Letters to the Editor
Andrew
Published Letters: 107 Editor's Choice: 46
-
Also a gain for the far left
[Read the article: No Bush, please -- we're Canadian]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What the article does not mention is that the New Democratic Party (NDP), a party further to the left of the Liberals did manage to pick up 10 newe seats in the Parliament. So, I believe the article is misleading us into the assumption that all Liberal voters up and went for the Conservatives. No. Many of us up and went even further left for the NDP.
-
SciDev.net
[Read the article: It's Monsanto's world. We just live in it]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you for the link to SciDev.net. I've been reading it for a little while now and it's a great site!
-
Isn't there anything more important than this?
[Read the article: Shoot first, avoid questions later]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't you have anything more important to write about? Aren't there emabassies burning in the Middle East? Isn't that new report about Katrina really damning to the administration?
For once, I believe Cheney...it was an accident. I think few people believe otherwise. So what that in the heat of the moment some people had different accounts? On the scale of lies being told, this is insignificant.
-
Fighting for freedom
[Read the article: Patriot Act games]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But we're not doing the party or the country any favors by refusing to challenge an administration that views our freedoms as collateral damage in the war on terrorism.
According our president, freedom is what we are fighting for. So, the very fact that we have the Patriot Act means that we are losing.
-
Online subscription to NYT
[Read the article: All the news stuff that's fit to print]
[Read more letters about this article: Here] -
Online subscription to the NYT
[Read the article: All the news stuff that's fit to print]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I applaud the New York Time's recent move to a paid online subscription for some its content (columnists, editorials, etc). Although, it bothered me at first, I do believe now that this is the only way they can continue to make money in the long term.
The 20 somethings that I know (myself included) simply feel more comfortable sitting in front of a computer to read news rather than with a clunky newspaper getting your fingers dirty. -
Doing the right thing
[Read the article: Abu Ghraib and Salon]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think you are doing the right thing by thinking hard about what you will and will not publish. It shows a moral responsibility that many other news agencies do not have.
-
Good for science
[Read the article: Shark and awe]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The researchers working with the sharks probably want their ideas to actually be used for war about as much as I do (which is to say, not at all). They also know that the likelyhood of this actually happening is quite small.
I would bet that the researchers working on this project are much more interested in solving deep questions on how the brain and body work together.
As a phd student in a large research university, I know many researchers funded by DARPA or organizations with military leanings. These researchers would prefer not to get money from these places, but in some sense, as long as they can spin their research in terms of benefit to the military, there are no strings attached. That's a good thing for science. This is exactly how the internet was created.
-
Humanure
[Read the article: The biosolid bonanza]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I prefer the term "humanure".
One of the reasons why processing human waste is so difficult and expensive is that we are flushing it down the toilet. One pound of waste can contaminate hundreds of gallons of water. And all that water needs to be extracted before the waste can be composted.
I'm not saying that we should all be pooing in a bucket and taking it out back, but there are alternatives.
I just finished reading "Garbage Land" by Elizabeth Royte, which had an interesting perspective on how to handle this waste.
-
Recycling in British Columbia
[Read the article: How to recycle your computer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For those of you living North of the Border, in British Columbia, SPEC has a good website summarizing the ways to recycle techno-trash in the area:
http://www.spec.bc.ca/greenpages/question.php?questID=45
I often take my stuff to PC Galore:
http://www.pcgalore.com/recycle.asp
-
Thank you Farhad Manjoo
[Read the article: The corporate toll on the Internet]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Network neutrality (or the lack of it) is an extremely important issue. I applaud Farhad Manjoo for finally writing an article about it for Salon.com.
Imagine an internet with only 3 real websites, and a handful of tiny, unimportant ones. Is this where we are heading?
Keeping the internet neutral is extremely important for the average user, for the innovators, and for small businesses. One of the major reasons why the internet has become such an important part of our lives is exactly because it is a dumb network.
Most people don't know or don't care about how important it is because understanding what neutrality means is complicated and technical, but word must get out and people must understand how it can affect their lives.
-
A bad article ends discussion
[Read the article: Breaking the silence]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have not read Mearsheimer and Walt's article, but I have read Salon's commentary on it.
It is sad that we cannot have a healthy discussion regarding the US's relationship to Israel without someone screaming anti-semitism, or anti-zionism (thanks, Dayenu).
Regardless of the scholarship and over-generalizations of Mearsheimer and Walt's article, we should and need to be having this discussion. This is what we should be doing in an open, free and liberal society. It's unfortunate that the original article seems to be of shoddy quality because it may just have the effect of entrenching those who can't say a single negative thing about Israel.
Is someone racist for questioning affirmative action?
-
Say what you will...
[Read the article: The gagging and the glory]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...but this "sport" is disgusting. Ms. Goldstein's article has not convinced me that competitive eating is anything more than a bunch of carny freaks showing off.
I could read the book, but I don't think I could stomache it...
-
I don't buy it
[Read the article: Oscar goes wild]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Something is wierd with all of those cuts and camera angles. If Oscar could really throw, why keep cutting to a new angle when the ball leaves his mouth?
I'll need a better video than this.