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Summer 2023

Letters

Talk Back
Fall 2017

Talkback for Fall 2017

 

Even more Olympic connections

In “Cougs at the Olympics” in the Talkback section of our Fall ’16 issue, Don Brust asked the question regarding what other Cougs had the opportunity to go to the Olympic Games. Another response:

In 1978 the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) moved its headquarters from New York to Colorado Springs. At that time I was working there for CPAs Haskins & Sells. The USOC’s business manager/controller did not want to relocate, so I decided to apply and was lucky enough to be selected. The end result was that I was able to attend two Pan American Games (San Juan … » More …

Talk Back
Summer 2017

Talkback for Summer 2017

 

Waste not

I enjoyed reading “Waste Not” in the Spring ’17 issue of Washington State Magazine. I learned a lot and was especially intrigued by the part about microwave sterilization and preservation.

I thought I would clarify to readers that, while composting food waste still releases greenhouse gasses, if treated properly with balanced carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, aeration, and moisture, decaying food waste favors carbon dioxide and releases less methane than that same material would in a landfill, where moisture, aeration, and the rot recipe are far from optimal. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Animal husbandry is the missing … » More …

Talk Back
Spring 2017

TalkBack for Spring 2017

 

Where would the wood?… 

I enjoyed the article “Wood Takes Wing” in the Winter 16 edition of Washington State Magazine on the many possibilities for wood as a new source of carbon molecules for all of those polymers we take for granted. Technologies that allow us to reduce burning of fossil fuels for energy recognize its highest value. The potential for atmospheric carbon reduction is a plus.

But there was an unasked question hanging behind the article—where will the timber come from to fill the old mills? The same environmental groups who just say no to transporting or burning fossil fuels also eagerly block … » More …

Pioneer 10/11 Mission Patch
Fall 2016

Talkback for Fall 2016

 

Another close encounter with outer space

Fifty years ago, 1966, I graduated from WSU and then went to work for NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. I spent the next 40 years exploring our solar system. WSU gave me the “right stuff” to be a part of sending a “spacecraft where no spacecraft had gone before.” I was in the Pioneer Project and we sent the first spacecraft to the outer planets, Pioneer-10, to fly beyond the orbit of Mars through the asteroid belt and encounter Jupiter in 1973. After the flyby of Jupiter, Pioneer-10, on an escape trajectory from the Sun … » More …

Talk Back
Spring 2016

Talkback for Spring 2016

 

Traditions

Thank you for the article in your Fall 2015 issue about Stevens Hall and their tea cups. I lived there from 1968–1972. It was a great place to live and an interesting time of old traditions (passing an engagement ring around a circle of residents until it stopped at the engaged) to moving on to more modern ones (like allowing men to visit up on the floors and rooms). Through it all were the beautiful teacups and wonderful friends, some of which I still keep in touch with after 43 years!

Gayle Hunt ’72

 

Serving with distinction

As a WSU alumnus, I … » More …

Talk Back
Summer 2016

Talkback for Summer 2016

 

Police training

Congratulations for this important and excellent story [Spring 2016] that WSU grads are creating concerning the much needed training of first responders in handling potentially explosive and often tragic situations. It is of interest that the technology (smart phone cameras) that brought to the country’s attention the several recent lethal police encounters with escalating situations, is also being used to assist the training (dash and body cams) to defuse contentious confrontations.

I am pleased to see that the researchers and trainers involved in this project are expertly fusing psychology, criminology, and technology into their training programs and that they take seriously … » More …

Talk Back
Winter 2015

Talkback for Winter 2015

 

Refreshing

Thank you for continuing to publish Washington State Magazine at such a high level. I read the Fall 2015 issue from cover to cover and rate it as outstanding in every respect. The redesign of the magazine with sustainability in mind is commendable. Mostly, however, the content was what gave me the feeling that I am still connected to WSU almost 50 years after I graduated.

As it happens, there were also multiple articles that connected with me personally. I took an ecology course from Rexford Daubenmire and continued to refer to his classic texts on autecology and synecology during my own 40-year … » More …