The Online Gargoyle

Where there's a Will there's a way

Will Fernandez — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:47:43 -0600

William is a very powerful name.

It came from the Germanic roots Wil, meaning "will or desire", and Helm, meaning "helmet, protection." Hence a person named William is a determined protector, someone who will give up at nothing to protect what he has set out to keep safe.

Blogging about my favorite blog

Eleni Yannelis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:58:59 -0600

One of my many current blog obsessions is "Stuff White People Like." This is by far the most engaging blog I've encountered, and it strays far from my normal read.

A mobile memorial: The USS New York docks

Kelly A. Mover — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:56:02 -0600

You probably expected to see a 9/11 memorial rise from "Ground Zero." Perhaps a symbolic statue or a new building would stand in that spot, to symbolize our resilience in the face of terrorism. However, a memorial to the World Trade Center was unveiled today … in New York Harbor.

Staten Island's got talent!

Anna Gooler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:10:39 -0500

I have found something amazing on YouTube. Actually, about 70 amazing somethings. Seventy amazing 10-year-old singing somethings.

Want a different H1N1 vaccine? Eggsactly!

Laura Dripps — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:28:53 -0500

After a seriously sick (ill, not demented) couple of weeks here at school, Uni is finally getting the H1N1 vaccine.

Robots: The sports journalists of the future?

Chris Yoder — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:45:42 -0500

You've probably heard the news by now: The future of journalism is changing. As the digital age progresses, Web sites, online feeds, and Twitter have become as commonplace as the local newsstand once was.

What, then, if the need to write stories altogether were to disappear entirely?

According to a blog in The New York Times, the need to write recaps of sporting events could become a thing of the past. At Northwestern University, a program generates recaps of baseball games based on their box scores. You provide the stats, the quotes, and the pictures, and the bot does the rest.

Porcinenza, anyone?

Hadley Hauser — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:48:01 -0500

As Uni's numbers bounce back from last week's first major wave of flu-related absences, let us refrain from dwelling on the nasty specifics of swine flu. Instead, let us focus our efforts on sprucing up the aura of this horrid malady.

Put down the camera, back away from the keyboard

Sindha Agha — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:16:35 -0500

Heads up, trick-or-treaters

Eric Chen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:37:03 -0500

Heads up! Trick-or-treating times on Halloween this Saturday are from 5 to 7 p.m. in Champaign and Urbana.

A surprise Halloween

Maritza Mestre — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:13:11 -0500

I’m kind of crazy about the holidays. I have multiple boxes full of costumes for all different holidays — other than just Halloween. I have light-up pins and springy headbands for the Fourth of July, sparkly shirts and reindeer ears for Christmas, clover-print shirts for St. Patrick’s Day, and egg earrings for Easter. Then, of course, are the Halloween costumes and trinkets.

The greatest Dane at warp speed

Katherine Allen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:29:56 -0500

Looking into architecture programs, I have been puzzled by a study abroad program in Denmark, offered by some. A venture to Rome is obvious, London too, but Copenhagen? After happening upon a talk by Bjarke Ingels, I realized I couldn’t be more uninformed.

The magic of a card game

Danny Ge — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:07:05 -0500

Lately, I have not been able to step into the lounge without seeing an array of strange cards littered across the table. Well, maybe not littered. There is a definite order to the layout of these cards and there are people behind them, picking them up and placing them down with authority.

Dear Elliott …

Katy Metcalf — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:13:00 -0500

Dear Elliott,

You died, one day before I turned 10.

I always knew a fuzzy animal controlled Kanye West

Will Fernandez — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:58:15 -0500

Kanye West has lost it.

Balloon Boy!

Mohammad Jaber — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:35:44 -0500

Last week, millions of Americans kept track of the amazing saga of Balloon Boy, Falcon Heene, a 6-year-old who was thought to have been on a helium-based balloon when it was accidentally released from his house in Colorado.

Financial education needed

Nancy Tang — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:45:39 -0500

In my experience, high schools don’t teach money management. They teach study skills.

Good grades can carry us to a certain point, and they are still important in evaluating a student. But unlike in the Industrial Age, they no longer guarantee success. With the recent economic downturn, they no longer even ensure a job.

Tiger Woods, come get your gold medal?

Eunjung Kim — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:49:43 -0500

On Oct. 9, the International Olympic Committee voted to reinstate golf (and rugby) as an Olympic sport.

Let me tell your fortune

Nikita Dutta — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:06:17 -0500

I have to admit that fortune cookies have long been the highlight of my Chinese — well, Americanized Chinese — food experience. Fortune cookies are like the prize in the cereal box or the cheesy joke on the Popsicle stick. They're the Happy Meal toys of Chinese takeout.

Free key chains

Jenny Cooke — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:32:49 -0500

This weekend I was cleaning my room and I found tons of key chains on a metal ring. I wondered where I got all of these ridiculous key chains and why I had bothered to keep them. I conducted a through investigation by expending the effort to read the key chains.

Obama made Twitter angry, but not me!

Luke Karmazin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:35:51 -0500

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this morning that President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He is the third president to win the prize while in office, and the only one to receive it in his first year on the job.