1.) It shouldn't happen to a dog, let alone an engineering professor: my analogy of a swing with either Tip O'Neill or a three-year old in it [AtE Dec 84] was inept, for the period of a pendulum does not depend on its mass, as is instantly apparent from its differential equation. I could weasel out by saying that I meant a spring-loaded swing (which does depend on mass), or that O'Neill's higher center of mass will shorten the effective length of the swing, or to the contrary, that if the ropes are elastic, his bigger weight will lengthen it
¾but of course, the simple truth is that I goofed. Once again I am heartened by the large number of letters pointing out that my analogy is invalid. They were received with embarrassment, but gratitude.2.) The Defence Attache, the British journal that published Soviet disinformation on the Korean airline atrocity based on a physical impossibility [AtE Aug 84), has now agreed to print James Oberg's article "Sense, Nonsense and Pretense on the KAL-007 Atrocity." It is scheduled for the December issue and reprints will be available to AtE readers for a SASE (37 cents stamp, please) from J. Oberg, Route 2 - Box 350, Dickinson, TX 77539.
Meanwhile the American Library Association's Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, Sept. 84, brings what they allege to be the "10 top censored stories," virtually all of which are crude, "America stinks"-type lies. One of them repeats the KAL 007 disinformation and additionally claims that "the US government could have interceded in the attack on the Korean jet that killed 269 people." The jury which selected these allegedly censored stories includes not only the discredited Noam Chomsky, but also Hodding Carter (regular column in the WSJ), G. Gebner (Dean, Annenberg School of Communications, U of Pa.), B. Bagdikian (Graduate School of Journalism, U of Ca., Berkeley); A. Balk (former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review), B. Knickerbocker (Wash. Bureau manager, Christian Science Monitor), C. Klotzer (publisher, St. Louis Journalism Rev.), and many other "journalists" in highly influential positions in the media business¾that is, the programmers who program the programmers.
Libraries always panhandle. Ask your library whether they are members of this organization, what they plan to do about it, and how much money they expect to get out of you.
3.) Who would leave out the "nuclear" in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, asks a reader from N.J. Am I not being a little paranoid?
Try Newsweek, 11/26/84: "Lauterbur was honored for his contribution to a new form of medical imaging that does not use X-rays," or better still, the Medical Tribune of 11/28/84, which has a whole article on "MRI¾Magnetic Resonance Imaging," and never once uses the dreadful obscenity "nuclear."
4.) Another reader from Idaho asks why I voted for Reagan when I am on the editorial board of the Intellectual Activist, in which Peter Schwartz recommended not voting for anybody.
The editorial board agrees on basic questions, but does not approve (or even see) the content of an issue before it is published; I make up my own mind for whom to vote; free men are rarely unanimous; and this is not a fundamental issue. [I am glad I voted for him, not because I am under any delusions about politics and politicians, but because his landslide election was a resounding media defeat.]
5.) Pests and diseases attacking oranges (or other crops) can be controlled or eliminated by irradiation [AtE Oct 84]. However, not all pests and diseases can be handled that way. For example, in California millions of oranges must be left to rot in the sun and others are diverted from human consumption to cattle feed. The pest causing this disease is a combination of growers, marketers and the US Dept. of Agriculture, who legally rig the market and can force a dissident grower to comply with the Marketing Order setting the quota of how much of a certain fruit can be brought to market. For more information on this government-protected collusion write Council for a Competitive Economy, 122 C St. NW, Washington, DC 20001.
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Vol. 12, No. 5
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 12, No. 5 Date: November 29, 2004 01:30 PM Title: "Need us!"
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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