Letters to the editor, June 2006

This a traditional letter column. You are encouraged to write a letter of comment on anything that you find worthy of comment. It will (may) be published in this column along with my reply. As editor I reserve the right to delete material; however I will not alter the undeleted material. E-mail to me that solely references the contents of this site will be assumed to be publishable mail. All other e-mail is assumed to be private. And, of course, anything marked not for publication is not for publication. Oh yes, letters of appreciation for the scholarly resources provided by this site will be handled very discreetly. This page contains the correspondence for June 2006.

Index of contributors

• Melinda Kennedy
• Duncan Evans
• Robert Eggleton
• Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
• Sammy Olsen
• Debbie
• Chip Hitchcock
• Steve Witham
• sherry quaresma
• Melanie Solterbeck

Other Correspondence Pages

• Master page for correspondence
  
• March 2006 Letters
  
• April 2006 Letters
  
• May 2006 Letters
  

From: Melinda Kennedy
Date: 6/13/2006
Subj: Primitive Man never existed, and there never was a Stone age

Primitive Man never existed, and there never was a Stone age
http://www.harunyahya.com/index.php

Were you spamming me, or were you just trying to rattle my chain?

From: Duncan Evans
Date: 6/12/2006
Subj: Densa Quiz

From the Densa Quiz:

How many animals of each sex did Moses take on the ark?
0, Moses didn’t have an ark, Noah did!

Moses did indeed have an ark. But is was not the kind that Noah put animals > aboard. It was known as the Ark of the Covenant. Watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.

A better question might be “God commanded Moses to put 2 of something aboard the arc. What was that something?” Correct answer being the 2 tablets of the Covenant.

Your point is well taken, but your question doesn’t work – the Ark of the Covenant was not the kind of thing on which one puts something aboard. A better answer to the quiz question might be: “None. It was Noah who took animals on the ark.”

From: Robert Eggleton
Date: 6/9/2006
Subj: “Rarity from the Hollow”

I’m writing to let you know that “Rarity” is now for sale on www.fatcatpress.com . A satirical essay about its self-promotion and free speech on the internet entitled, “I found god in cyberspace” will be published by Wingspan Quarterly by the the end of June, 2006. Jag Lall, an English comic book artist, contributed by designing the cover. It’s received several blurbs, including one by Piers Anthony. A percentage of profits will go to prevent child abuse in West Virginia where I live. Thanks for maintaining my previous post on your site.

You’re more than welcome. I’m quite impressed that you got a blurb from Piers Anthony. It certainly says something about your book.

From: Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
Date: 6/8/2006
Subj: State dinosaur

Mr. Harter,

the state dinosaur of South Dakota is Triceratops prorosus. Wyoming has Triceratops horridus. Apparently no state has T. Rex but Utah’s is Allosaurus fragilis. Only the Wyoming one is “Official.”

I never quite understood the enthusiasm for Triceratops. In the movie Jurassic Park, the paleontologist babbles about how he loved them as a kid. Triceratops was just a dinosaur version of the bison; blah. Oh well, SD can still claim a state dragon

From: Sammy Olsen
Date: 6/4/2006
Subj: just, not estating!!

Evening, landlord 🙂

meet u 11 pm out week ….

Best regards,
Sammy

My apologies for missing the meeting. It’s often a pleasure to meet someone new.

From: Debbie
Date: 6/3/2006
Subj: (redneck lady)

Mr. Foxworthy,

I ran across a true life story that is too hard to pass up. I live in Memphis Tennessee and in May we have the biggest BBQ in the world. This incident happened recently at the contest , a young redneck lady was giving BJ’s in the portolet or portajohn whichever you prefer to use. It was whoever was in need. So shell we say you might be a redneck if you give a BJ’s in a portolet. Need it mention it was in the 94 degree weather situation. Which for Memphis was 98 or above with the humidity. Hot and steamy. And after the incident was even steamer. This was just too funny to pass up. Hope you enjoy it.

The bad news is that I’m not Mr. Foxworthy. The good news is that I’m not Mr. Foxworthy. However the story is funny and I did enjoy it.

From: Chip Hitchcock
Date: 6/7/2006
Subj: a new computer language?

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007622.html#129670 —

It’s thought provoking. We could create (or perhaps discover)a programming language called PL666 (surprisingly, neither L666 nor PL666 have been used as names of programming languages) with appropriate features.

For example, just as interstate 666 would be a ring road, PL666 would be a ring language – with nine rings, naturally. (This is a numerological tie-in between Tolkien and Dante that had not previously occurred to me.) I’m not sure how the case statement with missing keys would work. The obvious thought is that they would be filled in at run time, something like this:

	select key
		case ?: ?
		default: action
		end select

Each time a previously unseen key comes in the default is activated and the resulting key/action pair is added as a new case.

I refuse to speculate on the DooDoo While programming construct.

From: Steve Witham
Date: 5/26/2006
Subj: Dracorex hogwartsia

Hi, Richard–

Congratulations on your State’s new dinosaur.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/23/dinosaur_species_nam.html

The newly described horny-headed dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia lived about 66 million years ago in South Dakota

Now that is a proper sort of Dinosaur. I suspect that the post of State Dinosaur has already been by T. Rex. However it is a natural for State Dragon.

From: sherry quaresma
Date: 5/28/2006
Subj: Shelf pins

not sure what this site is, but they have brown plastic shelf pins at lowe’s in california. can check lowe’s.com. i found site cuz i’m needing shelf pins that are smaller than .5 mm and 1/4″.

I thank you for writing. At present I reside in South Dakota; however I expect to be in California this fall. If it should chance that I still need shelf pins then I shall check in with Lowe’s.

From: Melanie Solterbeck
Date: 5/31/2006
Subj: thank you for the pointers

At 02:55 PM 5/31/06 -0700, you wrote: Dear Mr. Williams I had to write and tell you what a great admirer I am of your piece on how to argue. I was sent it as a forward during undergrad and still chuckle when I read it today. Great work…and I hope never to encounter you at a cocktail party 😉

Alas, or perhaps fortunately, I am not Mr. Williams. I merely reprinted his excellent advice on my website. Like you, I hope never to encounter him at a cocktail party.