letters
IMPROVING IDENTITY
To the Editor: I have been a professional engineer for 38 years holding
degrees of B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in
mechanical engineering. I worked in
Detroit automotive and watched this
industry squandered by mismanagement, union bully tactics, and a meek
group of engineers. I also worked
many years developing engineering
computational dynamics software
and in teaching mechanics theory.
Through my journey I observed
certain aspects that compel ambitious
engineers to move out of this profession. Many engineers are silent when
they need to shout concern. Many
engineers are subservient to aggressive
business practices. Many engineers
fail to nurture and pass the baton to a
young American workforce.
And most engineers are too complacent and indifferent about these
conditions. Engineers leaving this
profession go for bigger dreams, positions of influence and power, commensurate reward for their skills, and
ambition to improve their identity.
American engineers have to engage
themselves deeper into the popularity of the American culture and
exercise media technology to be recognized. Silence will not be golden
in the next decade.
ALLEN P. KOVACS
SOUTH LYON, MICH.
QUESTIONABLE
THERMOMETERS
To the Editor: How do we know if
global warming is correct if the surface temperature record is not reliable?
The reliability of data used to
document temperature trends is of
great importance in this debate. The
official record of temperature in the
United States is from a network of
1,221 monitoring stations used by
the National Weather Service. Until
now, the quality of these stations has
not been questioned.
Anthony Watts of the Surface
Stations Organization during the
past few years inspected and photographically documented 860 of these
stations. The reports were shocking.
Nine out of ten failed to meet the
NWS requirements. These 9 out of
10 sources are likely to report higher
temperatures due to being badly sited.
Stations were positioned next to
air conditioning exhaust fans, surrounded by asphalt parking lots and
roads, on hot roof tops, sidewalks, or
buildings that radiated heat, on waste
water treatment plants, or with other
heat sources less than 30 meters from
the temperature recording site.
In brief, the average temperature
is apt to be higher than actual and
unreliable.
The Web site, www.surfacesta-tions.org, produced by the Heartland
Institute, includes data from each of
the 860 stations inspected.
The recorded average temperature in the United States, based on
poorly located sites, is likely to be
above the actual results and certainly not accurate.
PAUL WILLIAMS
MEDINA, OHIO
ACTION AND UNCERTAINTY
To the Editor: I like your editorial
page that generated ideas on risks
and uncertainties (January 2010).
When odds are predictable,
mortality tables are used, because
underwriting life insurance policies
involves risk. Uncertainties occur
for the outcome of war and, perhaps,
manned space flight.
People get unnerved from reading “An Engineering Perspective”
(July 2009), for they believe there
are uncertainties that lead to unwise
actions. Others just think that science is wrong if physical theories
involve postulates or hypotheses and
not genuinely observed facts.
They may be correct, but the
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