Letters to the editor, November 2007This 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. Of course, anything marked not for publication is not for publication.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 November 2007.
From: Chip Hitchcock A follow-on to our discussion of your home (as quoted when traveling): did you hear that a U.S. bridge team has caused a tremendous fuss by holding up a small sign saying “We didn’t vote for Bush” on the victory stand? A member of the the board of the ACBL (which funds the USBF, which puts up the teams for international competition) is demanding that they be “punished”, which the ACBL lawyer has interpreted as including peaching on whoever proposed the sign (and greater sanctions for anyone rejecting the “compromise offer”). We’re old enough to remember people being pissed off when a couple of black Olympics winners gave the “black power salute” in Mexico City; I don’t recall the USOC being stupid enough to threaten suspension against people who had just shown they were the best in the world, which is happening here. Chortle. I would like to think that this a momentary aberration on the part of a few fatuous members of the ACBL. I really would like to think that. I have heard that the ACBL has gone rather grey but I hadn’t previously heard that they were going senile.Return to index of contributors
From: William R. Koreski Hillary Clinton has told NASA she intends to go forward with funding the Space Research Program especially going too the Moon and Mars. SEE Earthlink – News “CLINTON ASSAILS BUSH’S WAR ON SCIENCE.” This Space Craft could TAKE OFF SLOW fly too Mars in less than two weeks. SLOW DOWN IN OUTER SPACE and land slow without loss of control in up down or sidwise needs. Since it uses electro-magnetic energy it gathers from Space as Negatrons it changes to Positrons not fuel based propulsion such as expendable hydrogen etc. (see attached Photo for knowlege of the Negatron entrance area of the ship and Positron exiting areas that move the ship forwards, up, down to the side and slow it down.) It could come back to Earth using the same water, used for air, it was loaded with when it leaves earth. The water is also used for cooling the Negatron Positron engine. It could carry 100 people with all their needs to live on Mars including a Living Quarters left on Mars and then return the Tug to Earth to pick up a new Habitat Living Quarters with or with out People. I wrote about the methods used to build and fly the eighteen inch model that flew. The Book is in four Email parts. The FREE Book has specific proof that the Craft will fly and make it’s own Heat, Electricity and Breathable Air for use in outer space and on any Planet it lands on. The book provides information on the use of Negatron, Positron electro- magnetics gathered from space previously unknown to Mankind but readily available. It provides an entirely new kind of energy source that could Heat Homes, Create Breathable Air, or a New Power Source not yet being used on Earth. IT IS NOT AN ION ENGINE, NOT a Jet Engine, NOT A Rocket Engine or a Solar Sail System !. Solar Arrays would be far more efficient and effective on the Space Stations and at Habitats if the Negastron Positron Engine in this Craft were used in conjunction with the Solar Panel Arrays as presently used. The Craft would make a new safe affordable means to Terra Form and Colonize Mars or the Moon.
It doesn’t put out a Yellow light It puts forth a Pale Blue Light
when all is going well. A Yellow light would mean it is on fire
perhaps burning up. The Book tells how to prevent that. The
outer surface does not spin as some show in error.
Send an Email address to me at
I HAVE SOME OF THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO CONSTRUCT A WORKING MODEL.
I would be glad to HELP A PERSON OR COMPANY AND OR provide the
materials too anyone interested in building a working model.
William R. Koreski CCE
From: Peter Neilson
I thought you might be interested in some work that was being
done recently in the UK. There is a lot of material, and the
page on Hartran is just part of it.
http://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acl/applications/hartran/p001.htm
We are both old enough to have a wide perspective on the word
“recently”.
I came across the website while I was looking for further info
about the difficulties that would-be mathematicians get into
when they forget that computers are not working with the set
of real numbers. I’m not even a would-be mathematician, and
I know that floating-point numbers are not continuous, and
that all the theorems that rely on continuity will fail unless
creative numerical analysis is applied. (But try telling
that to some PhD who is whining that the computer isn’t giving
the right answers.)
Harter’s second law: Computers are never programmed properly.
It’s a good thing that I didn’t name my new computer language
hartran – it seems that I would have been seriously preceded. On
the other hand maybe I could call it Hartran II, to be followed by
Hartran IV, Hartran 77, etc.
From: Tarun Tiwari
Dear Sir,
Sir, we want you to check this algorithm and send your valuable
suggestions. we are also interested to work under your
supervision in the field of algorithms.If you agree, then please
send us a reply, so that we can send you our algorithm.
Thanking you,
I would be pleased to look at your new sorting algorithm. To be
honest, I doubt that it is truly new – sorting algorithms is a very
popular area of research. Of course, if it is O(n^2) it doesn’t have
general utility. However a fast O(n^2) algorithm is useful in
conjunction with other sorting algorithms, e.g., quicksort and
mergesort.
