Columns

CHEN | Why I Sign Away My Data

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Signing up for a grocery store rewards card, I’m hesitant to enter my real birthday. When asked for my name at Starbucks, I simply say my last name, ‘Chen’, instead of my first name — not just for fear of the mispronunciation. There are instances where using my real name, phone number or birthday feels like leaving my wallet out while going to the bathroom. However, the truth of the matter is that the internet probably already knows everything about me, from my shoe size to my preference in ice cream flavors. Humans are always trying to learn more about ourselves, whether it’s through our personality type or Buzzfeed telling us what kind of condiment we are.

Dining

Comfort Foods for When You’re Terrified for the Future of Our Country and the Upcoming Election

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The phrase Presidential Debate has become synonymous with “petty shouting match.” Ballot deadlines were extended and then revoked. Some Americans still haven’t received their absentee ballots, while others report “faulty” ballots that don’t list any presidential candidates at all. Everywhere we turn, it seems that there is new election news to lament and almost no way of letting out this stress while locked at home. The week before one of the most important elections of our lifetimes, Americans have never needed comfort food more. 
Logically, we all know that a bowl of chicken soup or mac and cheese can’t actually solve any of the turmoil our country is currently going through. A bag of crunchy, salty chips won’t do the trick either, yet we still turn to these familiar foods to support us emotionally when everything seems like it’s a bit too much to handle.

Columns

MORADI | CS Needs an Ethics Requirement

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Here’s a frightening proposition for this recruiting season: Cornell’s computer science undergraduates are woefully underprepared for careers in tech. Cornell’s CS undergrads are bright and technically apt. They learn from some of the best minds in the field, and they score some of the most coveted positions in the industry. It’s not that these future developers can’t solve the problems put forth before before them. It’s that they often have no idea what the problems are in the first place.

Columns

GOROKH | In Defense of Brian Wansink

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Correction appended. They call it p-hacking. Imagine one day inspiration strikes and you set out to prove that sushi can improve academic performance. You assemble the lucky volunteers and month after month make sure the rolls are delivered to their doorsteps. Come winter, all giddy with anticipation, you inquire about the performance of your subjects during the finals.