In a message dated 1/25/00 8:09:22 AM, doktortim@ROCKISLAND.COM writes:

<< Ain't it the truth. I was afraid when he promised to leave the list a few
months ago, he wouldn't keep his word. I know he has an a**hole, but it
doesn't necessarily follow that I want to see it in his posts. >>

You should be afraid that he would keep his promise because the vacuum he
would leave on this list might never be filled.

Eric obviously has an asshole but, he certainly is not one!  The best
engineer I have ever known was also the rudest.  He always had an
intelligent, well-reasoned approach to any matter a hand.  Although this man
could not bring himself to suffer the fool, if a fool kept his mouth shut
long enough he would learn volumes.

I'll take competence over social graces any day.

One more thing, if you want to use raw words, just use them.  Filling out a
word with asterisks does nothing to veil it.  After all, a lot of us are old
enough to recall the phrase "BOOK YOU" carved into our wooden desktops in
grammar school so, hiding behind a string of asterisks does nothing to
elevate the rhetoric.

Richard