Moose Man
It would have been of interest to your readers had you identified Dr.
Stephen DeStefano, the researcher mentioned in the “Mystery of Massachusetts
Moose” article on page 12 in the Spring 2006 issue, as a UMass graduate
(B.S., Class of 1978).
Joseph S. Larson ’56, ’58G
Pelham
Treasure Trees
In the Spring 2006 issue, I enjoyed reading Vincent Cleary’s article
on taking the “Plants and the Landscape” class. Not long ago he did
a nice piece on “The Trees We Love.” It would be great for UMass
to follow up with an article about the wonderful wild and native
trees that also grow on campus, particularly on the ridge known to
“old-timers” as “Prexy’s Ridge.” At least one of the white oaks there
is more than 280 years old; many other trees are also older than
the campus. What a treasure we have!
Elisa Campbell ’80G
Amherst
A Liberal Definition
The study of Science vs. Religion used to be summed up in Dr. Greenbaum’s
history seminars as one of “Reason vs. Faith.” In your article on
Steve Harvey you seem to dismiss it as one of “truth and deception.”
In the Collegian, when I was a student, there was a letter to the editor
(in Feb. of ’83) defining “Liberal” as someone who (among a number
of qualities) was “open-minded.” I don’t think it is that way anymore. Today,
a Liberal seems to be stridently closed-minded and negative about a
number of topics—including religion.
If you mean that the dialectic between Science and Religion is one
of truth and deception, then shame on you for allowing such stridently
close-minded and negative nonsense in a UMass publication. I say this,
not due to my faith, but as an old-style Liberal whose mind is always
open, his ears are always ready to listen, his intellect is always
willing to absorb and weigh, and his perspective is always open to
change if the preponderance of evidence leads elsewhere and anywhere.
Topher Russo ’85
Baltimore, MD
Editor’s Note: In the opening paragraph of the story, the writer refers to the legal battle over teaching intelligent design as a battle between truth and deception; we believe he’s referring to the legal battle itself. Near the end of the article, the writer describes how attorney Steve Harvey ’82 catches a defendant in a lie about how books were paid for, which was at the heart of a key argument of the prosecution for determining if there was adequate separation of church and state, hence the reference to “truth and deception.”
Of Mice and Men
I have spent a great deal of my professional time writing commentaries
on the rights of animals and the archaic forms of research we still
inflict upon them. In “Science Notebook” (page 12, Spring 2006),
the article “A Fat Pill?” described research being done on “engineered”
mice to turn out yet another pill that promises to attack fat.
We have caused ourselves poor health in so many ways, and many people
see no ethical problem in transferring the product of our abuses to
innocent animals so more money can be funded and wasted on crimes against
nature. It disappoints me to see that UMass remains in the diminishing
group of universities that still conduct wasteful experiments on animals,
when they can be using state-of-the-art technological advancements
to concentrate on human physiology and psychology. Why are many of
us overweight? I’m sure it has nothing to do with why these mice are
fat because they are engineered to be so by researchers. It is sad
that these pill-generating callous projects continue to be funded with
money that could go to feeding starving children instead, not to mention
cultivating a more humane and ethical society.
C. Veronica Guerra-Varno ‘80
Stonington, CT
The Mystery of Tillson Farm
I always enjoy your magazine, and the article on the new central heating
plant was interesting and instructive. However, I was amazed that in
this lengthy article, there was no mention of the “new” steam plant
that was constructed some years ago at Tillson Farm and still sits
there, apparently full of expensive and never-used equipment. The “explanations”
that I have heard over my years of employment at UMass are disparate
and wide-ranging, and often fantastical. Here was an ideal opportunity
to set the record straight and put the rumors to rest.
Asaph Murfin ’00G
OIT retired
Leverett
Heronemus Remembered
I was glad to read the article about Wind Hull One and Two and James
Manwell ’81G, and also the mention of our mentor, mechanical engineering
professor William Heronemus.
In 1982 I had the privilege of working with Professor Heronemus for
my undergraduate thesis on the feasibility of using wind power to heat
and power a residence. He was a man of great vision and passion concerning
the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
Before he was my thesis advisor, he was my assigned guidance counselor.
I remember meeting with him on several occasions in the evening in
semidarkness to talk about my future. He would always do his part to
save energy and set the example for his students. At present my wife
and I own a heating contractor company where our mission is to replace
old energy-hog equipment with high-efficiency equipment that uses less
than half the energy. I hope that he would be proud of his onetime
student.
I am glad to see that his vision lives on in both the Hull Wind projects
and his former students.
Russell D. Kimball ’82
Mill Creek, WA
Supply and Demand
Why, exactly, is it “maddening” that oil companies are raking in record
profits? A worldwide increase in consumption putting stress on supply
has resulted in a perfectly normal increase in price. Oil companies,
like all companies, have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders.
Do you propose to replace the current market-driven system with the
state-owned structures that have failed so markedly in socialist
societies?
Furthermore, as The Economist magazine pointed out in a recent extensive
article, the world is not even close to “running on empty.” A United
States Geological Survey showed that only a third of the three trillion
gallons of known supply has been produced, and that does not include
the billions of gallons available from tar sands and shale oil.
It is true that our dependence on oil from politically unstable areas
must be ameliorated, but scaremongering such as the cover of your spring
issue is counterproductive.
Robert D. Ruplenas ’74
Weymouth
Fusion Confusion
Cold fusion is not an illusion. The cold fusion effect was replicated
at high signal-to-noise ratios by researchers at over a 100 world-class
laboratories. By September 12, 1990, 92 groups in major laboratories
reported replications. Hundreds of positive, peer-reviewed papers
on cold fusion were subsequently published in mainstream journals.
