Transcripts of E-Mail with Lolly Fletcher -- 1992-93 From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Tue Oct 27 17:53 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA27586; Tue, 27 Oct 92 17:53:00 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Tue, 27 Oct 92 16:48 CDT Message-Id: <22102716485338@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 16:48 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: Mentorship To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, Thank you for the quick response to my call for a mentor. Wow, I was amazed to read the "electronic coursework" posting. Very interesting, and I am humbled by the experience and knowledge you have attained in the area of technology. Please remember that I am a novice (involved in telecom only one year now and sometimes get overwhelmed by its possibilities>). The little girl who we would like you to mentor is named Lolly and she is the only daughter of Peter Fletcher and his wife. Peter is an art professor at Viterbo College, a private Catholic college located in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. (West Salem is 15 miles east of LaCrosse). Lolly is identified as gifted in all academic areas. I am not sure about her artistic talents as I have not discussed this information with the Gifted and Talented coordinator. Lolly is a bit of a loner, as she tends to be a bit melancholy, quiet, and "bored" by the normal curriculum. She is a beautiful 10 year old girl with long, long, blonde hair and a lovely gentle way about her. Lolly is very interested in archeology and in writing. I am sure you will be able to nurture her talents and this will be a very special relationship for her. I (Jan Wee) will work with her as she is sending and receiving her mail from you. I coordinate all telecommunications in our building. I will have Lolly write to you by November 7th, as we have vacation from October 29-November 2nd. I am sureshe will be thrilled to have this new friendship. Look for her first contact by the end of next week. Sincerely, Jan Wee PS: I, too, will be very interested in learning more about you! Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ========================================================================= From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Tue Oct 27 18:00 EST 1992 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA27632; Tue, 27 Oct 92 18:00:34 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Mentorship with Lolly Fletcher To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 18:00:24 EST Cc: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <22102716485338@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Oct 27, 92 4:48 pm Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9] Hi Jan, Thanks for your background on Lolly and her family. I'm looking forward to visiting with her by E-Mail, and perhaps online on MicroMuse if that would interest her. If you like, I can send you further information about myself and about MicroMuse. Regards, Barry ============================================================================= From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Tue Oct 27 18:27 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA27908; Tue, 27 Oct 92 18:27:00 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Tue, 27 Oct 92 17:23 CDT Message-Id: <22102717230392@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 17:23 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: Re: Mentorship with Lolly Fletcher To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, Thanks for the message. Yes, I would like more info on you. All new E-Mail friends are intriguing to me! Lolly will be on ASAP. You're welcome for the info! Thanks to you again! Jan Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ======================================================================== From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Fri Nov 6 15:29 EST 1992 Received: from [138.49.128.129] by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA26907; Fri, 6 Nov 92 15:29:02 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Fri, 6 Nov 92 14:24 CDT Message-Id: <22110614241156@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 14:24 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: Lolly's message To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, Hi, I am Lolly Kirsten Fletcher and I am 10 1/2 years old. My birthday is January 23rd, 1981. I have lived in the town of West Salem for the past five years. I was born in Missoula, Montana, where my grandparents still live. I have also lived in Kentucky, Ohio, and California when I was very young. My dad's name is Peter and he is an art professor. My mom's name is Lisa and she stays home and takes care of my little brother, Will. Will is three and a half years old. I am very close to Will and he likes to play with me. My favorite subjects in school are writing and science. Rocks and minerals and bones and muscles are two units that I enjoyed studying in science. I like to check out books about mummies and fish fossils from the library. I like to write ghost stories and funny stories. I have written fiction stories with ideas about artifacts and remnants of the past in them. For fun, in my spare time, I sometimes write and I also like to make paper mache' things. i have made bowls, plates, and dolls. I have some questions for you, Barry! Please tell me more about yourself. Your letter said you are a Cognitive Scientist--what does that mean? Please explain more about Micro Muse--what is this program about? Please tell me about this simulation. What do I do when I visit Micro Muse? I will look forward to your letter (email letter) and have fun this