Letters: Nov. 15, 1982

(3 of 3)

If President Reagan's son Ron wants to get through his four-week layoff on his own [Oct. 25], he should do it without receiving unemployment compensation, provided by taxpayers. It is not better than taking money from Dad.

Cynthia Lee Burt Durham, N.C.

With our high unemployment, we can hardly afford a Secret Service escort for the President's son when he collects his unemployment check.

Mary Lou Cummings Troy, N. Y.

Computer Gymnastics

Your article on cracking a code [Oct. 25] omits the important fact that there is more to the trapdoor knapsack public-key cryptosystem than the single-iteration version that Israel's Adi Shamir broke. At least two or three iterations are needed to produce a margin of safety. Consequently, the single-iteration trapdoor knapsack should not be relied on. Instead, the full system should be used. I have offered a $1,000 reward to the first person to break the full trapdoor knapsack system.

Ralph C. Merkle Sunnyvale, Calif.

Jock's Paradise

Swim-bike-run triathlons [Oct. 25] are fine for those who live where the water is tepid. In Minnesota the lakes are cold enough to make long-distance swimming foolhardy. Besides, propelling a canoe is more rewarding physically and spiritually than making like a fish. Those who doubt that should try a canoe-bike-run triathlon like the 528-mile, four-day Minnesota Border-to-Border.

Jerry Kassanchuk Golden Valley, Minn.

The Ironman Triathlon sounds like the jock's version of anorexia nervosa, the same self-destructive, obsessive disease.

S. Derrickson Moore Portland, Ore.

Sweet Lucrezia

In your reflections on the Tylenol poisonings [Oct. 18], you have wrongly illustrated your Essay with a picture of Lucrezia Borgia as a harbinger of death. Lucrezia conspired to eliminate no one. Her scoundrel brother Cesare did, undoubtedly with the approval of their father Pope Alexander VI. While the Borgia men are notorious, Lucrezia was a tragic, manipulated figure, the proverbial pawn in the ruthless politics of the amoral men who were her nearest relatives.

Ingrid Rossmann Professor of Women's History Macomb Community College Warren, Mich