Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: GUNS and stuff--commentary

[VBra676539@aol.com]

Pat,

Just a reminder (which Ray will whip out pretty quick anyway) to change the Subject-thread-title when the conversation changes so that someone coming along behind us can follow one thread or another without all the side issues. I noticed we were all still rattling on the "guns and stuff" subject.

Speaking of which, who was fuming about the libertarian trend in our emails? You have to know that most of us are like that, don't you. We believe in taking responsibility for our actions and not leaning on others. That means we have opinions about things, and there really isn't any way to get around it.

And I might as well tell you that I disagree with the frog-step marching orders imposed by restricting subjects, too. When we get too far out into left field, the Keefe-man leans over and whacks our collectively pointy haids as a gentle reminder, but otherwise, I feel that the free flow of ideas and random acts of creativity are productive and entertaining.

I was discouraged during the last fire fight (last year?)--not because of the topic(s), but rather because of the intolerance displayed. Some of the old keyboards logged off in a huff, others simply dropped into the background to await a more productive thread. Some new ones have appeared since then and bumped heads a time or two with no animosity or reprisal. So what's wrong with that? My boss says a 6% attrition rate is healthy; it allows room for new ideas and new personalities. I certainly don't speak for the web page, but I was here when the last blow-up cost us months of discussion for little more than authoritarian reprisals. And in the end, with the very best of intentions, it didn't help a bit. Here we are again, talking about the same thing.

It's all very well to say we should use other forums for this cherished belief or that hair-brained scheme, but the reality is that the folks on this line are a disparate bunch meandering more or less in the same direction and chatting as they go on more or less the same subject. There are some really bright people here, some enthusiastic tyros, and some real back yard nut cases. Some have their very own psubs, some will have, others won't--which doesn't make any difference. Believe it or not,just about every one of them has a whole bucket full of opinions and ideas and questions. It strikes me as wasteful and unfriendly to try to filter the input of these folks with some amorphous subject guide that is, after all, merely one person's idea of how another person should act or react. The problem with the filter is that all of us are strong in the individualist category, and our experiences and ideas come with .... baggage (shocking, isn't it?). It is hard to spout facts without !
opinion, and opinions are personality/experience driven, and there you are, right back where you started. If you ask someone WHAT he believes, they are hard pressed to respond in a meaningful manner without saying WHY they believe it. Lots of what we do is simple, irrefutable math. Can't argue about that, right? Yeah, sure.

For me, it is important to know where this stuff comes from. You have to know that Phil Nuytton has the strength of his convictions, or that Pat Regan has strong opinions and the will to carry through. And Jon and Dave and others. You have to know because these guys have not only sat over a cold brew and shot the breeze about pressure vessels and cup holders--they have actually gone back to the shop and built one to hold the other. I like that. I want to know about people like that. And I don't often care whether we are talking about the relative merits of Crane seals or about seal relatives and merit badges. To me, it's all about being a sub crank, the sum of which is greater than its parts. And we simply wouldn't know so much about each other without yakking back and forth.

I'll quit the rant, and I apologize to those of you who already knew this, or don't care. I just would like to avoid the dissention and rifts that developed last time just because opinions differed. I'll follow the party line, whatever it is, as long as it suits me; but I'd like to put my nickel down on the slot marked "p'subs, etc.," and bet that we can have some fun here while we're at it. I mean, don't you ever wish Suds would tell you what he sees when he looks out the window in the morning down there in Central America, or how the trout fishing is in New Zealand, or the beer in Germany, or what Phil is thinking when he's sitting on the bottom of Vancouver Harbor in a DW2000 waiting for the Today Show to come up live and invterview him on national television? I think that's all good stuff, right along with Poisson's Ratio and O2 flow rates for light work and compensator's for wet sub battery packs.

Jeez' I'm sorry fellas. I couldn't stop.
Vance