James....


Excluding parents, one person had more influence in my life than any other. Her name was Anne Thomason, 10th grade English teacher. Three maxims:


1) Words mean things.
2) Before one can define what something "is," one must first define what it "is not."
3) Before reasonable discussion can take place, there must be agreement on the definition of terms.


Remember, 10th grade for me was 1967. I once turned in a paper, got it back and, written across the front in blood-red ink was a huge "BS." (Right. I got a "nothing" for that!) In front of God and everyone, she said, "Don't you ever put words on paper just to take up space. Every word means something. Every word counts. If not, it's just bull-****!"


Remarkable lady.


But now Humpty-Dumpty has taken over. (At least I think it was ol' Humpty) who, in Alice in Wonderland, said something to the effect of "...words mean only what I want them to mean.


Okay. No more rambling....


Randy