News From Fort Schuyler

March 20, 1998 - Volume 2, No. 14

HEARTFELT THANKS - In a note from the Engineering Department that was sent to the campus community, FEN-DOW CHU, who recently underwent a quintuple bypass operation, "....gratefully acknowledges the prayers which pulled him through so quickly and without any hitches."

SOME TALK IS CHEAP - IF YOU ARE AN ALUMNUS - There will be plenty of interesting ideas and salty talk bandied about at the Fort on Saturday, March 28 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Humanities Department's "Literature of the Sea" conference has attracted over seventy-five scholarly papers. The registration fee is waived for alumni and the luncheon is $15. The papers will be read, critiqued and discussed at a number of venues throughout the fort. A special, un-advertised, feature of the conference will be a FRED C. HESS patented tour of the campus by the good doctor himself. Contact the Humanities Department at (718) 409-7247 for details.

SPEAKING OF FRED - The Alumni Association reminds alumni that they can still purchase a personally inscribed copy of Fred's unique memoir, "Fort Schuyler and Me," for $21, including P&H. Contact the Alumni Association for an order form at: director@fsmaa.org

NEWEST MEMBER OF THE FORT SCHUYLER COMMUNITY - Dr. Paul Levy, Chairman of the Science Department recently sent a memo to the campus community which announced "..the arrival of Sophia Grace Manzi on February 27 1998...Mother and daughter are home and doing fine. Father has a very broad grin." Congratulations to Kelly and ANTHONY MANZI, Class of 1989. Tony is an Assistant Professor of Meteorology at the Maritime College.

BLASE OR APATHETIC? - It is wonderful how fast things change and amazing how quickly these changes are taken for granted. For example, with little fanfare, the Library recently began to provide Internet access to patrons, including onsite entree to a large array of free full-text databases for magazine articles and other resources. Hardly a "Wow !' or "Holy Cow !" was heard from our regulars, but the workstations ARE getting a good workout. More change is on the horizon, including direct web access to our online catalog without the limitations of a telnet plug-in. Stay tuned.

RECRUITING HINT? - Maybe it's time for the EMPIRE STATE to transit the Panama Canal to take advantage of some photo opportunities. FERGUSON BYARS, Class of 1939, writes: "I entered the academy as a result of seeing a poster on the bulletin board at my high school at graduation time in June. It showed a picture of the training ship going through the Panama Canal with the cadets lined up on the deck dressed in whites with their little white hats low on their foreheads. In September I was admitted. Never regretted it." (Source: E-mail correspondence)

NEW ADDITION TO THE NEWEST EDITION - The "New Accessions" list, which the Luce Library publishes throughout the year, has a new section in the March issue called, "Internet Resources." The editor, Associate Librarian JANE B. FITZPATRICK, writes: "..there is a lot of unsubstantiated "stuff" on the Internet, and we hope to guide you to useful sites, chosen and reviewed by Librarians."

CHECK 'EM OUT - We had intended to link "New Accessions" to the library web-page. Sometimes, however, progress is a lot slower than good intentions, so here are some recommended internet resources, validated as correct today:

Annual reports online ( http://zpub.com/sf/arl/arl-www.html )

1998 Year of the Ocean ( http://ioc.unesco.org/iyo )

Islam page ( http://www.wam.umd.edu/~ibrahim )

International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation ( http://www.itopf.com )

Wars for Vietnam, 1945-1975 ( http://students.vassar.edu/~vietnam ).

TEEMING STREETS - Responding to the challenge of BOB BERCIK, Class of 1952, to better his claim of three Fort Schuylerites living on his half-mile long street in Hobe Sound, AUSTIN L. DOOLEY, Class of 1968, writes: "My street, which is less than 1/4 mile here on City Island, has five Schuyler grads who can claim to have resided on it at one time or still do so. JIM CALLAHAN 46; AUSTIN L. DOOLEY 68; DAVID PRYOR 83; STEVE FICARRA 88; and AUSTIN P. DOOLEY 96.

Jim and I still live on the street. The other guys have all grown up and moved away." Sorry Austin, the NFFS editor (and self-appointed arbitrator) rules that the Bercik headcount claim still stands pending the completion of an impartial "Schuylerite/meter" survey. (Source: E-mail correspondence)