In the spirit of promoting “geographic diversity,” NYU will not allow incoming freshmen to choose their roommates, starting with the 2013-14 class. In fact, they’re completely changing the method used to place first-year students. Rather than taking potential compatibility into account, the school’s new housing policy will match up classmates in the seven first-year residence […]
The latest proposal to clean up and deal with the toxic waste that’s plaguing Brooklyn’s Gowanus canal involves building giant holding tanks underneath the nearby Douglass & DeGraw swimming pool, which would catch and store raw sewage before it hits the waterway. Ensuring that the canal isn’t hit with excess waste every time sewers overflow […]
Cab Roulette is a recurring series in which comedian Dan Speiser interviews cab drivers about their experiences on the job. Victor is a former illegal immigrant from China who teaches Dan some basic Mandarin and tells him not to go to school. Episode 1: Abdulai Episode 2: Tony Episode 3: Adama Episode 4: Santos Episode […]
That’s twisted. Beijing artist Li Hongbo creates sculptures that look smooth and porcelain until you stretch them, lengthening in endless layers of soft white paper with almost invisible crevices, like some kind of psychedelic accordion, aaaaah. See busts, faces, skulls stretched and twisted with the mailability of a digital entity. Then see a backbone unfold in connected vertebrae. Li Hongbo is an artist […]
Jack White has outdone himself this time. The man who fronted one of the greatest bands of his generation, who collaborated with Insane Clown Posse to reinterpret Mozart, who got Stephen Colbert to release a garage rock single, is releasing his next project on old medical X-Ray printouts cut with grooves so they can be […]
We’ve already discussed the various reasons why Russians have dash-cams, reasons which may or may not be tank related. But here’s one Russian driver who isn’t intimidated by the legally-sporadic and “allegedly” bribe-happy traffic police. Meet Russian taxi driver Nikitta Rumyantsev who knows his traffic laws. All of them. Verbatim. And when the cops who stop […]
The NYPD has released a report detailing the precinct and racial demographics of all stop-and-frisks from 2011, after receiving pressure from the New York Civil Liberties Union. The results are astounding, and just another indication of the racial profiling and bias that goes into the practice. Ninety percent of stops in all of the city […]
A group of Scottish scientists has pulled off what they believe to be the first instance of 3D-printing using human embryonic stem cells. They believe the breakthrough could lead to synthetic organs used for drug testing–removing innocent animals from the process and giving more accurate results on how a drug interacts with human tissue–and eventually […]
We’re all cyborgs. Technology has become so omnipresent in each of our lives that our brains have begun engaging in new behaviors that are molded around it, argues technologist and entrepreneur Amber Case. And to help us better understand the ways in which that’s happening, she’s created the Illustrated Dictionary of Cyborg Anthropology, a volume that […]
When Rep. Carolyn Maloney announced she would be seeking to have the 77th Street 6 Train station renamed in honor of the late former mayor Ed Koch, the MTA was firm that it wouldn’t happen. Now, Maloney appears to have taken the hint, and is withdrawing her request to make the renaming happen, in favor […]