weekend! Lolly Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ======================================================================= From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Re: Lolly's Message To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Hi Lolly, > Dear Barry, > Hi, I am Lolly Kirsten Fletcher and I am 10 1/2 years old. My > birthday is January 23rd, 1981. I have lived in the town of West > Salem for the past five years. I was born in Missoula, Montana, > where my grandparents still live. I have also lived in Kentucky, > Ohio, and California when I was very young. Your birthday is just 3 days after mine. Montana is very scenic. I remember driving through it on two vacations, and camping in the National Park there. I too have lived in California, when I was in college. Where did you live in California, Lolly? > My dad's name is Peter and he is an art professor. My mom's name is > Lisa and she stays home and takes care of my little brother, Will. > Will is three and a half years old. I am very close to Will and he > likes to play with me. I have a friend in Connecticut who is an art teacher. I have to confess that I know very little about art. What kind of games do you play with Will? > My favorite subjects in school are writing and science. Rocks and > minerals and bones and muscles are two units that I enjoyed studying > in science. I like to check out books about mummies and fish > fossils from the library. I like to write ghost stories and funny > stories. I have written fiction stories with ideas about artifacts > and remnants of the past in them. I also like writing and science. I hope we can exchange some interesting letters about science. If any of your stories are in the computer, perhaps you could send some to me in a future letter. I once wrote a children's story, leaving room for some pictures, but I didn't know anyone who could draw in the pictures for me. Do you know about amber? Sometimes insects are fossilized in amber, which is dried tree sap. In some cases the insects are so well preserved, scientists can extract blood cells and study the DNA. Some scientists have even wondered if someday it will be possible to bring an extinct species back to life from fossliized DNA. The movie Jurassic Park, based on a novel by Michael Crichton, is based on this intriguing idea. > For fun, in my spare time, I sometimes write and I also like to make > paper mache' things. I have made bowls, plates, and dolls. Have you ever made a tree out of newspaper? You roll up several \ / sheets of newspaper into a tube about 1" in diameter. Then you \ / cut or tear the paper from one end of the tube to the midpoint, \ / making four 'leaves' so that it looks like a fountain. Then you || pull up on the inside of the tube, telescoping the tree into a || tall Palm Tree. || > I have some questions for you, Barry! OK. > Please tell me more about yourself. Your letter said you are a > Cognitive Scientist--what does that mean? Please explain more about > Micro Muse--what is this program about? Please tell me about this > simulation. What do I do when I visit Micro Muse? A Cognitive Scientist studies the behavior of the brain and the mind. How do our brains work? How are memories stored in the brain? How do we learn? In order to study Cognitive Science, one must study NeuroScience, Psychology, Philosophy, and Artificial Intelligence. MicroMuse is an imaginary world that resides within a computer at MIT. You can visit this world and become a part of it. It's kind of like being in a play, except all the scenery is stored in the computer and narrated much like a story in a book. But unlike a story-book world, this world is created by the people in it, and we make up the story as we go along. We have lots of people in our imaginary world, including many children. At any time of the day or night, you will find 20 or 30 people connected to MicroMuse and actively engaged in playing out their roles in the story. Sometimes people just play, much like you would play with your friends after school. And sometimes people work on projects, building more scenery and adding to the make-believe world. > I will look forward to your letter (email letter) and have fun this > weekend! > Lolly Thank you, Lolly. You have a good weekend, too. I'll be going to the Museum of Science this weekend to work in the Children's Discovery Room. I'm looking forward to your next letter! Barry > Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU > West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET > 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) > West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ========================================================================== From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Fri Nov 13 15:22 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA22448; Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:22:28 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Fri, 13 Nov 92 14:17 CDT Message-Id: <22111314175616@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 14:17 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: Lolly's response To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, I found out that I never did live in California. My mom told me when we were working on this letter! We lived in Reno, Nevada. The games that Will and I play are "you can't catch me," "I'm going to get you," and "bop the pop." "I'm going to get you" is where you tried to touch Will . "you can't catch me" is where Will tries to touch you. Will and I went to France with our parents about a year ago. In a parking lot outside an old hotel, we played a game where I ran behind a car and called out "car park". Will said "ca pak" the next two