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May 16, 2008|Volume 36, Number 29|Four-Week Issue


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In the News

“You know, the ultimate question is whether staying single is better than a kind of terrible marriage. I don’t know the answer to that, but, in terms of blood pressure, yes, [a recent study shows] it seems to be a little bit better. But there may be other benefits to marriage, even unhappy marriages, which are not measured in this and which might contribute to better health. ... For example, marriage, good or bad, might result in better caring for each other in old age. Well, that could have great health benefits. There might be less loneliness which, even though it wouldn’t be reflected, apparently, in stress and blood pressure, might change the quality of a person’s life in other ways.”

Dr. Sydney Spiesel, associate clinical professor of pediatrics and clinical professor of nursing, “Marriage & Blood Pressure,” “Day to Day,” National Public Radio, April 14, 2008.

§

“It is important not to conflate China with the Chinese government. The Olympics have stirred an enormous outpouring of nationalism within China and among Chinese abroad. We should not dismiss Chinese nationalism as part and parcel of the Communist machine. Nationalism has forged civic engagement, cutting across groups normally divided by age, class and geography. This engagement leads to greater awareness of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Far from legitimizing an authoritarian regime, the Olympics foster the kind of nationalism that will help the Chinese carve out a civil society, which may be the best antidote.”

Sue Meng, student at the Law School, in her article, “An Olympic Force for Change,” Washington Post, April 20, 2008.

§

“The rhetoric [touting ‘green’ homebuilding] is way out in front of the reality. The products, availability and alternatives are increasing very, very quickly, and there’s a gap between that and the knowledge to take advantage of that.”

Stephen R. Kellert, the Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, “The House that Green Built,” The New York Times, April 20, 2008.

§

“Picture an explosive parent who responds to a child’s misbehavior by ranting, screaming and perhaps hitting. Now picture a calm, patient, gentle parent who responds to the same misbehavior — no matter how provokingly awful — by reasoning and explaining. ... [W]hen it comes to changing behavior, the rage-ball and the patient explainer are startlingly close neighbors on the ineffective end of the spectrum. They embody our natural tendency to fixate on unwanted behavior and unwittingly reinforce it by giving it a lot of attention — and then persist in trying either to punish or to talk it into oblivion, both of which almost never work.”

Alan E. Kazdin, the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology and director of the Child Conduct Clinic and Child Study Center, in his article, “Perfect Angels,” National Post (Canada), April 21, 2008.

§

“The mathematics of [creating a finance plan for early retirement] are beyond what most people could really be sophisticated at. It’s not that they’re stupid. It’s just that it’s complicated.”

Roger Ibbotson, professor in the practice of finance, “Making Your Money Last as Long as You Live,” The New York Times, April 21, 2008.

§

“People are more worried about Big Insecurity than Big Government. We are at a moment that has parallels to the moment that led to the New Deal. We have an economic order that is not well placed to deal with the challenges of the 21st century, just as back then there was a realization that the world had changed but the government hadn’t.”

Jacob Hacker, professor of political science, “The Return of Big Government,” U.S. News & World Report, April 21, 2008.

§

“We likely should not count on nuclear power to solve our climate change problem, but it could be a component in a family of solutions we might decide to employ.”

Thomas Graedel, the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Industrial Ecology, on a study suggesting that the environmental damage caused by uranium mining offsets the benefits of nuclear power as an energy source that does not emit greenhouse gases, “Uranium Supply Decline Clouds Nuclear Power’s Future,” Live Science (NY), April 22, 2008.

§

“Most of these bacteria [that can be killed by the new ultra-violet home devices] are harmless to us, and providing a sterile environment is fruitless.”

Robert Baltimore, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology (infectious diseases) and clinical professor of nursing, noting that most transmission of disease occurs from person to person, not from the environment, “Scientists Question Need for Germ Killers,” The Wall Street Journal (Europe), April 22, 2008.

