Nuclear News, September 1998, p 12, published by the American Nuclear Society, 555 N. Kensington Ave., La Grange Park, IL 60526, reports that a public opinion poll in June 1998 showed that 61% of Americans favor the generation of electricity by nuclear power.

Each respondent was asked: "Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity for the United States?'' Answers from the general public were 25% strongly favor, 36% somewhat favor, 15% somewhat oppose, 19% strongly oppose, and 5% don't know. Democrats and women averaged only 56% in favor, while Republicans and men averaged 67%. The poll was taken by telephone and was comprised of 1,000 adults over the age of 18. Errors in the percentages are reported to be plus or minus 3%.

About half of the respondents agreed that more nuclear power plants should be built in the future.

This is the highest approval rating for nuclear power since 1983. It is sad that technologists who want to provide clean, safe, and inexpensive electricity are enslaved to public opinion, but this is the legacy of the enviro antinuclear propaganda. Let us hope that these percentages climb high enough to restart the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States.

Arnold Jagt, who wrote the Windows interface for the Robinson Self-Teaching Homeschool Curriculum, also sells the curriculum through his excellent web site at www.robinsoncurriculum.com. Arnold now has started inserting audio into our various web pages, for which he is additionally responsible.

Included in www.robinsoncurriculum.com is a talk I gave to a home school group, and www.oism.org has a lecture on global warming that I gave at Southern Oregon University, which was videotaped there for use on local television. (The first part of this tape is a little confusing, because the video editor thought it was artistic to show the speaker in video and then gradually bring up the audio - with the result that the introductory sentences are lost.) Eventually, the bandwidth technologists will probably have us all standing together in three-dimensional holograms.

• "Culture of Honor Reveals a Violent Streak'' by B. Bower, Science News 154 , September 12, 1998, reviews a paper by Dov Cohen in the August 1998 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
  
  Cohen claims to have discovered that areas with stable families and communities, regular religious participation, and stronger standards of personal honor have greater amounts of violence. These same areas, he finds, elect politicians more likely to endorse U. S. military actions, a strong national defense, and weak gun control laws. "The South and West have 'culture of honor' traditions that encourage aggressive responses to insults and threats to oneself, one's home, and family.'' No doubt Cohen would also find unfortunate streaks of violence among the soldiers, scientists, and technologists who have fought the wars and developed the weapons that have maintained the United States as a country so free and prosperous that she can afford the luxury of pusillanimous psychologists.
  

• Remarked one of the moguls of Silicon Valley at the Gilder Telecosm conference (who charitably remains nameless here, since it was a private remark) - "I like Al Gore. He's a friend of technology.'' No doubt this pathetic multimillionaire is one of those The Wall Street Journal had in mind in its editorial entitled "Silicon Saps,'' September 30, p A18, which reported that "John Doerr, the Silicon Valley pal of Vice President Al Gore, raised a tidy sum for Democrats when President Clinton passed through California last Friday.''

• Telecosm by George Gilder. Prepublication manuscripts were distributed at his September Telecosm conference. Gilder Technology is at P.O. Box 660, Monument Mills, Housatonic, MA 01236. Write to them for publication information.
  
  No one knows for certain where the Internet and computer revolution is going, but George Gilder is the best source of sensible predictions provided in an exciting and witty format.
  
  
• To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth by Jeff Cooper, Paladin Press, P.O. Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306. Buy two - send one to Dov Cohen.
  
  To say that Jeff Cooper is the greatest living teacher of personal defense with fire arms is only to begin the description. He is also the most articulate and intellectual living American proponent of the characteristics of personal honor that founded the United States and have kept her free for over two hundred years.
  
  Even now, at nearly 80 years of age, Colonel Cooper pursues a full schedule of writing, hunting, and professional events - and still finds time to provide instruction in the use of pistol or rifle to about 100 students each year. (Call Tom Russell at (806) 669-7378 for information.)
  
  
• Any of the approximately 100 books written by G. A. Henty about 100 years ago. These are essentially Horatio Alger books for children with the addition that each is set in the midst of a different significant historical event. Our hero always succeeds at the side of one or more great historical figures. Available in used book stores and libraries, these make great bedtime reading for adults, too.
  
  Henty lived in England during the high point of the British Empire, so the selection of historical events reflects a strongly British influence. The most amusing of his books is that set in the American revolutionary war. The British win all of the battles, enjoy overwhelming popular support, and accidentally surrender in the last few pages of the book.