While I am flattered that you might want to work under my supervision,
the idea really isn’t practical.
From: Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
you think Red Sox fans have problems. My team hasn’t won a game since 1957.
The government claims the Cold War has ended–if so, why are the Dodgers
still in Los Angeles? Inquiring minds want to know.
As the story goes–
You’re in a room with Hitler, Stalin and Walter O’Malley and you have a gun
with two bullets: Whom do you shoot? O’Malley–twice!!!
Be that as it may, my explanation for global warming is that the
heat escaping from Hell which is currently in the process of freezing
over.
From: Mr.Sunny Steven
Hello, It’s of grate pleasure contacting you at a time like this.
I am Mr.Sunny Steven im an investor here deal on Commercial
Fishing,beverages, Seafood, canned foods,wine, Frozen Food,
canned beef including special food for vegetarians and
importation of health pharmacy drugs and general contractor and
mechandise diamond /gold ETC. I got to know about you via the
chambers of commerce as a reputable Industry. This has prompted
me to inform you my interest to purchase your products for resale
in our region or supply you with your enquiry / needed product .
I have clients from different companies and organization
companies, oil rigs, oil companies. My Intension is to establish
a long time and good business relationship With your company ,My
company has a very good network and a powerful marketing ability
to do good business with you and also in getting your products
and also to Become your distributor here,were the demands of your
products is high. Kindly reply me with a price list and
specifications of what you Have in stock and your enquiry / need
to facilitate this business opportunity. Im ready to make an
agreement of $5,000,000.00 (FIVE MILLION DOLLARS) contract with
you .You will find attached an agreement (m.o.u)for you to fill
and sign for mutual and legal understanding. As soon as i hear
from you i will give you more details on this Looking forward to
a favourable response.
From: Erin Ferland
[snip reprint of Thompson turkey page]
From: Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
I haven’t seem Tinoy for quite a while. However, search of the internet via
stevemorse.org and ancestry.com reveals a
From: Milesindianmound
THIS IS AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Peter Neilson
Here is a letter from Africa that you have probably NOT already seen.
The perp claims the name of “Kelvin” (which in my book tells me he’s
an absolute zero) and which I find interesting because just yesterday
I got a standard unclaimed-funds letter from a “lawyer” in Africa
(he said it was England) who *also* was named Kelvin. Kelvins are
multiplying to an astonishing degree.
Have you noticed how journalists are always careful to specify the
temperature of some exceptionally cold phenomonon (such as liquid
oxygen or a superconductivity point) in negative Fahrenheit degrees,
even though the exercise is pointless? The particularly astute ones
realize that zero K is -459.67 F, and even give that precise figure
in their written stories, but they often discover that their editors
have rounded the figure to “about 460 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit.”
I wonder how much postage you could get Ken Kelvin to expend in
corresponding with a specially constructed fake Pin Duck charity
as he tries to get you to reveal its bank account number so he can
loot it?
As soon as you receive my email i want you to indicate your
interest so that i can put your name in the list of the
beneficiaries.
I also want you to send me your name,address and phone number so
that i can send it to our finanace department.
Good Luck.
As an afterthought “Kelvin” is certainly illiterate enough to be an
American.
From: Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
Mr. Harter,
last Tuesday our land line telephone went down. Using the mobile phone we
called Verizon (the owner of the lines) to report this. By Thursday, their
calling tree indicated that the problem had been solved on Wednesday;
however, we still had no phone. Suford spent about an hour going through the
phone tree to get to a human who told us that they had checked the lines and
they were fine up to the house. For the small fee of $130/half-hour they
would send someone into the house–but no guarantees.
I recalled that on the said Tuesday the developer had drilled a hole though
our basement wall–they’re relocating the water line–and I thought the
vibrations might have loosened something. He said he would check. Half an
hour later we had our phone. What was the problem: there was nothing wrong
in the house. His people went up the nearby pole (in their bucket) and found
shoddy wiring which they fixed. So much for Verizon’s claim that the line
was fine to the house. Cost: $0.
price of service x quality of service = constant
From: dortallen
I have made this fried bread from scratch since i was around 12 years old
and i just wanted to share it with everyone. in large bowl mix 2 cups of
flour, 4 T. sugar, 1 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. salt, 1 pack of yeast.
set aside. in small pot put 3 T. butter, 2 cups of canned milk. heat
only until hot to finger. remove from heat, add to dry mix, mix well with
fork. add up to 3 cups of flour untill soft ball forms. lightly flour
counter, roll out dough, 1/4 inch thick, cover with cloth, let rise 1
hour. In large sauce pan heat 2 cups of shorting until hot. use pizza
cutter to cut bread into any size you want, fry bread until golden brown {
when bottom is brown flip to brown other side} cool and chow! TJ Arizona
From: Joel Malerich
I read this article on talkorigins and I have a question. In the
article, it says that humans have between 50-100 mutations and only 3 in
which matter. On the mutation rate section it says the human genome size is
8.0 E 7 and has a mutation rate of .004. If that were true, then wouldn’t
humans have 320000 mutations? Could you clarify this?
