Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 2, 2007|Volume 36, Number 9

In the News

“Al Gore winning the Nobel Prize is not the kind of triggering event that is going to motivate Americans to change behaviour en masse. But it is part of the steady drip, drip, drip that has brought a sea change in public opinion on climate change in the past couple of years.”

— Anthony Leiserowitz, research scientist at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, “Can Win Change Our Habits?; Experts Divided. Sea Change in Public Opinion,” Montreal Gazette, Oct. 13, 2007

“But there might be a deeper reason for the advent of the man-crush rom com. In these extremely unromantic times (Is there anything less romantic than having sex while wearing a condom?), in which serial monogamy followed by divorce-prone marriage has become the norm, living happily ever after has become a less and less believable fantasy. By contrast, “best friends forever” is not just a live possibility, it’s one that is widely lived. And when romantic relationships are impermanent, life-long friendship becomes one of our few consolations. ... But if one looks past the full-frontal vulgarity, even the most immature comedies might be capturing a contemporary truth: Outside the family, anyone looking for undying words of devotion might just have to settle for ‘I love you, man.’”

— Justin Shubow, student at the Law School, in his article explaining the popularity of such movies as “Superbad” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” “When Harry Met Sal; The Birth of the Man-Crush Romantic Comedy,” National Review, Sept. 21, 2007.

“I think that the best decision-making in the future will be people who toggle back and forth between their intuition and numbers. Sometimes you start with a hunch and go out and test it. Some things you’ll start with numbers and it will lead you back to the drawing board and this is an ongoing dialectic, an ongoing toggling between intuition and number. The world keeps moving. Who knows next year what’s going to be the new pink. This is an ongoing process of continually hypothesizing, continually testing what works now.”

— Ian Ayres, the William K. Townsend Professor of Law, “Decoding the Hidden Coolness of Statistics; Mathematical Formulas May Bring an End to Intuition,” National Post (Canada), Oct. 10, 2007.

“Leaders are behaving like deer caught in the headlights. Yet some action is crucial now because the dollar’s orderly retreat could at any time change into a chaotic rout, given the uncertainties and anxieties in today’s markets. The danger is enhanced as every sign — financial, economic and political — points to a dollar that will continue to drop, making a bet on a weaker dollar nearly a risk-free proposition.”

— Jeffrey Garten, the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business, in his article, “How To Prevent a Rout of the Declining Dollar,” Financial Times (London), Oct. 11, 2007.

“When I was little, I used to love a good war story. My grandfather flew bombers during World War II, and whenever he’d talk of his exploits, his tales always seemed to end with a punch line. War, for all I knew, was fun. ... When I listen to my buddies talk about Iraq and Afghanistan, I’m struck by how similar their tone is to my grandfather’s. His war was different — we all know that — but there’s a strange sameness in the telling of it, the way humor is wrung from the most awful things. ... Bullets today aren’t any friendlier than they were back then. I’ve seen what they do. And now there are IED’s, and suicide truck bombs, and all manner of horrors my grandfather never faced. War stories will never sound the same to me as they did when I was little. I see past the punch lines now.”

— Ken Harbaugh, student at the Law School, in his article “A Grandfather’s War Stories,” “All Things Considered,” National Public Radio, Oct. 9, 2007.

“Heart patients need to be as vigilant about preventing flu as they are about managing their cholesterol and blood pressure. Getting a flu shot is an important way for people with heart disease to lower their risk.”

— Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health, “Cold Weather Can Increase Heart Disease Risks,” Earthtimes.org (UK), Oct. 16, 2007.

“People want to do something about [global warming], but it is not clear they want to sacrifice deeply. The question is how far do we go, especially in the beginning.”

— Robert Mendelsohn, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of Forest Policy, “Nobel Peace Prize: Focus On Climate Change,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 13, 2007.

