Mr. Burroughs,

If you had been informed yourself, you would have realized that fusion power is still just a pipe dream. ITER is not built yet, and the only fusion reactor that has come close to producing power was a benchtop unit at the University of Tokyo that achieved self-sufficiency (produces as much power as it consumes) for 13 minutes before collapsing.

Also, apart from the inherent dangers of building another sun on our planet, let along multiple ones, the raw fuel for fusion reactors is heavy hydrogen (tritium). Apart from the enriching step, the cheapest method of producing hydrogen currently is to catalytically crack propane. So fossil fuels are still being consumed either way. Not to mention the fuels required for transportation. Hydrogen can also be produced by electrolytically splitting water, but the energy and cost required for this are detrimental, and the electricity is still mostly produced by burning coal.

As far as nuclear waste, the fusion reactor produces radioactive helium as a byproduct. Since this waste is in gaseous form, it presents even more of a contamination hazard than standard fuel rod and cooling fluid wastes. Not to mention that we have a whole system around earth called the van Allen belt that works to protect us from these particles when they naturally reach us from the sun.

Unfortunately, human beings haven’t advanced as far as we would like to think. We began our history by burning stuff to produce energy. Now, 40,000 years later, we are still having to burn stuff to get our energy, although we do it more efficiently. It’s time to investigate other options.

David AbrechtSeniorPSE/CHE

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While I fully appreciate that students attending N.C. State basketball games do not rank as high as the VIPs and full-paying alums, I still think it is completely unacceptable that over half the students in student parking were made to wait over 30 minutes to merely exit the parking lot at the RBC Center on Sunday. The fact that the parking lot situation is an atrocity in and of itself is not some huge secret, so my question is — why would the administration, knowing this, not send some qualified traffic directors out to the lot to get people moving in an orderly (and timely) fashion out of the lot? After 28 minutes, there was finally some relief when a couple of official looking guys showed up to help with traffic. But after 28 minutes?! (And it’s not like Sunday was some unseen phenomenon; this happens nearly every game.) Come on, I know we don’t pay full price to watch our team play, but we are a large and important part of the crowd and we deserve some respect! I don’t think it is too much to ask to get a little help.

Alice WardSophomorePsychology

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Crossword: A Haiku

We kindly ask forA new crossword ev’ry day.Why do you mock us?

Nicolas M. DeloseSeniorMechanical Engineering

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In response to Bo Heath’s column, I would like to take a moment to thank him for writing about all of the good things that is done by the Student Senate. Although they recently have been in the negative spotlight, their good deeds to the University far outweigh their mistakes. Their greatest deed was to persuade our legislators to reduce the cuts to the UNC System’s budget (which they did to only 2 percent). Without the hard works of our Student Senate, imagine the problems that we students would incur as a result of the cuts! Such as even greater tuition costs, reduced class sizes and greater parking problems. We, as University students, need to become more involved and keep up to date with the issues the Senate deals with, because most likely each issue affects us directly.

Praveen SriramSeniorAccounting