Btw, I’m not a
creationist out to debunk evolution, I’m just curious about
mutations.
What counts for mutations in individuals is the number of mutations
in their parents germ cells. In turn, this depends on the number
of replications of the parent’s sperm and egg cells. According to the
article, this is a few hundred.
It is important to understand that the genome (both total and effective)
that we are talking about is the one that we inherited from our parents.
The human body has some absurdly large number of trillions of cells.
Over time we accumulate millions of mutated cells in our body. However
these are not heritable mutations.
I hope this clarifies things.
From: Ilaf Scheikh Elard
Dear Mr. Harter,
Thank you for your article. You can find the online version of the
magazine here:
http://www.voxjournal.co.uk/
I will try to sent you a hard copy next week.
From: joe clark
my god u are such a fucking idiot lmfao
From: John W. Briggs
With the help of Google, I found mention of engineer Tinoy
Lichauco on your WWW site. I believe this is the same person who
attended a wonderful summer astronomy camp with me in 1973 called
Camp Uraniborg. I was a young teenager at the time; Tinoy was
older, and he taught me how to drive a car! This was in the
Mojave Desert in California. At that time, Tinoy was living in
Newtonville, Massachusetts.
If it’s at all possible for you to help me contact my friend from
boyhood days, I’d be very grateful. Tinoy and I did not stay in
contact after Camp Uraniborg, and he may have forgotten me. But
it was very long ago, and we both had good friends there. I have
been thinking about all this again because another former camper
placed some photographs, and names & addresses, on the Internet.
It has been fun to think about these old friends again.
From: Franklin Crow
What advertisers dont want is for their adds to go unnoticed.
From: Anthony R. Lewis, PhD, FN
Mr. Harter,
we’re at World Fantasy Con in Saratoga Springs, NY. We met a couple from South Dakota–the man is from Sioux Falls. However, his wife’s family is from HIGHMORE. The family is Moss; she said her aunt was Louise Moss who was county treasurer for a long time. Ring any bells?
Alice is leaving DC; she’ll be spending some time with us. I pick her up at the airport 6 November.
Give Alice my regards. I doubt that I will get out East this year but I
expect that I will make it next year. I’m planning to go to the Denver
worldcon so if you should pass by my place on the way out we might caravan
on out to the con.
From: Damien Stewart
need to meet you!
From: Wilburn Monroe
need to meet you!
(I’ve done my part. I do hope they make a go of it.)
From: Ellis E Grace
Your posting of the subject poem does not give credit to the author, Henry
Beard, and his book, Poetry for Cats: The Definitive Anthology of Feline
Verse, as it should.
Please correct this oversight.
“Written by Jack Kolb, Department of English, UCLA”,
“attributed to Lauren Wahl and T Gorc”,
“anonymous”, “uncertain”, and
“as collected by Henry Beard in “Poetry for Cats”, 1994″.
Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the book in question
so I can’t check for myself. Still, the book in question
is an anthology edited by Beard. The fact that the poem
in question appeared in a book edited by Beard doesn’t
mean that he was the author.
Be that as it may, I thank you for writing and I will add
a note about the possible authorship to the page.
… continued on next rock …
Richard,
I do have the book, and believe me, Henry Beard is the author. The way I
found out was to send an email to Jack Kolb, Department of English, UCLA.
He advised me that he had not written the poem and that it came from
Henry’s book, which I then purchased, It contains a number of poems
“written by the cats of famous authors”. I would especially commend to you
“The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe’s cat. The book is jokingly referred to as
an anthology since the poems are supposedly attributed to the various
author’s cats.
That said, I must protest – the page in question has neither misinformation
nor disinformation; it merely is missing information. It would have
misinformation if it contained a false statement about the authorship.
“Disinformation” is one of those new words; according to the American
Heritage Dictionary it is “Deliberately misleading information announced
publicly or leaked by a government or especially by an intelligence agency
in order to influence public opinion …” I desire to assure you that I
am neither a government, an intelligence agency, nor a spokesperson for
any such body.
From: Gary Crawford
(nothing whatsoever)
This page was last updated November 22, 2007. |