Letters

Visions of the 21st Century

The arrogance shown by your theorizing about the future of space and science [VISIONS 21, April 10] was staggering. Who can say what discoveries will be made in the next 25 years that will fundamentally alter our perception and understanding of the universe? Time and again, history has proved we are not as clever as we think we are. DEREK RAMM Toronto

Congratulations! Finally a major publication has taken the giant leap into the outer world, answering the great challenge of the new millennium. It is incumbent upon Americans to show the way. So that all humanity can benefit, we must take the leadership role as explorers, pioneers and innovators in seeking new worlds. "Up, up and away!" should be the new battle cry. GEORGE H. GEORGERIAN Haverhill, Mass.

In the future will we be able to live on Earth? Be able to explore one-zillionth percent of the universe? Be able to provide water for all people? Morally survive the ability to clone human beings? STEFAAN VAN LANGENDONCK Heverlee, Belgium

One more mind-boggling question: Will we ever get a TIME magazine with complete pagination? LIBOR BROM Barrington, Ill.

...Will we still exist? ERIC BERNHARDT Kindhausen, Switzerland

Thank you for a most entertaining and imaginative issue. One of your articles addressed the question "Will We Discover Another Universe?" I am a big believer in alternate universes as an explanation for lost items. Somewhere in a parallel universe, another Alan Perlman is scratching his head and wondering why the devil he suddenly has three identical brown belts and two CDs of Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard. ALAN M. PERLMAN Highland Park, Ill.

The exploration and mining of resources in space are hugely important to the future. There are literally millions of asteroids containing material and energy resources floating in our solar system just for the taking. We need to appreciate the energy resources within our reach if we merely look up. WILLIAM HUBBELL Buenos Aires

In this newborn century--in which accumulating evidence points toward a multiuniverse cosmos where component universes, our own included, are continually created and die--your cosmic analysis can be summed up with some very brief words: What a lot of crap! JAMES C. RITCHIE Glasgow

New Sources for Energy?

In your article "will Someone Build a Perpetual-Motion Machine?" [VISIONS 21, April 10], you stated that the theories of inventor Joseph Newman are "considered nonsensical." Having assisted Newman in his work for 17 years and edited his book The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman, I find your assessment to be inaccurate. A special master appointed by a U.S. district court found overwhelming evidence that a prototype of Newman's invention showed that "the output energy exceeds the external input energy." Newman's discovery has extended the law of the conservation of mass-energy into a new electromagnetic domain. Such extensions of natural law into new domains are typical in the history of scientific progress. Newman has produced a revolutionary electromagnetic technology for the 21st century. EVAN SOULE JR. New Orleans

The suggestion that my hydrino theory of energy is in any way connected to perpetual motion is wrong. My theory states that energy can be derived from reducing the size of a hydrogen atom. The theory has been successfully tested in independent labs, and I have presented it to the American Chemical Society. RANDELL MILLS BlackLight Power, Inc. Cranbury, N.J.

Shedding Winter Weight

In her report on how to lose any weight one may have gained during the winter [Personal TIME, April 10], your columnist Janice Horowitz, size 2 petite, revealed that she had gained 6 lbs. The misery! The tragedy! I realize that TIME as a newsmagazine sometimes has to print material that is unpleasant and disturbing, but this is just too much. I read it at breakfast, and it ruined my whole day. Please spare us such horror stories! MARCIA BIKALES New York City

Zero Tolerance for Weapons

As an advocate for the teachers and support staff at Buell Elementary School in Flint, Mich., I am compelled to set the record straight about the day that six-year-old Kayla Rolland was shot by her classmate. Contrary to the account of the student that TIME published [NATION, March 13], the little boy who shot Kayla did not have a knife taken away from him the morning of the shooting. Officials who interviewed the staff after the shooting concluded that no one knew anything about a knife (or a gun) before the attack. Michigan has a tough, zero-tolerance law regarding weapons in schools. Our school employees pushed for that law, and they do not hesitate to enforce it. They know that their lives and the lives of their students depend on it. MARGARET TRIMER-HARTLEY Communications Consultant Michigan Education Association Flint, Mich.

Inside the Hizballah

Your article on Lebanon's anti-Israeli Hizballah militants and their effect on the politics of Lebanon and the Middle East raised some questions [WORLD, April 10]. How can Lebanon possibly become a technology and business center, a kind of "Singapore of the Middle East," with Hizballah carrying out its vicious attacks? Even if Hizballah tries to shed its fundamentalist roots, it will still be an organization that promotes terrorism. The only way Lebanon can restore its image and attract substantial foreign investment is for it and Syria to stop supporting Hizballah. AARON GOLDBERG, age 14 San Diego

It is irresponsible to suggest that Hizballah's holy war against Israel will diminish with Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon. The destruction of Israel has always been a major goal of Hizballah. Neither is it logical to assume that Israel's departure will give the Lebanese a chance to rebuild their nation. The transformation of Lebanon will occur only when the country is brought out from under the boot of Syria. ADAM WIENER Great Neck, N.Y.

American Dysfunction

I find the undue praise and attention being lavished on the Oscar-winning film American Beauty disturbing and unwarranted [PEOPLE, April 10]. If adultery, murder, homosexuality, voyeurism and abuse of women are normal in American society, then surely the time has come to stop and take stock. JOHN ST. C. WHITTALL Johannesburg

I've tried all my life to avoid dysfunctional people, and I wound up seeing all of them in one motion picture. I paid good money and spent two hours sitting in the dark like a captive, waiting to be rescued by some redeeming goodness--in vain. That was my experience of seeing American Beauty! R. FREDERICK GRACE Alhambra, Calif.