I’ve been disappointed with the level of advertisement around campus for exciting Stanford events. There are emails sent and flyers hung around, but not for everything, and sometimes not for the best things (to deter too many people from going? I sure hope not). A few years ago, had I not accidentally seen the red, green and white of the Mexican flag on the corner of a flyer buried under a piles of others on a cluttered History corner billboard, I would have missed a lecture by Vicente Fox, machismo mustache and all! I’d suggest a thorough and semi-regular checking of events.stanford.edu as the best remedy for the poor publicity. As a post-Holiday gift, to save the dear Review and Fiat Lux readers time, I’ve compiled a few of the liveliest happenings for the beginning of winter quarter. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
- Gather, ye Randites, on Tuesday, Januay 19, 2010 at 4:15 PM for “Statistical Mechanics of Money, Income and Wealth” in Room 201 of the Hewlett Teaching Center. This may also be of interest for those who didn’t get into the coveted Moral Foundations of Capitalism class—though perhaps discouraged students could also try “Popular Culture and Casino Capitalism in China” taught this quarter by Paul Festa instead?
- Also on Tuesday, January 19, the Iranian Studies Program will host “Covering Tehran, A Journalist’s Perspective” at 6 PM in Pigott Hall, Building 260, Room 113. The New York Times reporter Nazila Fathi, who reported from Iran during and since the June 2009 election, will speak.
- On Monday, January 25th, Hoover Fellows Sidney Drell and George Shultz will speak at 4PM in Tressider Oak Lounge on “Working Toward a World Without Nuclear Weapons.” Former New York Times reporter (and Stanford Daily editor) and current consulting professor at Stanford’s CISAC, Philip Taubman, will moderate. Dr. Drell is a professor emeritus of theoretical physics at Stanford’s SLAC Linear Accelerator laboratory and an arms control specialist who has been a governmental advisor on national security and defense technologies for four decades. In 2006, Drell and Schultz, the former Secretary of State, founded a Hoover program that works to free the world of nuclear weapons. Philip Taubman is currently writing a book about the efforts of Drell, Schultz, Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, and William Perry to end nuclear threats.
- On Wednesday, January 27th, the L.A. Theatre Works will present “RFK: The Journey to Justice,” which is a new “radio docudrama”—that’s a documentary/drama for those not familiar with the term (I wasn’t. Though subsequent research on the matter somewhat clarified it, and warned me never to be confuse it with a “docufiction,” another seemingly made-up thing. Why not just call it a play?) Anyhow, Lively Arts has co-commissioned the show, which chronicles the relationship between RFK and MLK Jr. and the fight for civil rights. Bring your SUID and some cash: the show is $10 for Stanford Students and $34/38 for others.
- For others who are artistically, or scientifically, inclined but are skipping the docudrama this month, you could try the “Music and the Brian Forum” with Dr. Mark Tramo, the Director of the Institute for Music & Brain Science at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (he’s also a songwriter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a non-profit copyright performance rights protection agency). Dr. Tramo will speak on February 8 at 5:30 on the CCRMA Stage at the Knoll.
- Further down the road, on Monday, March 1st at 7:30 PM, we have the Wikipedia-plagarizingChris Anderson, Editor in Chief of WIRED magazine speaking in Cubberly Auditorium in the School of Education. Anderson’s 2009 book, FREE: The Future of a Radical Price argues that as production costs for internet amenities such as bandwidth and hard-drive storage approach zero, why not just give them away for free? Perhaps there’s an argument to be made there, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that Anderson took for “free” passages of Wikipedia entries and included them in the book as his own. He has since called this an oversight. If you forgive him, or if you’re burning with rage, or if you are just interested in the future of the internet, mark your calendars for early March.
- Last, but certainly not least, as a standing engagement, the Stanford Review and Stanford Conservative Society will be co-sponsoring Hoover Institution Luncheons once a month all quarter. Dates and times are TBD. Possible luncheon speakers include David Brady, Michael Boskin, John Taylor, Victor Davis Hanson, and others. Stay tuned to the Review and Fiat Lux for more info.