Origins of the Universe, Gentlemen’s Clubs, Parliament – Lent Term

After my last post (almost a month ago), I got bogged down with exams, my dissertation, work in my new Treasurer roles, and the myriad everyday Cambridge events that were not to be missed. This entry’s a bit verbose, so hopefully the subtitles will give you an inkling of the goings on around here.


THE APOTHEOSIS OF HUMANITY
On 24 January, Professor Stephen Hawking gave a special lecture (he usually only gives one lecture per year at Cambridge University) as part of the Gates Scholars Distinguished Lecture Series. The event sold out a day or two after tickets were offered. The day of the event we received 600 e-mail requests to attend the event for which there were only 300 spaces available.

The packed house immediately broke out in applause when Professor Hawking was wheeled in by one of his caretakers. Then everyone shut up and waited to hear one of the world’s most recognizable voices. For about an hour, Professor Hawking presented a slide show of his life and work as a physicist. The presentation was pre-constructed so as to run smoothly (Hawking only types about 15 words a minute) and though difficult to follow for anyone who wasn’t a physicist, was quite hilarious. As a special treat Hawking agreed to field questions at the end. Because Prof. Hawking composes his words by blinking his eye, he only had time to field a couple questions from the audience.

After the talk, the Gates Scholars Council took Professor Hawking and his two assistants to one of his favorite restaurants in Cambridge, Chez Gerard. Arriving a bit late, I had the privilege to sit next to Professor Hawking and his nurse during dinner. I was amazed to learn that he doesn’t really have a strict diet – he dined on steak and red wine for dinner and a Cambridge classic, crème brulee, for desert – though he does take quite a few vitamin supplements.

One scholar, studying astronomy, asked Professor Hawking a question at the beginning of dinner but it took Prof. Hawking about 10 minutes to compose an answer. As he composed his answer, the rest of the table went on chatting, which for some of us seemed a bit awkward and impolite. Hoping we weren’t offending Prof. Hawking, I asked his nurse if this was normal, or if it bothered him.

“It frustrates him that he can’t respond more quickly” she said, “but he’s certainly used to it.”

For much of the dinner, and many days before and afterward, I marveled at how Hawking embodies some of the things that as humans, we are most proud of -- our intellectual capacity, our determination, our optimism, our foresight, our sense of humor, our appreciation for life and things which we have yet to discover…

During the first course, knowing that it would take him forever to answer any of my questions, I decided to let the table know about where Hawking’s real stardom originates – his guest appearances on the Simpsons. Hawking’s face lit up when I told the table of scholars about how in one episode Hawking’s wheelchair produced helicopter blades and flew him away from danger. Later it produced a boxing glove, which then punched Homer Simpson in the face when he tried to stick Professor Hawking with a hefty beer tab.

For the rest of the dinner I joked with Hawking and the Scholars about Hawking’s appearances in the media and television and managed to ask three or four pressing questions about space exploration, life, and the prospects of luring him to the states…

As we left the one other person who had actually read some of Hawking’s books offered to snap a quick photo of us -- a great memento after meeting one of the most amazing individuals to ever live:


THE OTHER FAMOUS CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIST
The Monday before Prof. Hawking’s lecture, Sir Martin Rees, Lord of Ludlow and President of the Royal Society (the British counterpart of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences), gave a speech on “The Role of Scientists in a Dangerous World.”

Speaking with two of the most famous scientists in the world in the same week was a great privilege, but it was also awesome because both Prof. Hawking and Sir Martin Rees had recently held a press conference to move the doomsday clock closer to the doomsday hour of midnight (the doomsday clock has only moved closer to midnight 11 times since its creation in 1947).

In his talk, Lord Rees spoke eloquently about the need for scientists to consider the ethics involved in their work. The next day he e-mailed me an answer to my question about the requirements for Cambridge undergraduate scientists – currently there are no specific requirements for students to undertake coursework in ethics. As the Master of the largest and most influential college at Cambridge, it was good to hear Lord Rees identify a need for some sort of new ethics requirement.


EXAMS AND DISSERTATION
I finished my exams the second week in January, but I won’t find out the results until the end of February. I wrote one of my exam essays on the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity and why the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee should ratify the treaty. My other exams covered economic valuation methods and economic tools used by policy makers. In my research, I came across a very interesting fact about how America is not alone in its obstinance on international environmental issues. The Europeans – the heirs of the environmental movement of yesterday -- actually accused America of being “scaremongerers” when in the 1980s Ronald Reagan (of all people) wanted to ban the use of CFCs because they were depleting the ozone. So as America tried to weasel out of obligations to address climate change in the 1990s (and the 2000s), so too did the Europeans try to weasel out of stopping the depletion of our ozone layer in the 1980s. In another comical twist, in the 1980s, America said she’d “go it alone” and phase out CFCs by herself if she had to. How bout that – using our stubbornness for good!

My dissertation is coming along. Thanks to all of those who helped with my pilot survey. My sample of Americans from across the country provided almost a perfect cross section of our diverse population. This weekend I’m constructing the main survey, which will be available online for your survey taking pleasure. For those of you who saw the last survey, have no fear, this one has pictures and is thus, less boring! Consequently, you can expect me to hit you up for a survey response in the next few weeks!


BURNS NIGHT CEILIDH
In honor of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, the British enjoy a night of haggis, whiskey, and dancing on 25 January called a Burns Night Ceilidh. Various colleges around Cambridge hosted Burns nights so I actually had a chance to go to a couple of them. The dancing is surprisingly similar to square dancing back home, and the whiskey seemed quite similar as well.

