Netlets for Wednesday, Dec. 3

Let it go, Sheriff Never mind politics, or free speech issues or the like, but with mounting budgetary issues, is this the time for the Ramsey County Sheriff to be mounting a frivolous and expensive investigation against protesters who really did no harm ("Sheriff isn't giving up on search for violent protesters," Dec. 1)?

Couldn't $300,000 be better spent on sheriff patrols, snow plowing bike lanes or something else which might actually benefit his constituents?

ARI OFSEVIT, ST PAUL

It all started here Thank you for your informative article of Nov. 24 on transparent nanotube-based loudspeakers, "Hello, nanotubes, goodbye, bulky loudspeaker." The transparent nanotube-based loudspeaker was invented at the University of Minnesota by me and my colleagues: Tianhong Cui, Rajesh Rajamani and Xun Yu. A provisional patent, "Thin film transparent acoustic transducer," USPTO Application #20070081681, has been issued.

KIM A. STELSON, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER FOR COMPACT AND EFFICIENT FLUID POWER, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS

Attitude is the key to academic achievement Isn't it time we learn that the solution to the problems of how to raise academic achievement and close the gaps among groups lies not in charter schools or in some instructional method, but in the motivations and attitudes that student have about learning?

The Star Tribune had an article not too many days ago about children who are highly intelligent but have a handicapping condition such as a reading disability. Rosalie Fink's doctoral dissertation at Harvard investigated highly successful adults who built outstanding careers for themselves in areas such as law, higher education, and science despite having dyslexia as children. The common thread that enabled these children to overcome a serious handicapping condition was their refusal to allow a barrier such as dyslexia to prevent them from learning. These were motivated children who were driven to succeed. Many of these children learned to read well.

S. JAY SAMUELS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS

Disrespect? Depends on your perspective A Dec. 1 Netlet writer who served as an election judge has chosen to feel insulted because a candidate is challenging decisions made by the judges on absentee ballots. He is threatening to not be a judge again and calls upon other election judges to "reevaluate their commitment to volunteer when there are candidates who have so little respect for your efforts."

I also served as an election judge and felt nothing but respect from everyone involved before, during, and after Nov. 4. To the writer: If you want take your ball and go home, that's your right. But please stop short of asking me to join you.

STEW THORNLEY, ROSEVILLE

How to have minority parties that are not just spoilers The last few presidential elections have shown that our two-party system encourages candidates to pander to various groups to win elections, compromising their real views and integrity in the process. Certainly this lost votes for John McCain, who became unrecognizable to many previous supporters. Our current two-party system makes for some very uncomfortable bedfellows, and because of current campaign financing, the candidates must then deliver on issues they may not believe in.

Minority parties often espouse positions currently too radical or creative for the mainstream, but which are a potent source of ideas that are later incorporated by major parties. The Green movement is certainly a prime example of this.

I voted for the Green Party candidate in 2000, but felt I would be wasting my vote if I did so in 2004, as did many others. Instant runoff voting would permit us to vote our conscience, and also send a message to major parties as to the strength of ideas such as the Green movement, which might have taken off earlier if there had been a true gauge of how much support it had.

NILGUN TUNA, ST. PAUL

The value of gun control

I wish I lived in the world of a Nov. 29 letter writer, where the "good guys" and the "criminals" are so easily distinguishable -- like those old Westerns where you could tell someone's nature from the color of their hat. Fact is, until someone is convicted of a crime he is not a criminal, so the trick is to maintain a society such that when a "good guy" does a bad thing, the consequences are minimized. Gun control is an effective tool for that.