months! Ca pak became capak and that became pop pop. He calls me pop up. Bop the pop means wack Lolly--Will tries to hit me. I have made a tree out of newspaper! I would like to ask you if you think if there are any planets beyond Pluto that are part of our solar system. We are studying about the planets now in class. Mrs. Wee would like to know if you have made any discoveries in the area of cognitive science? Have you any theories about the mechanisms of the mind and how computers are interrelated? Sincerely, Lolly Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) =============================================================================== From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Fri Nov 13 17:39 EST 1992 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA23737; Fri, 13 Nov 92 17:39:11 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Pluto and Beyond To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 17:38:58 EST Cc: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <22111314175616@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Nov 13, 1992. Hi Lolly, > Dear Barry, > I found out that I never did live in California. My mom told me > when we were working on this letter! We lived in Reno, Nevada. Oh. I've been to Reno. I drove through Reno on my way to California. > The games that Will and I play are "you can't catch me," "I'm going > to get you," and "bop the pop." "I'm going to get you" is where > you tried to touch Will. "you can't catch me" is where Will tries > to touch you. Will and I went to France with our parents about a > year ago. In a parking lot outside an old hotel, we played a game > where I ran behind a car and called out "car park". Will said > "ca pak" the next two months! Ca pak became capak and that became > pop pop. He calls me pop up. Bop the pop means wack Lolly--Will > tries to hit me. Ooh, I hope he misses! > I have made a tree out of newspaper! Super! I hope it didn't make too much of a mess! :) > I would like to ask you if you think if there are any planets beyond > Pluto that are part of our solar system. We are studying about the > planets now in class. So far, astronomers haven't located any more planets beyond Pluto. There is a theory of another planet (or even a dark star) called Nemesis, but there is no real evidence to support such a theory. On the other hand, there are a lot of comets which swing way out beyond the orbit of Pluto. In fact there is a cloud of them, called the Oort Cloud. But comets are basically dirty snowballs--not very big objects. And they are in eliptical orbits, very elongated compared to the nearly circular orbits of the planets. > Mrs. Wee would like to know if you have made any discoveries in the > area of cognitive science? Have you any theories about the > mechanisms of the mind and how computers are interrelated? > Sincerely, > Lolly Well, I am working on a theory relating emotions to learning. The mind is like a very sophisticated computer program. Just as computer software runs on computer hardware, 'mindware' runs on 'wetware'--the human brain. Or as Professor Marvin Minsky of MIT says: The Mind is what the Brain does. My theory says that when computers advance to the point where they are able to learn on their own, they will begin to exhibit emotional states much like people do when they learn--curiosity, fascination, boredom, excitement, anxiety, frustration, satisfaction, and confidence. I once wrote a fanciful dialogue between a pair of self-programming computers of the future, to illustrate this theory. If you like, I could send it to you. Although there aren't yet any computers quite like the ones in my fanciful dialogue, I see no reason why they couldn't someday evolve like that. My friend, Professor Daniel Dennett, who is a Philosopher and Cognitive Scientist at Tufts University thinks that computers could someday become conscious, much like you and me. Perhaps someday computers will be bright enough to carry on conversations with you by E-Mail. What do you think of that? :) Regards, Barry ========================================================================= From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Mon Nov 30 20:27 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA26955; Mon, 30 Nov 92 20:27:00 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Mon, 30 Nov 92 19:21 CDT Message-Id: <22113019215586@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 19:21 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: West Salem finally contacts you! To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, Let me apologise for the long delay in returning on-line. We had a break (Thanksgiving), I was gone for 4 school days to the MECC computer conference, and Lolly and I missed each other due to a prior engagement that I had forgotten. Lolly was in on Wednesday, 11/25, but I could not send a message because my account had 145 messages waiting for me to read/delete. I am not able to input her letter today, but will do so within a day or two. I just did not want you to think we do not value this relationship. It is quite incredible that you take the time to write, commit your energies to one you do not know! Thank you-- it is much appreciated by all (her parents, Lolly, myself, her teacher. Will get back to you this week! Jan Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ========================================================================= From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Tue Dec 1 10:40 EST 1992 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA01442; Tue, 1 Dec 92 10:39:47 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Re: West Salem finally contacts you! To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Tue, 