“I’ve been in this field long enough to know that the rhetoric often outpaces the reality in the environmental sector. I’ve seen the boom and bust, if you will. Most of the environmental activity in the ’90s, when there was kind of a boom period, came from either the top-down regulatory mandates or a lot of idealism. Those were good, but not necessarily lucrative. ... On the more positive side, I think people are increasingly recognizing that a key to human health and productivity is associated with our living in some kind of more balanced relationship to the natural world. All that has conspired to change values. I see the shift coming from the bottom up, rather than top down, that is, consumer choice and the marketplace and what people are demanding.

— Stephen R. Kellert, the Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, on the investment potential of ‘green’ companies today, “Profitably ‘Green’; Professor Also Works To Help Investors Help the Environment,” Hartford Courant, Oct. 12, 2007.

“How do we engage in an honest theological discussion about [homosexuality] without thinking in a sustained way about what God’s … relation to our human bodies is? … Do you primarily [believe in] a wrathful God? Or do you have a God of compassion and grace who is primarily smiling or worrying about the world? What a profound thing it would be if that were the starting point for some of our discussions about abortion [and] homosexuality.”

— Serene Jones, the Titus Street Professor of Theology, “Yale Panel: Does Political Engagement Have a Theological Foundation?” Associated Baptist Press (FL), Oct. 16, 2007.

“Only three small-state men have ever been elected president, [Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce and Arkansas’ Bill Clinton]. If the original elector system had been chiefly designed to aid small states, its inadequacies were already plainly visible within its first dozen years of operation.”

— Akhil Reed Amar, the Southmayd Professor of Law, on the argument that small states have disproportionate influence in the electoral college, “Let’s Abolish the Electoral College,” Salon.com, Oct. 12, 2007.

“Those results [of a study showing that in species where males fight for mates, they also die younger than females] can be simplified as: macho makes you sick. This is the kind of message that everyone can appreciate and should make some reflect on their chosen lifestyle.”

— Stephen Stearns, the Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, “Males that Fight for Mates Evolved To Die Young,” Nature.com (UK), Oct. 16, 2007.

“[Black families in urban communities say] ‘911 is a joke.’ [They say]: ‘You call 911 — the cops ain’t coming.’ If they do come, they might abuse the people that called because they want to get home at night, too. And a lot of people in these communities think police are in cahoots with the drug dealers.”

— Elijah Anderson, the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology, “Disputes Turn Deadly When Police Arrive; Philly Case in Which Suspect Menaced Mom Like One Here,” Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 11, 2007.

“[Organ donors] are heroes because of their incredible sacrifice, courage, compassion and commitment. They help others including family members, friends, acquaintances and, at times, even perfect strangers in the most selfless way imaginable.”

— Dr. Sukru Emre, professor of surgical transplantation and section chief of surgical transplantation, “Donors Honored for Giving Gift of Life,” New Haven Register, Oct. 21, 2007.

“I know of no systematic studies of comparative recidivism rates [around the world]. I believe there are recidivism problems in countries like Germany and France, since those are countries that ordinarily incarcerate only dangerous offenders, but at some point they let them out and bad things can happen.”

— James Q. Whitman, the Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law, “Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance,” The New York Times, Oct. 17, 2007.

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

Alumnus makes major gift to new cancer care facility

New Yale ALERT system to allow instant communications . . .

Microsoft-Yale project will provide worldwide access to . . .

NIH honors chemist for innovative work on antibodies

NIH-funded study to explore how damaged cancer cells mend

Study: New brain cells listen before they talk

Study shows tiny RNAs play big role in controlling genes

Yale geologist honored for research on climate variations

New Yale opera group will debut with a performance of . . .

Yale singing groups come together for a concert to benefit United Way

‘The Future of Energy’ conference to assess issues of next 25 years

Ten Yale scientists are honored with election as fellows of the AAAS

Funding cuts have created a ‘crisis’ in the battle against cancer, says panel

OCR chief testifies before Congress

Memorial service for Kitty Lustman-Findling to be held on Nov. 10

Frederick Douglass Prize awarded for book exploring . . .

Autumn’s paintbrush

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes