I'm this column writing in March for the July/August issue of Technology Review. If you are reading this in print our 45th reunion has already come and gone, but I have no information about it yet. That will have to wait for the September/October issue. On the other had if you are reading this on our class web site there is still time for me to remind you to make your plans to come to the June 5 to 8 festivities on the banks of the Charles. Do it!
*John Brach sent me a nice E-mail about a visit last fall from his Course 1 classmate, *Len Ehn, who he had not seen in 44 years. While Len was traveling to his winter home in Naples, Florida he passed through Atlanta and got together with John. They report that they are both within 15 pounds of graduate weight and both have hair although both are gray. Len, who is retired, spent his career in building design and construction on the East coast. John's endeavors were in transportation design and construction also on the East coast. Their one common location was the DC area though not at the same time. Both John and Len remarked that Course 1 folks don't get much publicity in the course notes and apparently don't stay in contact either. Well, as Class Secretary I'll challenge you Course 1 graduates of 1963 to send me some notes with your current doings, and I give you all the space in this column that you can fill.
*Tony England wrote that he started with the class of '63 as a physics major, but transferred as a senior to a 5 year program in geophysics that offered both a BS and an MS. The result is that Tony is considered a member of the class of '64, which he says is fine, except that he doesn't know anyone in the class of '64. Actually, he says, that like many undergrads at MIT, he didn't even know many people in the class of '63; he has always identified more with his colleagues in the PhD program in geophysics. He left MIT for his first career job in 1967 thinking his PhD research was finished, although not completely written. Writing the dissertation revealed that a key experiment needed to be repeated. He had the opportunity to return to MIT during the summer of '69 to do the experiment and received the degree in Jan '70. Tony landed at the University of Michigan in 1988 and he has enjoyed the research, working with students, and teaching as much as anything he has done. He is not ready to retire but, when he does, it will be to a house he built on Lake Michigan near Charlevoix. Tony hopes to have family and friends visit often.
*Steve Hester sent an update on his recent activities. After many years with both global companies and startups, he is currently guiding a small multi-country startup in high speed image processing and chip design. The technology comes from Budapest (where he makes a few visits a year) and Berkeley. The company's customers are government, prime contractors and security firms. Steve has lived in San Francisco (yes, right in town) for the past 20 years, but he gets out to the woods, especially wine country, on a regular basis. The MITCNC hosts many events in the larger Bay Area during the year, so his virtual contact with MIT and fellow alums is pretty good. In early November Steve got back to Tech for an MIT campus visit and had a delightful breakfast with *Martin Schrage who he had not seen since graduation. Marty and Steve were two of the few students admitted to Tech from Georgia in 1959 and so became friends from that time. Steve told us that his Sig Ep brother, *Alan Rogol, a physician and professor of medicine, was interviewed twice on NPR's "All Things Considered", once before and once after the release of the Mitchell Report on Major League Baseball and steroids. (The interviews are available on npr.org - go to npr.org and search on Rogol.) Alan was asked to discuss steroids, HGH and athletics. Steve says Alan's comments were very articulate, straightforward and leavened with humor. Alan presented testimony on HGH at the Waxman House Oversight Committee on February 12 in DC, but Roger Clemens got all the publicity.
*Bob Vernon let me know that last summer the MIT Alumni Association approved a new rowing endowment fund to support the Varsity Lightweight Rowing Coach position "in perpetuity." The Fund is named in honor of Gerrit (Gary) W. Zwart who coached the Lightweights throughout the decade of the 1960s. Bob was asked to Chair the fundraising effort. The response, in a word, was overwhelming. Over 100 former oarsmen, most who had been coached by Gary, made donations, raising over $650,000 in three months. Members of the Class of 1963 who participated were *Dennis Buss, *Jack Lynch, *Lou Taff, *Elliott Bird, *Mike Greata, *Lauren Sompayrac, *Rick Metzinger, *Ron Cheek, *Harvey Bines, and Bob. For any others who wish to make a contribution it's easy - log on to the Alumni Web Site, go to the Giving section, and search on Zwart Fund. MIT has a unique double-counting system whereby a gift by any member of the Class of 1963 to any of MIT's many endowment funds counts both toward the designated Fund and toward the Class Gift. This is an easy way to support rowing at MIT and add to our class gift.
*Frank Model remembered a story about me and the glass doors on the Hayden Library Reserve Book Room. If you looked at the doors from the outside they were labeled "TUO" and "NI". Some months into our tenure at MIT I casually asked Frank what "TUO" meant. He laughed. He realized that I had never been inside the Reserve Book Room. Frank had a similar story about *Sal Mazotta's turtle, Tim. Sal painted "TIM" on the outside of the bowl. Tim had a different perspective on what his name was.
I can always count on Frank for a bit of interesting material for this space. He told me about his list of agoraphobia sound-alike words. Agoraphobia, of course, is the fear of being in public places. My favorite sound-alike, having been to Cambodia in January, is Angkoraphobia (fear of ancient Cambodian temples). Here are some others angoraphobia (fear of cashmere sweaters), agriphobia (fear of farm products), angeraphobia (fear of temper tantrums), Ankaraphobia (fear of Turkish capitals), Agraphobia (fear of the Taj Mahal), agaraphobia (fear of bacterial culture media), auguraphobia (fear of drills) and AlGoreaphobia (fear of global warming crusaders). Frank's list has a dozen more. Do any of you have contributions? The full list follows below.
Frank Model's List of Variations on Agoraphobia (March 2008)
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Fear of... |
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agoraphobia |
crowds, public places |
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agraphobia |
the Taj Mahal |
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agriphobia |
farm products |
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angoraphobia |
long-haired cats (or cashmere sweaters) |
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agaraphobia |
bacterial culture medium |
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angeraphobia |
temper tantrums |
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angosturaphobia |
bitters in one's Manhattan |
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igoraphobia |
silly Frankenstein movies |
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ogreaphobia |
trolls |
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auguraphobia |
soothsayers |
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augeraphobia |
drills |
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algoreaphobia |
global warming crusaders |
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allegroaphobia |
fast music |
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allegoriaphobia |
generalizations on human existence |
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goreaphobia |
running the bulls |
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aggraphobia |
being irritated |
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goryaphobia |
slasher movies |
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algorithmaphobia |
computer programming |
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angkoraphobia |
ancient Cambodian temples |
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ankaraphobia |
Turkish capitals |
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anncoulteraphobia |
airheaded loudmouthed rightwingers |
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anorephobia |
skeletons |
Regards to all. You can reach me at: Mike Bertin, 22 Gillman St, Irvine, CA 92612. E-mail: MCB1@aol.com. If you want to schmooze, call me at (949) 786-9450