among the things you apparently won't be reading in
the letters to the StarTrib is the following, a sign
of Minneapolis mediocrity ill-befitting our self-image and
aspirations....
===============
> To: Letters Editor:
> I'm in culture shock. On Friday's (12/1?) editorial page, the StarTribune
> admonished us, saying "America must cure its cultural allergy to math
> and science - or risk having its children fall further behind."
> But the paper has still not replaced its distinguished and only
> general-science reporter, who left this summer for a post in Washington.
> And last Wednesday (12/6?), the StarTribune announced the demise of the weekly
> Science Page "in order to better integrate science-based stories with
> the rest of local, national and international news coverage. "
>
> So how well is the StarTribune doing in this brave new world? Well,
> if you had been reading Monday's New York Times, you could have read
> about an agreement with the manufacturer of the popular pesticide
> diazinon to pull it off the home market. Monday's Washington Post
> highlights two somewhat contradictory pieces of new evidence regarding
> the evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs. In Monday's
> L.A. Times you would have found an interesting analysis piece on
> scientific journals being compromised by corporate secrecy demands. The
> Boston Globe brought its Monday readers an article about pyroclastic
> flow, the superheated high speed destructive result of volcanoes. The
> second of a five-part reprinted series in Monday's Baltimore Sun looks
> at how fertilizer manufacted in Louisiana and used in the Midwest
> returns to devastate fishing in the Gulf.
>
> But if you were reading Monday's StarTribune, an online search for
> "science" shows no stories with science content. To the paper's
> credit, there is a front page lead for an important global pact
> regarding the "dirty dozen" toxins. And there is one interesting piece
> from the Associated Press about three North Carolina high school
> students who won the national Siemens Westinghouse Science and
> Technology competition, analysing data from the Chandra X-ray satellite.
> Unmentioned in the article is that their supervisor is Jonathan
> Keohane, a recent University of Minnesota Ph.D. in Astrophysics, whose
> work with me and NASA colleagues on exploding stars led to the students'
> research.
>
> A click on today's (Tuesday) NY Times Science/Health Section brings 24
> new articles. But there's nowhere to click for Science in our paper.
> If the Twin Cities are to stay well-informed on science issues, the
> StarTribune needs a little relief from its cultural allergy. I wish it
> a speedy recovery.
>
> Lawrence Rudnick
> Distinguished Teaching Professor of Astronomy
=====================
LR, Fulton