1 Dec 92 10:39:33 EST In-Reply-To: <22113019215586@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Nov Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9] Hi Jan, Thanks for your note. No problem on the gap during Thanksgiving week. I interact with hundreds of people over the Internet and I am quite used to irregular intervals between messages. Lolly is one of my more refreshing and exceptional correspondents, and I look forward to her messages. Like any teacher, I especially treasure the opportunity to work with gifted youngsters. Regards, Barry ========================================================================= From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Fri Dec 4 17:32 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA06264; Fri, 4 Dec 92 17:31:40 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Fri, 4 Dec 92 16:26 CDT Message-Id: <22120416263249@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Fri, 4 Dec 92 16:26 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: From Lolly To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, I finally have a chance to write back today. Mrs. Wee told me that she sent a note to let you know why we are so late. I went to an archaeology talk a few days ago at the LaCrosse Public Library with my mom. The talk had something to do with the "red paint people". The lady who talked said some really interesting things, and some things that bothered me. She talked about a dig in which they uncovered graves of Indians from a few hundred years ago. The Indians of the region were upset that these archaeologists dug up the graves and took artifacts from them. I was upset, too. I mean, if your relatives died and were buried there, and then these people dug them up and put them on display, wouldn't it bother you ? I didn't think that was very smart. She also siad that when the archaeologists found the graves, that they kept the things that the dead people were buried with, and took the bones to the lab to do tests on them. The tribes in the area got mad and told them to re-bury the bones and artifacts. One archeaologist accidently showed a member of the tribe a find and got sued. The speaker said all this was twisted to look like the archaeologists were in the right and the tribe was in the wrong. She had a slide show of the artifacts --many were beads. Some were from Spain and Holland, but most were from China or Japan. Mrs. Wee and I are going to log onto the Micromuse next week. We wonder if there is any documentation that would help us move around and understand it better. Mrs. Wee has logged on, but had some problems understanding what to do in the rooms. Is there a goal that we are to try to reach? Is is a game, like other computer games that make you find things, move to another level and seek some kind of quest? I think it is interesting ---i read your desciptions that Mrs. Wee received and I want to learn more about what you do in Micromuse. What do you do at the Children's Discovery Room? What is this place? I want to send a picture of myself to you. Where can I send it? I hope you have a fun week. My grandma and uncle were here for Thanksgiving. I am not sure if we are going anywhere for Christmas. Do you go anywhere special? Love, Lolly Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ========================================================================= [There is a missing letter from Barry to Lolly that belongs here.] ========================================================================= From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Sun Dec 13 13:46 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA27966; Sun, 13 Dec 92 13:45:58 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Sun, 13 Dec 92 12:40 CDT Message-Id: <22121312405136@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 12:40 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: From Lolly To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" 12/11/92 Dear Barry, Hi! Mrs. Wee and I meet each Friday afternoon to read and write my letters. I really like doing this. I am learning a lot and enjoy it. Thank you for saying my letters are a treat. I sent you a picture of myself today, so look for it in the mail! :-) I think I will give my body for organ donation when I die. Giving your body for scientific research is okay, but I want to help somebody in need more than have my body used for studies. We looked up Bedford in the atlas today. It is very close to Lexington. Is Bedford famous for anything in history? We are studying the colonies in our social studies class right now. I think extraterrestial life is interesting to think about. I don't think that the researchers will be able to collect any intelligible signals from outer space. I think that the type of life out there will be different from human life and communicate in different ways. Do you think it is possible to have the "human" occurence (Lolly's words) in two or more places in the universe at the same time? Does the same principle that applies to light apply to sound in space? For example, I know that when we look at stars, that what we see is the way the star looked years ago, because it takes so many years for that light to reach us. Is that the way it is with sound. A sound wave would take years for it to reach us and by the time it did, the object making the sound would/could be long gone. I think space has a boundary. It is hard to believe that space has no outer limits. Do you think that we (the earth) is a tiny organism on top of another dimension, part of a larger system? Sometimes I wonder if that could be. We are studying space right now in science. I am interested in the moon, Triton. It has earthquakes, volcanoes, and lightning. A