Letters

Do-It-Yourself.Com

Congratulations on the article about how the Internet will make you a star [EVERYONE'S A STAR.COM, March 27]! Providing any computer user with the chance to share his work and self-expression with the world, the do-it-yourself.com trend has come not only to stay but also to be a turning point. It will revolutionize the concept of creativity as simple and somewhat bizarre ideas will be raw materials for important creations. LUIZ CARVALHO Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Are aspiring filmmakers ready for the challenge? I'm so pumped, I want to give Romesh Ratnesar and Joel Stein high fives and a hug! Their cover story, "Do-It-Yourself.Com," was a godsend as far as providing timely inspiration for a screenwriter and aspiring filmmaker like me. In the new millennium, the necessity of the old "play the Hollywood game" studio system will diminish, and those with initiative, focus and talent will come to the forefront of the industry by being provocative and making things happen themselves. ALAN ROGER CURRIE Beverly Hills, Calif.

The difference between corporate dominance of media and online do-it-yourselfers is the difference between oligarchy and anarchy. Sure, we may no longer be inundated with Hollywood and Madison Avenue products like the Monkees, the Spice Girls and the Phantom Menace, but we will get an avalanche of what is essentially vanity publishing--work by people who in earlier times would have been told to come back to the editor or producer when they had developed their talent and skill to a minimum standard. Popular culture no longer belongs to artists and audiences but to technocrats and trend spotters. What a shame for all of us. GEORGE CASE Burnaby, B.C.

The authors mentioned the popular animation that has been circulating on the Internet "with the cabaret-singing alien doing I Will Survive who gets killed by a falling disco ball." This film is called Alien Song and was created by Victor Navone. While working as an artist at a San Diego game company, he made it on his home computer with a $300 software package called Animation:Master by a little company called Hash Inc. Alien Song has been so popular that Navone gets hundreds of e-mails and many job offers. He now works as an animator at Pixar, maker of Toy Story. KEN BAER Portland, Ore.

Cozying Up to Your Computer

As a longtime fan of Stephen King's, I was disappointed to read his comment that if he publishes a novel online, "whether they wanted it to or not, it would force a lot of people to read it online." Why should his readers be forced into this format? After downloading his Riding the Bullet, I can state that reading a book on the computer is not a satisfying experience at all. GEORGE TUTEK Chesterfield, N.J.

Try as I may, I just can't get cozy with my computer screen, keyboard and mouse while lying in bed. Although I am among the thousands who have downloaded King's digital book, I have yet to begin reading it. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the best thing since sliced bread. The harsh electronic word will never replace the printed one. CHRISTOPHER PANEK Westchester, Ill.

Your article refers to Stephen King's e-book saying, "His experiment proved a point: the middleman is endangered...And if you're already a star, you can avoid the middleman by using the Net to keep most of the money yourself." King used every available middleman to publish this novella in e-book format. He used an agent, a publisher, e-book distributors and several online bookstores. He didn't publish or distribute the book himself, nor did he sell it himself through his own website. Maybe the middlemen cut themselves out profitwise to offer the e-novella for free, but they sure weren't cut out otherwise. JAMIE ENGLE eBook Connections, Inc. Garland, Texas

How i-ronic that King is seen peering out of an Apple iMac on your cover. Those of us who own Macintosh computers (like King) were disappointed when we tried to download his Riding the Bullet and found that only PC users could partake. I guess we will just have to "bite the bullet" for now. JOHN ALFENITO Northridge, Calif.

Who's Napping?

The record-industry moguls have no right to complain about the rampant use of MP3 files on the Internet [EVERYONE'S A STAR.COM, March 27]. They brought it on themselves by creating the vastly popular "one-hit wonder."

Napster is merely an expression of the overwhelming feeling among music listeners that they are not about to spend $17 on a CD by an artist who will be forgotten in a month. If the recording industry wants to slow down the MP3 craze, it needs to start by revitalizing the music industry and not loading the CDs with "filler" songs. SCOTT MCDOWELL Sugar Land, Texas

Putin's Vision

After reading your story on Vladimir Putin [April 3], I realized why our leaders are probably worried about Russia's new President. The intensity, self-discipline, focus and pragmatism possessed by Putin are alien and scary to the louts we get to vote for. I wish we had a guy like that. MARTIN SMITH Chillicothe, Ohio

An ex-KGB general in the Kremlin as President of "democratic Russia" is not an "unhappy accident." Putin's election crowns a shift in Russia's mass consciousness from romantic, yet real, pro-democratic expectations toward demand for a "strong hand."

We former leaders of the anticommunist movement in Moscow warned the U.S. government of this scenario. Indirectly, Putin's election is the result of the shortsighted policy of the U.S. and the international financial institutions toward Russia. ALEXANDRE FEDOROVSKI Silverdale, Wash.

In the Taiwan Strait

I agree with Mark Thompson's assessment that China is not likely to invade Taiwan in the near future [WORLD, March 27], since it cannot be sure of success. However, China could seize the offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu before January 2001--to take advantage of President Clinton's aversion to war casualties.

The objectives would be to destroy or capture the Taiwanese garrison and create a precedent for U.S. acquiescence to Chinese coercion, thus weakening Taiwanese morale before the main invasion a few years hence. The U.S. Senate needs to pass the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act with a veto-proof majority. Such a clear signal might deter a war in the Taiwan Strait. JAY LOO Lansdale, Pa.

Old Model--and New

Your piece on billionaire Michael Saylor's notion of creating a free worldwide online university [EDUCATION, March 27] states that there is little scholarly research in this area. In fact, there is a growing body of literature that documents the efficacy of online learning compared with campus-based instruction. But what is distressing is the persistent indictment of distance education by skeptical faculty. In 1998, 1,680 institutions enrolled 1.6 million students in 54,000 distance courses, and an ever increasing proportion are online. To refer to this burgeoning phenomenon as naive and as counterfeit education or to declare that it is not as good as in-person education implies that what occurs in classrooms is the model to be emulated. This attitude prompts me to ask, Who is naive about how a digitized society will access learning? MICHAEL BEAUDOIN Professor of Education University of New England Portland, Maine

Few of my university professors were good teachers. In large part I had to learn from books. When I hit industry, I had to retrain myself anyway. Same for my kids. I wasted a lot of hard-earned money on degrees because of a myth vigorously perpetuated by the collegiate elite: that anyone without a bricks-and-mortar degree is ignorant. Three cheers for "Saylor U."! ROBERT WILLIAMS Na'alehu, Hawaii

Women at the Helm

Women in the military? No problem with that [NATION, March 27]. Women as commanders? No problem with that either. Building a ship to accommodate gender equity? Makes sense. Extra ventilation "due to hair spray," along with extra outlets and mirrors "for hair and makeup"? Silly. WILL MARBLE Decatur, Ga.

While it was commendable that TIME published an article on a woman who commands a Navy warship, it was unfortunate that no mention was made of how Commander Kathleen McGrath developed the self-esteem, confidence and leadership skills to be selected for the position in the male-dominated military. It would have been more enlightening than the subject of toilet modifications. PATRICIA KUBUS LOCK Nicholson, Pa.

Single Census Answer

As I was glancing at Walter Kirn's "Thanks for Asking" [ESSAY, March 27], my wife was trying to give good-faith answers on the long census questionnaire. What more is needed than to stand up and say "present"? This is what we did when we started school in the 1920s. HARDY AND FRANCES HAY San Diego