Letter from Thomas Gold to Dr Charles Kennel, department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Californis Gold regrets very much, but his summer calender has gotten out of hand. His problem is that he is trying to solve the global energy shortage by tapping the hydrocarbons that were supplied in the original construction of the Earth. This now seems so important to him that it has to displace other functions, however, agreeable they might have been. So Gold is, with apologies and regrets, contracting out to the Aspen commitment. 21 June 1978