Message text written by "BP - \"The Cracked Monitor\""
>Michael,

Ha! Caught in the act of sedition! Though a few of us expert in jpeg
manipulation I confess some BP'rs don't feel equal to your technical
brilliance, so we lowly conspirators are encouraging the introduction of a
ringer for balanced inquiry of things chemical and highly esoteric. As long
as neither of you bites ears the dialogue of scientific titans may prove
educational, if not equally entertaining. Hopefully we will all at least
learn the proper words, if not always understand the meanings. :-)

][<en<

Ken,
Thank you for the compliment, but if there is any "brilliance" in what I
do, it is largely just the sum of over 20 years of hard work. I had a chem
engineering prof who I think plagiarized a quote from Thomas Edison to the
effect that invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.  Anyhow,
there is no aversion on this end to honest sweat, and with enough
concentrated effort, you're bound to begin to see some things more clearly.


As for the status of "lowly conspirators" I say "no fair- that's my job". I
would hope we mutually conspire to arrive at truth and understanding,
rather than to stage some banal wrestling entertainment.

At the same time, I have to challenge the contention that nobody else in
this community is intelligent or experienced enough to challenge any of the
things I have commented upon. There are people both more and less educated
in these matters here than I, and education comes in many more forms than a
string of letters after your name on your business card. Accordingly, the
suggestion of technical imbalance rings a little hollow. 

As for the limits of your understanding, I am reminded that one of Kurt
Vonnegut's characters said that if you can't explain your work to a 6 year
old child, you're a charlatan.  On the other hand, Groucho Marx said "It's
so simple a 6-year-old child could understand it--Quick, go out and find a
6-year-old child." Anyway, all us lowly conspirators should feel empowered
to demand that something be explained to us to the extent where we
understand the point and can form our own opinions regarding its validity. 

As for biting of ears, my public and private discussions to date with
Norman have been interesting and candid and mutually respectful, and I
suspect that anyone expecting that to change will be disappointed. I also
suspect that good technical discussions usually lead to more questions
requiring further thought, research and analysis, rather than simplistic
answers. 

Finally, a request that you post, yet again, the instructions for
subscribing to the Listserv, as I have had some recent requests for same
from some other interested parties. 

Mike Edison