I spent the weekend at Cambridge because one of my friends (Mike the Mathematician) lives there. Five Oxonians were there altogether, plus a couple of Mike's friends at some points. I've been to Cambridge a couple of times before and think it is actually quite a lot nicer than Oxford. The grand college, like King's, are prettier than Oxford equivalents like ChristChurch; the towncentre is more spread out and doesn't have people spilling onto the streets; there are loads of parks spread out throughout the town and the shops are better (Fopp! Giant Oxfam! Amnesty Bookshop! Mead vendors! Geeky shop whose name eludes me!).

I had a good time, involving punting (with no falling in! The poles are lighter in Cambridge and therefore easier to manage too. Oh, and the river is cleaner), picnics, nudists, blackberries (first of the season!), bubbles, pubs and Age of Empires until 3:30am.

I bought quite a few things at brilliant Cambridge prices, including LOTR FOTR DVD which I shamefully did not own; these games: Age of Empires 1, Shogun Total War, Theme Hospital; and a book by Noam Chomsky called Hegemony or Survival. Noam Chomsky is one of my person heroes, being a linguist, a socialist, the most quoted living person in the humanities and generally cool. I'd always meant to read one of his political books but never got round to it, so it was this to find this book on American foreign policy for £3.

If you have even the slightest interest in Language, I suggest you read Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. I'm currently reading his latest book, The Stuff of Thought, which I think is inferior to his other books, which all present a theory, as opposed to the Stuff of Thought which is more or less a romp through various linguistic topics that, though interesting, aren't part of a single overarching idea.

However, Pinker's style is still as enjoyable and full of anecdotes as ever. One of my favourites was "Project Steve," which I'll quote from the Stuff of Thought:

A brainchild of the National Center for Science Education, the initiative is a parody of the creationist tradition of publishing lists of several dozen "scientists who dissent from Darwinism." The NCSE replies: "Oh yeah? Well we have a list of several hundred scientists who affirm evolution - just named Steve!"

Variants such as Stephanie and Estaban are allowed, but still a brilliant idea. :D How on Earth so many Americans manage to convince themselves that animals just popped out of nowhere and coincidentally happened to share loads of their DNA is beyond me. Religion is understandable to an extent, but claiming that a Holy Book is literally true in the face of all the evidence, not to mention reason, is just something I will never be able to comprehend, no matter how hard I try. "Oh, fossils? Just put there to test us..."

From the website:

Creationists are fond of circulating statements denouncing evolution signed by as many scientists as they can muster, with the intention of conveying the impression that evolution is a theory in crisis. The point of Project Steve is to demonstrate, in a lighthearted manner, that, on the contrary, the status of evolution within the scientific community is secure. But the signatories realize that science is not conducted by voting.

The Steve-o-meter has reached 892, in case you were wondering. :D