§

“[Banks] need more capital now, and they’re likely to need even more in the next year or two. We’re in kind of a Catch-22 situation: a recession that is not too severe depends on the resumption of bank lending. Without that resumption, the recession is going to become deeper and longer.”

Jeffrey E. Garten, the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business, on the fact that banks have lost over $300 billion in investments because of the mortgage market crisis, “Banks Hunting for More Cash,” The New York Times, April 22, 2008.

§

“The cereal the parent is eating him or herself is probably better than what they’re feeding their child. … My advice to parents of young children is you’ve got to just make a decision [not to buy cereals marketed to children] and stick with it because if you give in once, you’re going to regret it. It’s just going to make your kid nag you even more.”

Marlene B. Schwartz, senior research scientist in psychology, “Heavily Marketed Kids’ Cereals Are Least Healthy,” Reuters India, April 23, 2008.

§

“Calmly assess if your portfolio is diversified. If it is, that’s the best you can do [during this tumultuous time in the stock market]. You may get lucky switching to cash or you may not, but history suggests a diversified portfolio with a significant share in equities will do well in the long term.”

William Goetzmann, the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and director of the International Center for Finance, “What to Do Now,” Money Magazine, May 2008.

§

“Robotic calls had almost no effect [on generating support for a political candidate]. People hang up almost immediately.”

Donald Green, the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Political Science and director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, “Congressional Democrats Target Political ‘Robocalls,’” Inside Bay Area (CA), April 22, 2008.

§

“The men who have done the best [at being a single dad] are the ones who can keep a social network functioning around them and also keep their full range of emotions at hand.”

Dr. Kyle Pruett, director of the Child Study Center and the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, “Life and the Single Dad,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2008.

§

“The strongest rationale for [the news media] granting a source anonymity is simply to protect the source from illegitimate retaliation or harassment for providing information. ... But newspapers routinely grant anonymity to employees who misappropriate employer information. Often times these grants are given to sources who could be legitimately fired or disciplined for violating their fiduciary duty to their employer. The sources who steal — I mean misappropriate — employer information aren’t willing to directly disclose because they know they could be fired for the disclosure. ... I, for one, would prefer not to read articles with misappropriated information. We’re all trading in a type of stolen goods. One way to improve the situation would be for newspapers to only grant employees anonymity if the employee’s disclosure would be protected by the law’s definition of whistle blowing.”

Ian Ayres, the William K. Townsend Professor of Law, in his article, “Anonymity Because,” The New York Times, April 29, 2008.

§

“[D]octors aren’t good at dealing with medically unexplained symptoms. When you say, ‘This isn’t Lyme disease,’ the patient may think you are saying, ‘You aren’t suffering.’”

Dr. Eugene Shapiro, professor of pediatrics and of epidemiology and public health, on the controversy over whether chronic Lyme disease is a medically proven condition, “‘Under Our Skin’ Examines Lyme Disease Rift,” Hartford Courant, April 30, 2008.

§

“The funds used to purchase Manhattan Island for $28 in 1626, when invested at a 4-per-cent real interest rate, give you the value of all the land in Manhattan today.”

William D. Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics, explaining how a small financial investment — such as his proposed modest universal tax on all fossil fuels — can grow exponentially in the future, “Climate Policy Frenzy Leads Nowhere,” Globe and Mail (Canada), April 30, 2008.

§

“Each year, more than 42,000 people die in crashes on America’s roads. That’s some 117 of us every day. ... And yet, while these numbers remain the same year to year, we and our politicians all remain remarkably silent about road safety. This is because crashes seem to be a force of nature, a fact of life — they happen and we call them accidents. ... Yet such thinking evinces a general failure to look at the bigger picture. Blame may be assigned to users or it may not. But a transportation system should be built with the recognition that its users will be fallible and with the premise that mistakes should not be fatal.”

Erica Mintzer, student at the School of Medicine, Hunter Smith, student at the Law School, and Thomas Harned, in their article, “Why Tolerate 42,000 Traffic Deaths a Year?” Hartford Courant, April 30, 2008.