A Lesson from the Porter:
Porters are not always the friendliest lot, but they’re also not heartless.

When I arrived at the Emmanuel College Burns night I was told, “It’s full. You can’t come in!”

After standing around for a minute, I said, “I thought I’d wait until people left so that I can take their place.” The porter replied,

“You’re not getting in, why don’t you get out of here?”

So I just stood there for a minute and didn’t say a word. “What a jerk,” I thought. Then I started some small talk with him.

“Sure is cold out here, eh? ...Wow, I can’t believe those women haven’t frozen to death walking around here in those dresses... So when did it fill up?”

Finally after about 10 minutes of small talk the porter said, “Why don’t you just go in there? One more person won’t hurt.”

At a different Burns night about a week later, I was a slightly better dancer, but it really didn’t matter since the Scottish dancing involves dancing with one, three, five, or even as many as seven other people. My friend Katie proved to be a good dancer, despite having a few too many Scottish whiskeys…


AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY
Though I no longer spend eight hours every Sunday watching football (I stopped that when I went to college), I do still enjoy playing the game when I can. So in honor of the American holiday that is Super Bowl Sunday, I organized a game of pick-up football. With the Facebook (a new fangled technology that under 25ers use), it was easy to recruit a nice seven-on-seven game at Jesus Green.

After a few hours of football, we made our way to the Baron of Beef for our post-game trip to the pub. Later that night (11:18 GMT) in the Wolfson Court graduate commons room, we gathered to watch the single biggest sporting event in the world.

A good lot of about 30 Americans and a few Germans, Koreans, end English (who had never watched American football before) gathered to watch the game on the big screen. Though the satellite feed came in okay, we didn’t get the infamous American Super Bowl commercials during the game. Instead we tuned in for some crappy British commercials and an even crappier group of commentators. For those of you who are sports fans (or even those of you who aren’t), you most certainly would have been amazed to learn that one of the hosts of their Super Bowl commentator team was none other than Miami Vice star, Don Johnson -- that about sums up the British coverage.


BLUE BLOODED BOXING
At the Union on Tuesday, 6 February, Stevan Riley gave a special presentation of his critically acclaimed film, “Blue Blood,” which highlights the Oxbridge sports rivalry and the lives of Oxford amateur boxers. The film* was quite funny and provided an interesting perspective into the lives of young Oxbridge students. After his special screening I joined Stevan in the bar for a pint. A nice fellow; I couldn’t help but volunteer my services to help get the word out about a great film. A few days later I felt like I was helping launch a Hollywood blockbuster as Stevan and I plotted our strategy for the debut of the film in Cambridge. A few weeks later the film is doing pretty well and will hopefully make its way across the pond…

The following week, the Union hosted the Cambridge Amateur Boxing Club for a “town vs. gown” night of boxing. Though I do not consider myself a boxing fan I have to say I appreciated the skill and dedication of the boxers – they were top-notch (for amateurs).
*For more info on Blue Blood: http://www.myspace.com/bluebloodthemovie


TEA AT WESTMINSTER
When I found out there was still a space on the trip to Westminster Palace (the parliament building of the United Kingdom), I knew that skipping a couple classes would be worth it. The conservative student association was taking a group of students to meet with conservative members of parliament at Westminster and then on to a posh gentlemen’s club (more like a country club than a strip club). I was amazed that many of the British students in attendance were seeing their parliament building for the first time.
Meeting members of parliament was a hoot since the other American and I were proudly sporting our Anglo-American lapel pins and most of the members quickly identified our American roots. One asked if we were Republicans and after saying, “no” he said, “well you’re not going to vote for that cow, Hillary Clinton, are you?” He was obviously joking, and obviously a bit obnoxious, but like most of the MPs we met, they were generally very friendly.

It was interesting to learn that the despite their efforts to court more minorities, conservatives only have one black MP – a man who also happens to be the wealthiest MP in parliament.

Before leaving, we were offered a quick glimpse of the House of Commons where there was currently a debate underway. A few years ago a spectator from the gallery doused Prime Minister Blair with a bag of flour, so when we went, there was a large bulletproof piece of glass separating the area where MPs debate and the gallery where we were. During the debate a friend pointed out meaning of the two lines on each side of the chamber -- one in front of each of the opposing benches. The lines are exactly two arm lengths and two sword lengths apart. In the olden days, when debate began to get heated in the eyes of the Speaker of the House, the members were asked to “toe the line” – i.e. keep their feet behind the lines. My friend also informed me that the phrase “it’s in the bag” originated from the green bag that sits behind the Speaker’s chair. MPs may place petitions pertaining to any matter in the Speaker’s bag.

On the way out we also got a chance to see Westminster Hall, one of the largest unsupported roofs in Europe where, every once in a long while, deceased dignitaries have lied-in-state as part of their funeral.


A VISIT TO THE GENTLEMEN’S CLUBS
After Westminster we headed to the Carlton Club – “the oldest, most elite, and most important of all conservative clubs.” With portraits of William Pitt, Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, and John Major, on the walls, drunk and affable men chuckling, sipping drinks, and schmoozing, I received a genuine introduction to the British aristocracy. After a few recruitment plugs by the Carlton members, I ducked out for a tour of the club.

Before I could be convinced to join the “old boys network,” we headed to another elite gentlemen’s club, the East India Club, for dinner. Aside from good food, I especially enjoyed discussing the merits of “the global warming hoax.” I couldn’t convince my dinner mates that global climate change is not a hoax but I did learn that global warming is in fact a hoax. We have all been fooled! D’oh!