10 June 2008

Now who's feeling stupid?

I was in a meeting today with Professor Tommy Koh. He recounted an experience with a minister from a north african country. He joked that the minister made him feel stupid, because the minister had 2 PhDs. And this coming from a full professor. Although the rest of us (in the meeting) laughed together at the anecdote, but perhaps in our hearts, we were all laughing at ourselves (at least I was), because I do not even have a single PhD.

8 comments:

Blive said...

Why do you want Permanent head Damage?

Don't you know that the more PhD you have, the less you know?

The more I learned, the less I know about the world, and there is so much to learn and so little time.

GB said...

Even Indiana Jones has a PhD....
I recalled Jack Welch saying that the reason he got his PhD was that he thought it would be nice that someone will address him as "Dr Welch". A good enough reason!

Blive said...

Yes, You can call me Dr Chris Chua too once I get my PhD funding approved...;) Well, why don't we both do our PhD together?

Research into the unknown and knowing more about the world to help solve the world's problem is a good enough exciting reason!

Mr A said...

Indiana Jones is rumored to be based on a real life character by the name of Hiram Bingham III. Bingham was a Yale professor who rediscovered the Manchu Picchu in Peru. He later became a governor and senator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Bingham_III

Just to sidetrack, there has been some debate over the pocession of the artifacts between Yale and the Peruvian government, and this issue hasnt been settled.

Some scenes in the latest Indiana Jones movie are shot in New Haven. I haven't watched it yet, but I understand there is a pursuing scene of Harrison Ford on the streets. I remember it pretty well because during the period of the shots (which is about a year ago), my little boy is born that time and travelling to the local hospital took a long time because of the shot. It was pretty elaborate, real vintage cars were parked on the streets, and the shops along Chapel St were 'redocorated' for with shop signs. Even the shop interior had to be changed for authencity. I still remember lines of people lining up, probably for auditions to be 'carelifares' in the movie.

ws

GB said...

I watched Indiana Jones 2 days ago. Won't talk much about the movie cos nothing much to talk about! Yes, I remember the car chasing scene and thinking how on earth could they recreate all these "old" places. There was a scene when Indi and his 'son' rode on a motorcycle and crashed through a huge library -- that Yale?

Mr A said...

Can't comment if they really crushed into a real building, as I haven't watched the movie. I don't know how much computer enhancement was made on the film, but the place where the chasing scene was made is the downtown of New Haven, something like Orchard Road of Singapore. I have a 1879 map of New Haven, and the roads are pretty much unchanged. So this gives you an idea of how the other not-so-downtown areas are like. But I really like the city. Maybe it is not as 'glamorous' as Cambridge/Boston where our Harvard friends are located, but there is something about the 'quaintness' that one will grow to like over time.

ws

GB said...

Do we have harvard friends?

I am sure sure you will miss New Haven when you finally return home.

Mr A said...

It's the rivalry thingie, like how we sometimes address our neighbors as our Malaysian brudders.

ws