Letters to the editor, January 2012

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 And, of course, anything marked not for publication is not for publication.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 January 2012.

Index of contributors

• Michael Sisley
• Ms Lauretta Ngoma
• Lee R. Piazza
• Mary Robinson
• Louis
• Lee R. Piazza

Other Correspondence Pages

• Master page for correspondence
  
• August 2011 correspondence
  
• September 2011 correspondence
  
• December 2011 correspondence
  

From: Michael Sisley
Date: 6 January 2012
Subj: I’m interested in your work.

Hi, my name is Michael Sisley, I’m from New Zealand and am a paleontologist who may work in it in a few years (if some guys I’m associated with do their part), till then I’m a self educated amateur who works in books most of the time due too being far from good sites, plus I can’t drive very well!

I was reading some stuff on Talk Origins or found a link from there or a close source too your site and was impressed by some of your work, I have yet too read a great deal as I can’t take in a great deal without freaking out (not pretty!) but was impressed too contact you, being a shy loner an impressive step! I view you as a slightly cynical man who doesn’t do what I see as a grave mistake in science and that is over complicate stuff, I see much of the world as simple in it’s forms and complex in it’s many ways and see them working so close together in ‘harmony’ that one does see them as complex. I kinda got that sorted out from an unlikely source when reading some stuff about Bruce Lee and how he worked things out as simple but varied and how they worked together. I’ve found that ofter something compellably unrelated can be REALLY useful in working something out.

I’m interested in much of your writings but need time too really get a good understanding of them. I saw some of your stuff like how mosquito’s in the London Underground (was recently there for Christmas!) and can see others in humans that are VERY un-pc too say but there are among ethnic groups some unequie attributes and the controlled breeding’ of slaves, the latter is an example of humanity’s so called ‘greatness’ I see us as the worst.

I hope to read more of your stuff soon and hope too talk about it. Oh and sorry for some spelling mistakes, I never finished school, both while there of after I dropped out! It’s as bad as yours but in a different way.

I’m quite flattered that you are so impressed with my writings. To be honest they vary greatly in quality, depth, and seriousness. Some articles, particularly the serious articles for talk.origins, were meant as popular science presentations that explore serious topics in a way that is accessible to the intelligent layperson. Some examples are the articles “Are mutations harmful?” and “Changing views of the history of the Earth”. On the other hand some are merely expressions of my quirky sense of humor. You will have to decide for yourself which is which.

I will commend to you the thought that even though you are taking a break from academic studies you should go ahead and finish them at some point. Yes, it took me thirteen years to complete my college degree; none-the-less I completed it and my life has been the better for it.

I hope you do go ahead and become a paleontologist. It wasn’t until late in life that I realized that I had wanted to be one myself.

PS: I ran your letter through a spell checker. I suggest you learn to use one.

From: Ms Lauretta Ngoma
Date: 4 January 2012
Subj: Hi

My name is Ms Lauretta Ngoma & in search of a honest friend when i saw your email on the internet via [link deleted], so i decided to write you a short message and will like to know you more and as well establish a long lasting friendly relationship with you. I shall be Waiting to hear from you soonest.

Lauretta, I really am sorry but we are not fated to be friends. I know it is cowardly of me, but I don’t trust messages from strangers who “saw my email”. We won’t even discuss the link you included.

It’s a pity because I am sure we could have been the best of friends if you had been just a bit forthcoming about what you liked in that email.

From: Lee R. Piazza
Date: 3 January 2012
Subj: In times to come

In times to come

At any particular time I have a number of ideas for stories, reviews,
articles, and poems on the back burner. Some of them will be written
quite soon. Others, not so soon. Below are hints of things to come
in times to come. 
* . 
Book reviews
* The rise of the Mandarin Class by Emanuel Goldstein 
* The Historians by Nathan Childers  
Poems
* The Troll Queen An epic poem in the Zhandivar Cycle 
Mathematics
* The sphere, the plane, and the cubic equation Exploring a corner of algebra 

I could go into the future if you would lend me that time-machine (if it has that great a range) and read them.

Yes, that Emanuel Goldstein. I would lend you the time machine, but there seems to be a jam in the destination setting. It only delivers people to room 101. I’ll let you know if I can get it fixed.

From: Mary Robinson
Date: 2 January 2012
Subj: Bridger

Hi Deb and Richard,

I just read your “Bridger, In Memoriam”. It was touching and an excellent page.

I am sorry for your loss, as I do know how these guys can touch our hearts so. My yellow lab, Bailey, passed away on August 11, 2011 also, being just one month shy of 13 years old. It is never easy.

It is hard, yet so very rewarding, when you look back on all the joy they bring into our lives and with the satisfaction that we gave them the best that we could give them. A good life.

I will always remember Debs devotion to Bridger, and seeing you on your many walks with him as he appeared to give you quite a ‘work out’ just keeping up with him! He was a very fortunate dog indeed!

Thinking of you and wishing you the very best in 2012.

Most Sincerely,
Mary Robinson

Hi Mary

Thanks very much for writing. We both miss him. There are the little tokens of his presence – black hairs on the car seat, expecting him to beg for a bit of pizza crust, wishing that he were there to go for a walk, and all sorts of stray memories that tickle us from time to time. Still, he made us happy and I think we made him happy.

Be that as it may, he was a wonderful dog with a wonderful personality. I am sure he was a very fortunate dog, but we were equally fortunate.

Sincerely,
Richard Harter

From: Louis
Date: 1 January 2012
Subj: animations

You are receiving this email because we wish you to use our 3D/2D animation services.

We are a China based animation studio. We are specialized in providing 3D designing/modelling/animation services across the globe. We utilize the finest equipment available in the industry, offer efficient data delivery and unrivaled quality and work until the client is fully satisfied with the end product. We pushed past the limitations of technology and hardware to bring 3D walk-through animations and animated effects to the Web, VHS, DVD and now High-Definition.

[snip long list of services]

Sounds good to me. My poor old web site could use some pizzazz. How much are you willing to pay me to use your product?

From: Lee R Piazza
Date: 19 December 2011
Subj: POEM

Thanks for your reading of the poem. The point of the use of tenses in the first part was interesting, I had not noticed that. As a reader of history I have become inured to the suffering of humans in the insane wars we humans are subject to. But I have always felt a deeper sorrow for horses in war, so my thought went to this when I saw horses and betrayal together. But I think your analysis-that it is the horses own social system that is referred to-is right.

I particularly liked

or at least as it is rationalized by dogs and executives

I hadn’t thought about horses being betrayed by humans. Here is another thought I have about that. If all betrayals are by humans then the woman can be betrayed, the tulip cannot because it does not care, and the dog supposedly does not because it exults in competition. On that reading the horse does care because it does care. The trouble with that is that dogs do care about their humans even more than horses.