Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 5, 2002

Volume 30, Number 24

"Medical tragedies do not occur, so much as they evolve; they happen when one mistake is compounded by others along the line; they happen when the system breaks down or is inadequate. Thank God for the system.

-- Clinical professor of surgery (gastroenterology) Dr. Sherwin Nuland in his article "Medical Malpractice: Blame the System," The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2002.

"People aren't electing insanity defenses when they could."

-- Professor of psychiatry Dr. Howard V. Zonana, "Yates' Trial Illustrates Pitfalls of Insanity Defense," New Haven Register, March 15, 2002.

"How proteins work individually and how they work together is very important for understanding basic biological processes like development and how disease states arise."

-- Chair of the Departments of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology and Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry Michael Snyder, "Pinpointing Yeast's Proteins," United Press International, March 14, 2002.

"I like the term 'irrational exuberance,' which is Alan Greenspan's term. Other people use, like the term, 'speculative orgy' or 'speculative mania.' And those are too strong. Now, the question is, in what sense is it irrational? It's not stupid. I can easily see someone believing that the market is going to go up from here. But I believe it's irrational in the sense that we're kind of the blind leading the blind here."

-- Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics Robert J. Shiller, "Does 'Irrational Exuberance' Still Undermine The Markets?" "The Money Gang," CNNfn, March 14, 2002.

"Up to 5 million kids in the U.S. have asthma. It doesn't make good sense to expose them to diesel exhaust."

-- Associate professor of environmental risk analysis & policy John P. Wargo, "An Exhaustive Study," New Haven Register, March 21, 2002.

"Drug trafficking has led to arms smuggling and corruption, while also providing a key source of funding for Central Asian opposition groups based in Afghanistan. One of the first tasks awaiting the new Afghan government, therefore, is to curtail the opium trade. But doing so will be a daunting challenge, given that the trade is extremely profitable and provides a much needed source of revenue for a war-ravaged population. Indeed, farmers in areas where the Taliban wiped out the poppy crop may now revert to growing poppies, which are much more profitable than food crops."

-- Assistant professor of political science Pauline Jones Luong and Erika Weinthal of Tel Aviv University in their article "New Friends, New Fears in Central Asia," Foreign Affairs, March 2002.

"I don't think you produce something full blown from the head of Zeus and say, 'Here.' What we've got to do is start putting some of the pieces out, and as you put out all these pieces you arrive at a point where there's some general agreement."

-- Adjunct professor at the School of Architecture Alexander Garvin about the project to rebuild lower Manhatan after the Sept. 11 attacks, "What Does This City Need? O.K., You Asked," The New York Times, March 20, 2002.

"[Americans] comprise slightly less than 5 per cent of the world's population but we imbibe 27 percent of the world's annual oil production, create and consume nearly 30 percent of its Gross World Product and -- get this -- spend a full 40 percent of all the world's defense expenditures. By my calculation, the Pentagon's budget is nowadays roughly equal to the defense expenditures of the next nine or 10 highest defense-spending nations -- which has never before happened in history."

-- J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History Paul Kennedy in his article "Has the United States Lost Its Way?" The Nation (Thailand), March 9, 2002.

"[Edward H.] Amet may not be a major figure, but he's certainly a very interesting one. He was one of the most important film producers of the 1890s, and he was a very talented machinist and mechanic. He was always fooling around with the very latest technology, and if he didn't always perfect it, it was because he didn't have the backing Edison did."

-- Professor of American studies Charles Musser, "Waukegan Inventor Was Rival of Edison And Putative Father of the Newsreel and 'Juke Joint'," The Associated Press, March 17, 2002.

"Our society puts such a premium on smarts, on IQ and SATs, that it almost completely neglects wisdom, which is how you use your intelligence for good ends. . . . The events of September 11 have underscored for us how much more important wise is than smart. A lot of smart people are using their smarts to create bombs, to calculate where to land the plane so there will be maximum damage. If we don't put some emphasis on how we use knowledge, the world is in trouble."

-- IBM Professor of Psychology & Education Robert J. Sternberg, "Were They Stupid, Foolish or Just Plain Cruel?" The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 15, 2002.

"My greatest fear is the lack of post-marketing surveillance. It is often not until a drug is in widespread use that you can see if there are life-threatening events."

-- Dean of the School of Medicine Dr. David Kessler, "The Americas: 'Lack of Checks' on Drugs After Launch," ft.com, March 20, 2002.

"Some people are quite heavy, yet are fit. Maybe to the outside world, you don't look healthy, but still you can be. It's relatively new thinking, that you can be fat and fit at the same time."

-- Director of the Center for Eating & Weight Disorders Dr. Kelly Brownell, "Pursuing Fat Chances in a Slim World; Obese Women Say They Can Be Fit Enough -- Even to Teach Aerobics," The San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2002.

"My sense from talking to students and other faculty is that out of class, students are interested in hearing another person's point of view, but not interested in engaging it, in challenging it or being challenged. So they'll be very accepting of other points of view very different from their own. They live in a world that's very diverse, but it's a diversity that's more parallel than cross-stitched."

-- Dean of undergraduate education at Yale College Joseph W. Gordon, "Debate? Dissent? Discussion? Oh, Don't Go There!" The New York Times, March 23, 2002.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Unexplained deaths 'relatively' common in U.S., study says

Counselor to U.S. presidents offers advice to tomorrow's leaders

Chubb Fellowship hosting visit by salsa star Palmieri

Innovative entrepreneurs to speak at YES summit

Journalist to discuss how media portrays issues of faith

Event probes fundamentalist reactions to modernity

Surgeon trustee will give talk to city youths

Yale cosponsoring city school's entry in robotics competition

Yale polo team hosting first Atlantic Cup tournament

Bromley honored by physics society

Yale Rep features noted humorist of Lake Wobegan

AIDS Science Day to highlight Yale, community collaborations

Concert honors memory of composer Druckman

International tribunal is topic of discussion

Yale Opera production is a retelling of Bizet's 'Carmen'

Concert of 'Star Wars' music marks conductor's Yale anniversary

Sitar virtuosa to perform in Woolsey Hall

Conference to explore innovations in study of ancient Aegean

Former director of Holocaust Museum to speak at master's tea

Campus Notes