To the Daily:
We would like to respond to Tom Strait's letter ("Pi's decimal approximation was wrong," 4/1/98) by personally thanking him for gathering all the stereotypes of engineers into one letter and sending it to the Daily for everyone (including us) to pin it up.
Was Tom a lonely child? Did he belong to a Pi Decimal Club in middle school? Did his parents potty train him too early? We're just trying to figure out what would drive someone to read something so closely. Not only it is unfortunate that he cares what Pi's 11th decimal place is, but also that he would actually check its accuracy.
Our only regret is that Tom is a first-year engineering student and we will graduate before we will have any classes with him. We won't be able to laugh at him in class when he raises his hand to point out a rounding error the professor made 20 minutes earlier.
Have fun Tom, only about 350 days until next year's big Pi Day extravaganza!
Darin Glasser
Sean Corrigan
Engineering seniors
To the Daily:
At first glance, I thought there was a small misspelling in the March 26 editorial "Well read." The Daily editors allowed what appeared to be a small spelling error to slip by, saying that Ernest "Hemmingway" was the author of "The Grapes of Wrath," instead of Ernest Hemingway (with one 'm').
"Hemmingway" was not a slight misspelling of "Hemingway," but a nearly apocalyptic misspelling of "Steinbeck," who was the author of "The Grapes of Wrath." The Daily's spellcheckers must be on guard for future typos of this garish sort.
P.S. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" passed by more than 60 percent. Hug!
Bram Elias
LSA sophomore
To the Daily:
As I read Josh White's column on the new Michigan Stadium scoreboards ("We don't need replays to enjoy the Wolverines," 3/24/98), I was more than relieved to find a "child of the '80s" forsaking the glitz, pomp and "gee whiz" of the latest "electronificated" gadget. White's column is dead on: We don't need or want a high-tech scoreboard in Michigan Stadium. Go ask the majority of the 100,000-plus ticket holders.
Most of us have been attending home games since before the current graduating class was born. Most remember that God-awful artificial turf, all-male cheerleaders and a guy named Bob Ufer. Ya think Ole Ufe, traditionalist that he was, would see a couple of giant TVs in the stadium as a good idea?
The scoreboards that are in there now tell me everything I need to know during a game. White's description of people staring at the TVs instead of watching the action on the field would be the perfect circular argument: "Since I missed that last play because I was staring at the scoreboard, good thing they'll replay it again." And let's not forget the inevitable throng of humanity that will dress up in ridiculous costumes just to have their mug beamed on the Jumbotron for a second or two. Superfan is bad enough; anyone remember the "Willie the Wolverine" fiasco?
Athletic Director Tom Goss must still be trying to make people forget his screw up when he couldn't accurately count both incoming first-year students and available seats.
Sure, adding 5,000 paying customers was a great idea, but spending $7.9 million on big TVs certainly is not. And you know what? Ticket prices will go up, and within eight years, you'll see Pepsi, Dominoes or (God forbid) Nike ads blasting out from those TVs.
Sorry Ufer ... they don't listen to us football fans much anymore. Only regents, administrators and those other guys who sit in the press box with food, drinks ... and TVs.
Michael Pekala
University alumnus
To the Daily:
I am often disappointed with the reasoning of students who suggest that affirmative action is wrong and allows less-qualified students admission to universities over more-qualified students. I believe that the University administration has stated clearly that GPAs and test scores are not the only criteria used to evaluate an applicant for admission. Why, then is that argument constantly used? Students entering the University are granted admission based on a variety of criteria. I would not want to attend a University at which all of the students gained admission with 4.0 GPAs in fact, I am sure that the majority of students who whine and complain about affirmative action would not find their experience at this University nearly as enjoyable without it.
Consider hockey scholarships. How many of us would give be willing to sacrifice 10 hockey players so that 10 more-academically qualified students could be granted admission to the University? But that's not affirmative action, you say?
Why, sure it is. You must understand, affirmative action does not always wear a black face. The University recognizes that fact. How many students would be willing to give back a national championship title because 20 football players with less than perfect GPAs were granted admission to this University?
I think my point is obvious. If affirmative action must end, then let all affirmative action end. No more special consideration to children of alumni. No extra points for those who display extraordinary musical talent. No more Heisman trophy athletes. I think that all of those things combined make this University great. I don't believe for one second that each student who is accepted to this wonderful institution does not deserve to be here.
Michael Adams
University staff
To the Daily:
As I was watching an episode of "Road Rules" that was filmed in Detroit for the current season, I was outraged by the stereotypic images of Detroit that the producers used. I did not see uplifting images of the city as it was in the middle of its summer festival season, which included the Stanley Cup Championship.
What I saw was a row of half-demolished buildings in a rundown part of the city, a scene that was as negative as possible before the cast went to perform a mission at Detroit Receiving Hospital. What was most disturbing is that one of the cast referred to the city as a "nuclear war zone."
As a student from Detroit, I constantly overhear people discussing Detroit, and all I ever hear is that Detroit is a dangerous, crime-ridden wasteland of a town. What irritates me is that I hear this from people who aren't two days out of the cornfield, let alone from a large city.
What's worse, most of these people think that they're right. And when I turn on the television, I find out exactly where these people are getting their information from, the same people who swear they are a part of a new generation.
It is an outrage that MTV would feed into such an antiquated, ignorant and biased view of the city of Detroit.
These are the people who claim to have an ear to the ground, when all they really are is a bunch of aging hypocrites who are a part of an ill-informed, bigoted status quo.
MTV owes the city of Detroit a public apology.
Michael Blair
LSA junior
04-06-98
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