space flyby detected these ! It would be interesting to discover at least some kind of life form within our own solar system. Would it be possible for the earth to be blown out of its orbit due to a nuclear blast on earth? Like could a large atomic bomb affect our orbit? I have been reading about the theories about the dinosaur's extintion. Do you think that a large asteroid was responsible? Mrs. Wee and I discussed the future evolution and adaptive changes that humans would have to make because of things like the ozone hole. Do you think fair skinned people may become extinct due to the ultraviolet radiation causing cancer,etc. ? What kinds of adaptive changes do you think humans will have to make over the next 100 years? I have to go back to class. I hope you did not get buried in the snowstorms out east that we heard about! Love, Lolly *********************************************** Barry-- One of my most relaxed and enjoyable moments these days are "chatting" with Lolly as we prepare the return messages. She brought in a wonderful coin collection given to her by a family friend from England. She had coins that date back to the 14th and 5th century, not replicas, but real coins! Lolly delights in the reading of your messages and the discussions we have with you. May you holidays be filled with the same joy you give to others--- Jan Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ======================================================================= From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Sun Dec 13 14:38 EST 1992 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA28311; Sun, 13 Dec 92 14:38:09 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Conversation with Lolly To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Sun, 13 Dec 92 14:37:58 EST Cc: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <22121312405136@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Dec 13, 92 12:40 (noon) Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9] Hi Lolly, > 12/11/92 > Dear Barry, > Hi! Mrs. Wee and I meet each Friday afternoon > to read and write my letters. I really like doing this. > I am learning a lot and enjoy it. Thank you for saying > my letters are a treat. I sent you a picture of myself > today, so look for it in the mail! :-) Yay! I'll be watching my mailbox. :) > I think I will give my body for organ donation > when I die. Giving your body for scientific research > is okay, but I want to help somebody in need more than > have my body used for studies. That's sounds like a better idea than mine. > We looked up Bedford in the atlas today. It is > very close to Lexington. Is Bedford famous for anything > in history? We are studying the colonies in our > social studies class right now. Bedford figured prominently in the early colonial history of Massachusetts. The town library has on display the 'Bedford Flag', which is the oldest surviving flag of those times. > I think extraterrestial life is interesting to > think about. I don't think that the researchers will > be able to collect any intelligible signals from > outer space. I think that the type of life out there > will be different from human life and communicate in > different ways. Do you think it is possible > to have the "human" occurence (Lolly's words) in > two or more places in the universe at the same time? I am hopeful that researchers will be able to detect any signals from space that may have been produced by technological civilizations on other solar systems. But even if they do communicate in different ways, we should still be able to separate out naturally occuring radio waves from those produced by technology or intelligence. For example, if you hear somebody speaking in a foreign language, you might not have any idea what they are saying, but you can tell that it is speech of some sort, and not some other kind of sound, like thunder or the wind whistling in the trees. Scientists think that noises made by Humpback Whales carry messages. If we can learn to decode the meaning of bird songs or whale songs, then maybe we can decode the meaning of signals in other systems of communication. After all, as a young child, you learned to recognize the sounds of human speech and to figure out that sounds like Ma-Ma and Da-Da were associated with those big people who came around to feed you and hold you. I imagine that other life, if it exists, will not look very much like humans. After all, look at all the life on the earth -- microbes, fish, insects, birds, animals -- most of them don't look like humans. But we can expect that advanced life will be able to sense its surroundings, perhaps with vision, hearing, smell, and touch, much like our sensory systems. Robots have TV cameras, microphones, infrared heat sensors, etc., which don't work like our eyes, ears, or skin, but which serve a similar purpose. > Does the same principle that applies to light apply to > sound in space? For example, I know that when we > look at stars, that what we see is the way the > star looked years ago, because it takes so many > years for that light to reach us. Is that the way it > is with sound. A sound wave would take years for it > to reach us and by the time it did, the object making the > sound would/could be long gone. Sound travels through air, liquids, or solid objects, but not through the vacuum of space. Sound is just mechanical vibrations in these materials. If there is no material to vibrate, then there can be no sound. But that does not mean that information about sound vibrations cannot be sent through space. After all, radio and TV are used to send sound through space, by converting the sound to radio waves. If you hold a mirror up to the sun and wobble the mirror back and