On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 16:45:23 -0400, Reef Fish
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The Cos99NEDfesters also knew that Ray and I had some words
>during that NEDfest on a dive in which he and Dee (not DeeDee)
>both got lost for not knowing what they were doing, causing the
>group to have to wait for the boat to find HIM (Dee was found
>earlier) causing others to bob on the surface like corks for
>nearly 30 minutes.

We had settled this score so long ago that I oculdn't find our
correspondence about it in my latest TWO computers.  So, I'll
skip what I told HIM (unless I find my old email later), but
simply say after my lengthy explanation that I expected him
to be knowledgeable about how a responsible diver was supposed
to act in Cozumel (which he admitted he didn't know in 1999 at
the NEDfest), Ray graciously accepted that explanation and that
was the end of our "feud" over it that everybody at the Nedfest
knew about the related incident, but few (except the Krazy Kiwi,
who knows everything about anything, knew what happened and why
I was so pissed at Ray.


>Probably NONE of you knew that Ray and I had settled our
>differences (after I explained to him what happened),
>quite some time ago, as GENTLEMEN (plural).  :-)
>
>I can NOW tell you how it happened, as MY tribute to
>Ray (to be written up later when I have more time), on
>this sad occasion.
>
>You may be interested to know that it was Ray Jones who
>revealed to me (HOW he did it is a tale in itself) with
>100% certainty, who Robert Lung the forger was!  :-)
>
>Stay tuned.

I can think of no better tribute to Ray than to tell you that
he was an Honorable and Honest Man, and how he played out a
very difficult role by unerringly walking on a tight rope.
For this tale, I have the full record of our email and related
correspondence (just for the accuracy), but I don't need to
quote Ray.

Of course now we all know Robert Lung was Daniel Crawford
of Scuba-L, though some are still not sure because Dan
never admitted it and steadfastly denied it.

It all started on March 1, 2004 when Dan, not content to
have forged his Robert Lung posts in Scuba-SE, send me a
private email, taunting me with

"And you are still an asshole.  Can you imagine that??"


LONG before that, Ray had already told me he knew who RL was,
but could not tell ME because of his friendship with RL.

Now Ray was in a dilemma when I wrote him pointedly, on March 3,
2004, after we had agreed on a scheme that I had to GUESS who
RL was, and he would NOT ever say "Yes", and would only say
"No" if I guessed wrong.  :-)

RF>  I can understand your reasons for not wanting to "betray"
RF>  your "friend" even though if I were you I would have some
RF>  difficulty with the moral question of hiding the identity
RF>  of a dispicable coward when said coward was voluntarily
RF>  bragging his own unethical and unmoral deed.


On March 2, I had put the question to him directly that since
Lee Bell and Chuck Hopf were the ONLY ones who had called me
an "asshole" publicly, whether either of them was RL.

Ray quickly said "No".

In response to my comment of March 3, Ray said he asked RL why
he went private instead of the list and Dan Crawford told him
that Chuck Hopf had threatened to reveal his identity if he
EVER went on scuba-SE again.

That was how I knew that Chuck knew.  But Chuck was dishonorable
in denying that he did know.  And Dan Crawford did go on
Scuba-SE again after that date.

Do, Ray put ME through a slow ringer of naming ALL of my prime
suspects as well as remote suspects (including Joe Childs, Don
Ward, Ken Smith, and a few others) and each time he would say
something like "No Sir".

That went on for THREE WEEKS until I finally ran out of suspects. :-)

On a clue that Robert Lung made the injudicious flame on Andy
Johnson because Andy had made some sarcastic remark about Jan
(Dan Crawford's favorite pal in Scuba-L), I FINAL guess of
"Dan Crawford" finally got our "systematic" reply of my email
without a word -- understood to be a 100% confirmation that I
had finally guessed the culprit!

Ray fulfilled his HONOR to both Dan Crawford and to me, in a
manner that not many could have done.  He wouldn't fall for
my suggestion of "you don't have to tell ME -- just whisper
to wall."  :-)

I fulfilled my honor to Ray by never having revealed his
identity or even hinting (during Ray's lifetime) that it was
HIM who had been the Deep Throat of the Robert Lung caper.

By revealing what he did, in the very delicate and tricky
situation, I can think of no better tribute I can give him
than to describe his deed a man of HONESTY (to me) and
HONOR (to his friend Dan Crawford) from which he never
wavered.

I sm into my 11th life, as I mentioned to my new-found pulpit
of sci.stat.math.  :-)

Life is precious.  We always wish we could do MORE.  I wish I
could have had ANOTHER Nedfest with Ray in which we would have
been much kinder to each other, having ironed out our differences
much of which arose from our misunderstanding of each other;
and once settled man to man, our TRUST of each other was exhibited
by how we acted on the Robert Lung caper.


>I am not a man of prayers, and those who post preceded mine have
>said most of what I could have said, but I will give Ray a special
>tribute later in view of the swords we've crossed in the past.
>
>Death is inevitable.  For some, the sadness comes mostly from
>its premature and abrupt arrival.
>
>It's not longevity that counts, but what you make of your life
>while you're alive that matters.  In that respect, Ray can be
>proud of his impact on others, judging from what everyone is
>saying about him.
>
>Well, that's my mini-tribute for now.
>
>Lo Yu.

My time of departure from this Earthly Existence should come
sooner than ALL of you (statistically speaking anyway), and
MUCH MUCH sooner than many of you.

When I do crook, I hope many of you will simply say, "He was
a decent Fish", and need to say no more.

For those who know Ray's family and will see or talk to them,
just tell them that da Feeesh wants to say, "Ray was a very
decent man of honor and integrity".

Da Feeesh.