January 2011

I borrow your admirable magazine from that wonderful institution, the United States Information Service Library, here in Cape Town. Each issue is crammed with articles that broaden one’s knowledge of the U.S.A., a country that I have yet to visit although that is a major ambition. However, I wish to add to Mr. Block’s “Hunting Buffalo” (April) by letting him know through you that in South Africa there are post offices at Buffalo Bay, Buffalo Flats (East London), Buffalo Pass Heights (East London), and Buffalo (East London, where there is also a Buffalo River, and by going to Afrikaans, Buffeljagsrivier). Maybe he will add these to his next Buffalo safari.

Both Bill Merrell and your magazine deserve praise for the well-written and illustrated article “The Real Gold at Bodie” (April). Not only does it give an excellent sense of the power that this ghost town exerts on the visitor, but it also properly acknowledges the important and decisive role that volunteers and nonprofit organizations play in preserving and perpetuating the irreplaceble cultural resources of our nation. Such altruism in this case should also include the J. S. Cain Company, which very early recognized these values and sought to protect Bodie until California was able to establish the State Historic Park in 1962.

Unfortunately, the possibility of a modern gold mine on property adjoining Bodie may forever change the historic landscape and result in the loss of historic structures and sites. Just as it motivated the volunteers and the Cain Company, perhaps the spirit of Bodie will convince the mining companies that our common heritage is worth more than gold.

Bill Merrell’s wonderfully written piece on Bodie might have mentioned the important fact that there are more original outhouses extant on this town site than at any other historical site in the United States.

I want to express my appreciation for the impressive article in the July/August issue (“Ohio Collects”) on our current exhibition, “The Fine Art of Folk Art,” organized by our curator of decorative arts, Anita Ellis. The color plates were very fine, and Carla Davidson’s article beautifully summarizes the impact and importance of this exhibition at our museum.

Photographing Montana, 1894–1928 Stamping Our History For God, Country, and the Thrill of It

by Donna M. Lucey; Alfred A. Knopf; 238 pages.

“We have the troubles of Arctic explorers out here but none of the credit,” Evelyn Cameron wrote of her life in eastern Montana at the turn of the century. She and her husband Ewen had left England for the Bad Lands in 1893, planning to raise polo ponies for shipment back home. After several years of financial losses, Ewen was ready to return to England, but Evelyn had discovered that frontier life suited her and she persuaded him to stay on. While he studied and wrote about Montana wildlife, she ran Eve Ranch, making ends meet by selling her photographs to local homesteaders, railroad workers, and cowboys.

by Charles Davidson and Lincoln Diamant; A Lyle Stuart Book, Carol Publishing Group, New York; 254 pages.

Kudos to General Dynamics for restoring the B-24 Liberator (“Frontispiece,” July/August) and preserving an important part of our nation’s heritage.

Your photo moved me to offer you a look at another rare World War II aircraft, a Supermarine Spitfire photographed during Jaguar Cars’ July 16 Fiftieth Anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Britain, which was held in New York City.

Most Americans don’t realize it, but this British aircraft is also a part of our American heritage. Several American flyers donned the Royal Air Force blue to fly Spitfires against Hitler’s Luftwaffe before America entered the war. These American “Eagle Squadron” pilots downed seventy-one German airplanes (six Luftwaffe squadrons) in twenty months, earning twenty RAF decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Order, and the Military Cross.

Unfortunately, the war took its toll on the original group of American pilots. About a third of them who flew for the RAF fighter squadrons were killed.

Your September/October article “The Power of Patents” gives a very interesting outline of the operation of the patent system over the last two hundred years. The current emphasis being placed on intellectual property around the world is a reflection of just how important intellectual property, including patents, has become to the world’s economy.

Thank you for your excellent article on inventions and the U.S. Patent Office. The article properly put into historical perspective some of today’s legal calisthenics, especially for one area Mr. Alien touched on—the “swiftly moving computer industry.” The software-programming industry is on the brink of upheaval because of a flood of “software patents” being issued by the Patent Office, most of which represent techniques that are widely known, traditionally used, and obvious to computer programmers.

At the root of this very serious problem is the granting of patents for algorithms —the basic, step-by-step mathematical descriptions of procedures, techniques, and ideas that form the foundation of virtually every computer program. Every program implements algorithms for a variety of purposes, from drawing a straight line to adding two numbers. Sadly, lawsuits for software patent infringement are just starting and by all expectations will continue for the next decade.