forth, the reflected sunlight can be flashed onto a wall, where somebody can see the dancing spot, which moves in response to the way you wiggle the mirror. > I think space has a boundary. It is hard to believe that > space has no outer limits. Do you think that we (the earth) > is a tiny organism on top of another dimension, part of a > larger system? Sometimes I wonder if that could be. We cannot see deeper into space than about 18 billion light-years. We don't know what is beyond that frontier. But the universe as we know it probably has a boundary of some sort. However, that boundary can keep on expanding, just like blowing up a balloon. The earth is indeed a tiny world, tucked away in a little solar system in the galactic suburbs of the Milky Way. And the Milky Way is one of billions of spiral galaxies in the Universe. > We are studying space right now in science. I am interested > in the moon, Triton. It has earthquakes, volcanoes, and > lightning. A space flyby detected these! It would be > interesting to discover at least some kind of life form > within our own solar system. We know from meteorite fragments that simple organic molecules exist on other planets, moons, and asteroids in our solar system. These organic molecules are the building blocks of life on earth, so it is possible that more complex molecular structures could exist elsewhere. On the Earth, about 4 billion years ago, the same building blocks (Amino Acids) were formed in the atmosphere through the action of lightning and ultraviolet light from the sun. > Would it be possible for the earth to be blown out of its > orbit due to a nuclear blast on earth? Like could a large > atomic bomb affect our orbit? I have been reading about the > theories about the dinosaur's extinction. Do you think that > a large asteroid was responsible? Mrs. Wee and I discussed > the future evolution and adaptive changes that humans would > have to make because of things like the ozone hole. Do you > think fair skinned people may become extinct due to the > ultraviolet radiation causing cancer,etc. ? What kinds of > adaptive changes do you think humans will have to make > over the next 100 years? It would take a tremendous explosion to alter the earth's orbit, but it is certainly possible. It is more likely that a stray asteroid would graze or hit the earth and alter its orbit. This may be what happened to Uranus, the planet that got knocked on its side. I am fairly convinced from the scientific data that a giant impact, somewhere in the Caribbean about 65 million years ago, was responsible for the big die-off of the dinosaurs and many other species. Fair skinned people may be more at risk from increased ultraviolet exposure, but we can protect ourselves by staying out of the sun, using sunblocks, and eliminating the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere. We will have to adapt to technological changes more than environmental changes over the next 100 years. We have to learn to live with the changes brought about by technology. We also have to learn to overcome warfare, famine, and disease. > I have to go back to class. I hope you did not get > buried in the snowstorms out east that we heard about! > Love, > Lolly I have 16 inches of snow outside my house. On my patio and deck, where the wind drifted up the snow, it's 3 feet deep in places! Hugs, Barry > *********************************************** > Barry-- > One of my most relaxed and enjoyable moments these > days are "chatting" with Lolly as we prepare the > return messages. She brought in a wonderful > coin collection given to her by a family friend from > England. She had coins that date back to the 14th and > 5th century, not replicas, but real coins! Lolly > delights in the reading of your messages and the > discussions we have with you. > May you holidays be filled with the same joy you > give to others--- > Jan > Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU > West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET > 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) > West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) Yah, me too, Jan. I just love getting letters from Lolly. She is so bright and full of curiosity about the world. I hope you also have a wonderful holiday season, full of wonderment, discovery, and joy. Regards, Barry ========================================================================= From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Sun Dec 20 18:57 EST 1992 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA06203; Sun, 20 Dec 92 18:57:09 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Sun, 20 Dec 92 17:52 CDT Message-Id: <22122017525129@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 17:52 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: From Lolly To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Dear Barry, Lolly received your response from last week, but due to a sudden emergency, we were unable to get together on Friday. Lolly's teacher (Kathy Stachowski) received a phone call around noon Friday. Her 13 year old step-daughter had run out in front of a car on a busy highway and been hit. The little girl was in intensive care and on a respirator at a St. Cloud, Minnesota hospital. Kathy is one of my closest personal friends and I volunteered to help take over her classes for the rest of the day. Lolly and I will try to get our response out to you before we break for the Christmas holidays. Nadia (the 13 year old) was a very lucky girl--she has survived and considering the impact, she has a fairly positive prognosis. I called Kathy and she has no broken bones (incredibly), but horribly bruised, scraped, and sore. She has a skull fracture,and some internal injuries. It was