DSK wrote:
....snip a lot of good commentary...

Doug, Donal, John, and others who're interested,

Ok, we're doing my daughter's tenth birthday this weekend (started
today, her actual b'day, friend and family parties on the weekend);
but after the weekend, I'll sit down and knock out a few paragraphs.

As for the ng in general, I've been reading here a coupla years and
first posted maybe a year and a half ago. At that time, Jax was in
full swing in one of his manic episodes and Bob, of course, was being
Bob. This ng seems to maintain a pretty high noise-to-signal ratio;
but it's true that there is nontheless *some* signal and that's worth
listening for. Worthwhile enough, for me at least, that I do keep
coming back.

Unlike Bob, Jax, Neal, et al., I have a rich, fulfilling (busy!) life
and often go for long periods without being connected to the net. I'm
(semi)retired and we travel a lot. Since we started homeschooling the
kids last year, we've been free to travel at times other than summer,
too. So, my infrequent participation results from a combination of not
wanting to get embroiled in the ng equivalent of "bear baiting" (or
kick-the-clown, as Doug calls it) plus simply not often being
connected in a timely fashion.

AAMOF, we're gonna hit the road in mid-April for a three-month RV
cruise through the Southwest. During that period, I'll only be
connecting once a week at best.

Anyway, I'll dredge up some memories from the 60s and spin y'all a
good sea yarn early next week. (Isn't there a standing joke about how,
if you remember the 60s, you didn't experience them?)

One final comment, which I've tried to resist including, but I can't
seem to keep myself from typing it: I'm basically retired and I find
it difficult to make enough time to contribute the little I do to
Usenet. I simply am amazed by people like Bob and Jax (and their
equivalents in other groups I read) who must live at their keyboard to
produce the volume that they do. In that sense, their "contribution"
is impressive.

Frank