Column got Ariz. Legislature right

I just want to say I really enjoyed Andrew Shepherd’s column in Perspectives on Tuesday. It’s nice and more than a bit relieving to know that I am not the only one who has real and serious fears that Republican definitions of “”waste”” are going to mean less money for my university education, as well as the education of my elementary-school aged brothers. It’s also nice to hear a political science major, someone who more than likely knows a bit about what he is talking about, call out the flat tax for what it is and state in a simple matter-of-fact way what it really does to lower- and middle-class households.    

Ariel Flowers

Sophomore majoring in history,

pre-journalism

‘Fast Facts’ need fact checking

The first and sixth bullet points in Nov. 4’s Fast Facts are very off. First, the less egregious mis-fact: “”Every square meter of the surface of Earth receives 240 watts of sunlight.””  Solar energy per square meter varies widely with latitude, but in lower North America it’s around 1,000 watts per square meter, four fold what was given. Much worse, “”Only 49 percent of the sun’s energy actually reaches Earth.”” If that were true, Earth would literally be molten/vaporized. In reality, only about .00000005 percent of the sun’s total emitted energy is sent our way (5-8 percent).

If what was meant is, “”Only 49 percent of the sun’s energy directed at Earth actually reaches the surface,”” the fact should have been worded as such; the meaning as written is completely different.

Sean Wright

Mechanical engineering senior