, helps fiscally strapped state and local governments and provides a temporary tax credit to the private sector to hire more workers.”
What’s he basing all this off? Well, I’ve hidden the facts listed in his article after the jump to give fair warning to anyone who isn’t a freshman: it’s grim reading if you plan on entering the job market before 2013.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 11:30 - by Surekha Ratnatunga
Obamarama Obama Champions Uncensored Internet in China
Obama Champions Uncensored Internet in China
Pleasing both civil libertarians and nerds alike, President Obama told a town hall in Shanghai packed with Chinese youths that an uncensored internet is a good thing. He called access to information “a universal right,” that should be available indiscriminately, “because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable, they can begin to think for themselves.” Not exactly the best sales pitch to the Chinese government, but I hope it got the general population there thinking.
Granted, the “Great Firewall of China” will not tumble just because Obama says he hopes it will, but it took balls to highlight China’s horrendous record on censorship while actually visiting the country and speaking to the age demographic most inclined to rebellion. (Perhaps this defiant move in China will appease neocons after bow-gate in Japan.)
Also, revelation: Obama has “never used Twitter”? Despite that fact, he certainly does well for himself on the medium with his 2,668,863 followers.
Monday, November 16, 2009 14:30 - by Surekha Ratnatunga
Miracles of Modern Science Return Your Plastic Shower Curtain, It’s Turning Your Son Into A Girl
Return Your Plastic Shower Curtain, It’s Turning Your Son Into A Girl
Phthalates are chemicals that “have the ability to disrupt hormones [...] by blocking out the action of the male hormone testosterone.” This means that “males exposed to high doses” of the chemicals in the womb “went on to be less likely to play with boys’ toys like cars or to join in rough and tumble games.” Phthalates are evil chemicals, because they do not conform to our society’s notions of a rigid and stereotypical gender binary!
Seriously, abstaining from wrestling and playing with “cars, trains and guns” makes you less of a man? What, did Hasbro fund this study? Why is any of this “worrying”? A century ago, not playing with a hoop and stick meant you were an antisocial loser stuck with antebellum ideals. Ten years ago, we all loved Warheads; they weren’t just candy—they were a test of endurance. Kids change! They lose interest in cars and toy guns and “play-fighting,” though that’s not even true for every boy–many retain their love of silly “masculine” activities through adolescence.
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