a relief to hear that she has made it out of this alive, much less in this state. She could have had brain damage, and much worse! Look for us on line this week by Wednesday! (our last day of school!) Jan (and Lolly) Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home) ======================================================================== From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Sun Dec 20 21:49 EST 1992 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA07975; Sun, 20 Dec 92 21:49:20 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Re: Nadia To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Sun, 20 Dec 92 21:48:39 EST Cc: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <22122017525129@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Dec 20, 92 5:52 pm Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9] Hi Jan, I was distressed to learn of Nadia's accident. I hope she is able to recover quickly with no long-term effects. I certainly understand your situation and I hope you will feel free to postpone our dialog until things return to normal for you, Kathy, and Nadia, and Lolly. In the meantime, I wish the best for you and your friends and loved ones. Please tell Lolly I received her note and enclosed photo, which I very much appreciated. I will have to dig up something appropriate to send her in return. Regards, Barry ======================================================================== From barry@michael.ai.mit.edu Mon Feb 22 11:51 EST 1993 Received: by michael.ai.mit.edu (15.11/15.6) id AA23847; Mon, 22 Feb 93 11:50:06 est From: "Barry Kort" Return-Path: Subject: Re: From Lolly and Jan To: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 11:49:52 EST Cc: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu In-Reply-To: <23022208203694@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu>; from "WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU" at Feb 22, 93 8:20 am Mailer: Elm [revision: 64.9] Hi Jan, > Dear Barry-- > We have not fallen off the face of the earth--but we might > have well have for all the email contact we have given you. Lolly > (better now than later) and I have been fighting a second > round with the respiratory viruses of Wisconsin. I have a short > note from Lolly. (She received your picture and was very > excited to receive it.) I hope we can do a better job of > staying in touch. Please forgive us! > Jan and Lolly Not to worry. We have plenty of time to think and do research between letters. Barry _______________________________________________________ > Dear Barry, > In your letter you said that we could only see 10% of the > universe from Earth. I would think that we would see much less. > Maybe 1,000,000 or less. The universe seems to have trillions of > a few. What I meant was that we can only account for about 10% of the mass of the universe if we add up all the matter we can detect in the Galaxies and in the thin gases of deep space. The big puzzle is Where is all the missing Mass? > You also said something about Uranus being knocked on its side, > maybe by Planet X. I don't think that this is true, because if > Uranus were knocked on its side, the moons would not be too. They > would keep going in the same orbit. (True or False?) Well, that depends on a couple of factors. Were the moons captured before or after the encounter that disturbed Uranus'? If something hit Uranus, it probably wouldn't affect the inclination of the orbits of the moons of Uranus very much. I might have to do some research to find out more about this subject before saying too much much more. > I also wanted to know about a probe that we sent out. It was a > probe of our solar system, at least past Saturn. Do you know if it > reached Neptune? Pluto? Has it left our solar system? I think the Voyager probes have left the Solar System now. I'm not sure where the Gallileo Probes are. I'll have to dig a little to find out. > How do you feel about President Clinton's cutbacks in funding > the Space Station and the Space Program? As much as I favor Science Projects, I'd rather see the money put into K-12 Education at this time. I'm willing to accept cutbacks in the Space Program if we can also cut back on defense spending and put more resources into Health and Education. > Thank you for the picture! :-) :-) > Love, > Lolly You're perfectly welcome, Lolly. Sorry it took me so long to have one taken. Hugs, Barry ======================================================================== From WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Fri Feb 26 13:55 EST 1993 Received: from vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu by michael.ai.mit.edu with SMTP (15.11/15.6) id AA20600; Fri, 26 Feb 93 13:55:44 est Return-Path: Received: from VMSmail by vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu; Fri, 26 Feb 93 12:53 CDT Message-Id: <23022612530647@vaxb.acs.uwlax.edu> Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 12:53 CDT From: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU Subject: Re: From Lolly and Jan To: barry@michael.ai.mit.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"barry@michael.ai.mit.edu" Barry-- I am just writing a quick message to let you know that Lolly and I will be logging on as a guest to Micromuse this afternoon. If you get this message on time, can you tell us your character name again! We will page you then! We are logging on in a few minutes --about 12:45pm central standard time! We were on this morning, having a great time exploring! :-) Jan and Lolly Jan Wee, Library Media Director Internet: WSALEM@UWLAX.EDU West Salem Middle School Bitnet: WSALEM@UWLAX.BITNET 450 North Mark Street Phone: (608) 786-2090 (sch) West Salem, WI 54669 Phone: (608) 786-2767 (home)