On Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:19:14 +1100, David Strike <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

G'Mawnin Mate!!  It's so good to see you up bright and early (here), and
return from your sabbatical under the most unpleasant circumstances.

My ESP must've been so strong that you intercepted it and replied to what
I had barely finished pumping my DarLING Viv about you.  :-)))

In any event, it was good to have you back.  Too bad I can't stay long
to enjoy the rest of the year among two-legged friends because I am
packing up to leave tomorrow to dive with some real sharks and real
FISH friends, while you're muddling with the two-legged ones.  :-)

>On Friday, December 13, 2002 7:32 PM, Reef Fish wrote:
>
>> This LIST is all too quiet ever since Strike was mugged by publication
>> crooks and robbers, and presumably busy tending to the cops & robbers
>> business.  Hope to see him back soon.
>
>Did I ever mention that I have the rare distinction - on the grounds of
>age! - of being knocked back as a would-be recruit to the Foreign Legion?
>(I liked the Kipling-esque morality in everything that I'd read and heard
>about them.  Including what happened to people wot stole from their mates!
>Something that - by the way - seemed to apply to ALL military services.) :-)

Not having ever been in any military services of any kind but having seen
movies about the Foreign Legion and other Soldiers of Fortune, I would've
been tempted to join you in your contemplated adventure had you given
me sufficient notice!  :-)))

>Fortunately, I've matured (?).

Hey, I resemble that remark!  But not ripened nor mellowed, as I hold
my own mature status.  :-)

>Today, of course, I've started to believe
>that Morality, Justice and the Law are one and the same thing.

No, No, and a thousand NO!!  (Seriously).  But this ain't the time to
delve into this philosophical issue.  Morality, Justice, and Law are
completely INDEPENDENT and DIFFERENT things!  Trust me.  :-)

>And that physical violence never resolves anything!

Until you think about WHY there's virtually no crimes against tourists
in "immoral" places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.  :-)

But you're absolutely correct otherwise.  The physical violence must
be done swiftly and invisibly, and without the interfernce of LAW and
all the dispicable two-legged sharks.  :-)

If a potential mugger knows he'll be dead if he's caught once (not by
any of the useless organized "justice" as the police, FBI, or other
incompetent political pawns) by the Mafia who are well-paid for their
role in "crime-prevention" a la Vegas style, or according to the
"God Father Law", then there'll be no "property crime" of the sort
against which they're paid to eliminate;  and no fear by visitors and
tourists alike in walking any abandoned streets late at night wearing
expensive jewelry and having seen stuffing hundred-dollar bills in
the pocket on the way out of casinos.  :-)

If a potential mugger knows that his limbs will be cut off on the
first offense of the smallest property crime (as in the Islamic Law),
there will be no such property crimes either.  :-)

>( I am, however, having
>difficulty in convincing myself of that latter belief.)  :-)

I hope I've convinced you.  But the trick is to DIR, as do the Mafia
and Islamic laws.

Not like the politicians of the world, in the biggest joke of the
20th and 21st centuries, in the United Nations.  Nor like the jokers
in the USA who stick their fingers into others' business that are
none of theirs, in the name of "justice" and "peace".  They are DIW!


>I have seldom - if ever - refused anyone the right to re-produce anything
>that I may have written FOC.  (As I keep telling people, I'm living proof of
>how to make a small fortune in the diving industry? I started with a large
>one made out of diving!)  When, however, that permission is not sought: when
>the article in question is translated into another language; when the
>publishers seek to sell advertising based on that article; when they produce
>a brand new publication with that article in it, (as opposed to merely
>translating in total an existing issue of a magazine); and when they omit my
>name as the author of the article, or as a contributor in the credits, then
>I do tend to get ever so slightly miffed!  :-)

Don't you think it's about time that you name these BASTARDS?

Messengers on today's internet just MAY play the role of the Mafia in
Las Vegas, in putting these publication thieves out of business, if they
are in fact left with their long-or-short hose intact.  :-)

>When they then - having been caught out - refuse to pay, I tend to get
>incensed! :-)

Strike back, Strike!  :-)   You'll have at least one mature Feeesh
solidly behind you with his pen which is mightier than any sword or
speargun you've ever seen.  :-)))

>Especially when they refuse to acknowledge my copyright claim to the
>article; have no prior arrangement in place for ownership of the article;
>and then throw down the gauntlet and suggest that any legal fees will cost
>me more than the original payment on the article!

That part is just hitting below the belt.  Acknowleging having committed
a crime is no excuse for having committed any crime!

>In the past, I've let it go by.  This time, I'm fuming.  And I'm not alone!
>Other contributors have been dealt the same  treatment.

And *I* am fuming just being a witness/spectator of a crime/mugging!

>And all of this by
>people with scant knowledge of diving - or publishing!

Irrelevant.  A thief is a thief.  Whether he knows anything in diving
or anything else is entire irrelevant to the CRIME of thievery of
another man's livelihood and property, earned by sweat and blood.

>To answer your question as to why I'm quiet?  I've suddenly become bitter
>and twisted.

Knowing you, that's an impossibility!  :-)  You just need the advice
and support of some nasty Old Bastards to get you started on your REAL
CounterStrike!   Forget about the lawyers.  Any lawyer that's worth
anything wouldn't be wasting his time on scuba forums or scuba-related
tangles.  Why SHOULD they, when they can make millions time MORE
playing games for the CROOKS in Enron and other bankrupcy proceedings
in which they're the only ones SURE to be paid;  or playing for big
corporations which have lawyers that make minced meat out of lawyers
for the government in their own little litigation games.

Put the WORD OUT in scuba newsgroups, LISTS, and other internet forums.
Put the Publication Bastards out of business directly!

>And while I've elected to follow the advice of lawyers in the
>matter and watch the years pass by in a lengthy, convoluted  attempt to seek
>proper justice, I am sorely tempted ......

I hope my preceding two-lines and the rest of this post put the RIGHT
Devil and the Right Fork in the proper ranks of the temptors.  :-))

Meanwhile, I'll put the word out to the REAL sharks in Rangiroa to bite
the willys off any deserving two-legged sharks and any deserving two-
legged weenies who stoop to the depth of what they've done to you. :-)

-- Bob.