You can find more than 500 full text reprints of scientific papers
from all the institutions listed above, and many others, at our Web
site, http://lenr-canr.org/
Jed Rothwell, Librarian
http://lenr-canr.org/
A Stitch in Time
The fall issue of UMass contained a “smarting” reply from Steve Garbowit
of Hampden, Connecticut, about outsourcing. Steve obviously is a
victim of an irreversible renaissance that America has been undergoing
for the last decade. What all of us (including Steve) must understand
is that for every $1 the United States spends on global sourcing, we
get $1.25 in return. This economy-boosting fact is proven and there
are studies to back it up. The greatness of our American nation lies
in accepting the new order and adapting to change. We all know, that
in the end, the American consumer will always pay for quality at the
most competitive price— be it back-office work or automobile manufacturing.
In the early 80s we didn’t implement automation and robotics technology
in a timely manner.
We as a nation languished below the technology curve in upgrading the
quality of our auto industry. The Japanese took full advantage of that
opportunity and flooded our highways with quality cars that they sold
at competitive prices. Today they are here to stay, and that market
share that once belonged to the U.S. auto industry is lost forever.
We must learn from our mistakes. A stitch in time saves nine. The old
adage about embracing technology on time is something we learned at
the Automation & Robotics Laboratory in the UMass Engineering Quad.
It applies today as it did 18 years ago: “If you don’t do it, someone
else will. And that someone will kill your business.”
In today’s global economy, the option to outsource is no longer an
“if,” but a resounding “when.”
Saqib Alladin ’88G
Danbury, CT
A Bloomin’ Oversight
It is always a pleasure to read about Shelburne Falls and certainly
wonderful to live there. (Ben Barnhart’s photographs are splendid!)
Since much is made of the Bridge of Flowers, it’s only fair to point
out that much credit should go to Elaine Parmett ’95G, who plays a
very active role in the Shelburne Falls Area Woman’s Club. The Bridge
of Flowers was initiated by the club in 1929, which continues to lovingly
oversee its care and maintenance.
Christin Couture ’75
Shelburne Falls & New York City
Our inbox overfloweth! We received many impassioned responses to “Are Embryos Persons?” (page 80) by Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Lynne Rudder Baker in our last issue. Below are just two examples. Thank you for your correspondence; to read all letters received, please visit the letters page on www.UMassMag.com.
Embryo Imbroglio
In the Spring 2006 issue of your publication, Lynne Rudder Baker makes
a very unrealistic discourse. I had thought that Lynne wanted to
encourage stem-cell research, but on a closer observation, I saw
[her] diverting to animals and then to human embryos, which of course
was the topic. I however noted with dismay, [her] assertion that
“. . . the destruction of a human embryo is not destruction of a
human person,” thus legitimizing such practices as abortion.
This is not just acceptable. We (humans) are gradually degenerating
into “empty bodies,” failing to recognize the spiritual aspects of
our existence. Virtually every religion is against [her] position on
the embryo issue, hence the war against abortion. I think Lynne and
[her] like need to make a U-turn to reality and not use science as
a parallel to God the creator.
Please help us pass morally acceptable legacies to the younger generation.
Ogbonna Njoku*
Owerri, Imo, Nigeria
*Ogbonna Njoku is the son of UMass graduate, Ogbonna Njoku ’79G ’81G,
and is a fan of UMass Amherst magazine.
I found it quite disturbing that the magazine of my alma mater would
publish such an article.
The stem-cell research issue is certainly one of great controversy,
and I am not sure that the UMass alumni magazine is necessarily the
best vehicle in which to debate the topic. What bothered me most however,
was the lack of any rebuttal. So if you will permit me: Professor Baker
used words like organism and person. These are just words, and like
all words, we human beings define what they mean in the context of
our language. A harmless truth until you start dealing with the business
of human life. Then it gets serious.
It seems to me that attempts to define key words, such as person, are
at the very core of the points that the professor tries to make.
I believe in God. I believe in life. And I believe that God created
life. Therefore, logic tells me that God is the only One who has the
true authority to define what “life” is and what relationship “organisms”
and “persons” have to “life.” It would then follow that God has the
lone authority to determine the definition of a “person,” and in fact
when it is that a person becomes a person. It is His view that is the
totally accurate view and thus the only view that has credibility.
Makes sense to me.
Professor Baker’s article, on the other hand, makes
no sense to me.
Bob Crotty ’70
Boerne, TX
In Response
It is important to keep in mind what question is being discussed. The
question I raised was not whether all persons should be protected.
(Like some readers, I think that they should be.) Rather, the question
was whether an embryo is a person. Respect for persons is not an
answer to the latter question.
There is a wide range of opinion among religious people about when
a person comes into existence. (Not even all Christians agree! I would
not be so sure that I knew what God thought about when a person begins.
He did not pronounce on this matter in the Bible.) Many people—including
devout Christians—believe in God, believe in life, and believe that
God created life, without believing that a human embryo is a person.
St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, believed that a fetus was not a human
anything until it acquired a
rational soul (at “quickening”).
In my opinion, the “morally acceptable legacies” that we should pass
on to the younger generation
include doing everything that we can in
order to ameliorate diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and juvenile
onset diabetes—debilitating diseases whose victims stem-cell researchers
hope to help.
Lynne Rudder Baker
UMasss Amherst
Distinguished Professor
of Philosophy
