The cover of the Friday April 2, 1999, No. 7 Issue of FERMINEWS brought back memories of work done sometime in the 60s using fiber optic strands. On page 10 workers Ruggiero and Gielata are shown gluing multiple strands together, which I remember doing under a microscope to make a light scanning detector for missing separators in battery manufacture. Laser light generators were not yet available as used on present bar code scanners, and the light sources available for transmission were not adequate to achieve the intensity required for detection in a low contrast target. The reliability was not adequate to detect one missing separator out of six in the 1-1/2 inch stack of plates nestled 1-1/2 inches down into their case.

At that time who could image the complex, intricate, and successful applications that were yet to come in such an intangible field as particle physics. Am enjoying your publication and the complex format of your layouts. For example the "Talk of the Lab" full page spread title, white on gray, on page 13 when viewed on the reverse side on page 14 shows a reverse mirror image again in white on gray. I couldn’t help wondering if perfect symmetry was involved. Holding the page to the light I found that perfect symmetry was broken, the images were mismatched by 1/16 inch. Since the Lab has documented instances of broken symmetry in particle physics I can’t help but wonder whether this was intentional or simply resulted from the "strings" of serendipity.

Robert C. Matter, Retired Process Engineer, Delco Remy Division (Delphi) General Motors Corp.Anderson, IN

Charles Skehan Kerby, May 4 to Jim (TD) and Sue Kerby & grandson of Chuck Brown (PPD).

Amanda Louise De La O on April 22, to Jose (BD/Ops)and Sarah De La O at Central DuPage.

Michael Clancy Pasetes, on April 17, to Ray (CD/OSS) and Erin Pasetes.

Bill Bardeen, elected to National Academy of Sciences (see story page 5).

Ruth Pordes, Barb Angelos, Shirley Jones, Stephen White, Laura Mengel, Liz Quigg, and Tom Jordan by the Illinois Math and Science Academy for being mentors.

First data recorded April 16, by the KLOE experiment at Italy’s DAFNE electron-positron collider in Frascati. KLOE will study CP violation in neutral kaons.

"The Progression of the American National Record," an account of track and field records, by Dave Carey of the Particle Physics Division, with coauthors Scott Davis & Don Potts; a publication of the Federation of American Statisticians of Track.