§

“The important thing [about graduate school] is you will get much franker, tougher criticism here than you will get in the wider world. [But] if there’s a third party that has a checkbook in the middle of that, then it distorts it.”

Robert Storr, dean of the School of Art and professor of painting, contending that having art dealers at student shows is detrimental, “Columbia’s MFA Thesis Show Sets a High Bar,” New York Sun, May 2, 2008.

§

“It seems that novels in China are coming into their own, that new freedoms of expression are being claimed by their authors. Mao has become a handy villain. One wonders how much longer his successors will be immune from similar treatment.”

Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History, in his review of Mo Yan’s novel “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out,” “History And Its Reincarnations on a Chinese Animal Farm,” International Herald Tribune (France), May 3, 2008.

§

“As a novelist, I am jealous of the present national moment. I’d love to have invented it — what author of thrillers wouldn’t? ... We have war, we have religion, we have race, we have gender, we have class, and we have confusing subplots galore. What reader could resist? But what readers really want to know — the sooner the better — is who the hero is. Every novel, especially every thriller, needs a hero. ... Nevertheless, any candidate can be a hero. The question is whether his or her supporters will allow this to happen. ... One way supporters keep their candidates from becoming heroic is by trying to shield them from adversity — even when adversity only means tough questions from the media. If reporters challenge McCain, it’s evidence of their left-wing bias. If they challenge Obama or Clinton, they are playing the Republicans’ game. Forgotten is a crucial lesson from literature: Only by confronting adversity can the potential hero be tested.”

Stephen L. Carter, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law, in his article, “Plenty of Juicy Plot Twists in a Thriller of a Race,” The Washington Post, May 4, 2008.

§

“Chinese nationals [here in the U.S.] have been staging counterprotests [to efforts to boycott the Olympic games in Beijing], which would have never been possible if they had been living in China. Yet those demonstrators are taking advantage of the freedom here to vigorously promote a government that would deny such freedom to its citizens.”

Zhengguo Kang, senior lector in East Asian languages and literatures, “Without Rights, Pride is Empty; For Chinese-Americans, a Sinking Feeling,” Chicago Tribune, May 5, 2008.

§

“In an age of sound bites and the awful daily vision of human beings chattering into their cell phones as they hustle down the street, it is deeply satisfying that a small number of people still take the time to ponder and make connections between events over centuries.”

Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History, about a new crop of books on large historical themes, in his article, “The Distant Horizon; What Can ‘Big History’ Tell Us About America’s Future?” Foreign Affairs, May 2008.


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

Added sun does not lower breast cancer risk, warn experts

Yale affiliates are honored with election to prestigious societies

Strobel’s students rediscover sense of scientific ‘wonder’ . .

Yale to celebrate 307th graduation

Summertime at Yale

Scientist Joan Steitz wins nation’s largest prize in medicine

University names 18 future leaders as 2008 World Fellows

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

Architecture students helping to design Mideast Peace Park

China’s President Hu Jintao meets with participants in . . .

In Yale-led study, astronomers discover nine young galaxies . . .

Research on male mating behavior suggests brains may be unisex . . .

Paul Anastas honored as the founder of ‘green chemistry’

Town-gown partners honored with Elm-Ivy Awards

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS

Exhibits explore artist’s Liverpool years, British watercolors

Two student-curated shows focus on the medium of photography

Library creates digital archive of ‘oldest college daily’

Two seniors will study at the University of Cambridge as Gates Scholars

Campus leaders discuss strategies for increasing staff diversity

Former Bucknell chaplain is named new pastor of University Church

Professor Miroslav Volf will co-teach class with . . . Tony Blair

Council of Masters honors 10 juniors for their scholarship . . .

Conference focuses on ‘Women and Men in the Globalizing University’

The future of ‘Computers, Freedom and Privacy’ to be addressed . . .

Karyn Frick honored for contributions to women’s health

Campus Notes


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