Was "New rendering test" or something like that

[Roger Guay]

Very well said, Jim. But being a retired physicist myself, albeit of much less status, I feel compelled to add my expression of appreciation of your work. Thank you for being a mentor to me.

Cheers,
Roger



On Oct 20, 2011, at 10:00 AM, use-livecode-request at lists.runrev.com wrote:

> Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 06:26:55 -0700
> From: James Hurley <jhurley0305 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: use-livecode at lists.runrev.com
> Subject: Was "New rendering test" or something like that
> Message-ID: <A7992CA0-7AAD-48C8-B547-8E6049EB9AD2 at sbcglobal.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Richard, Alejandro, Ken, et. al.,
> 
> I thank you for your kind words, but RunRev and this list provides a whole body of specialists. I speak a foreign language, Math--and I'm not the only one. 
> 
> I ought to have mastered a bit of math after 40 years teaching mathematical physics. (In retirement I have had trouble weaning myself from teaching and research , and so you have become my occasional outlet.)
> 
> But we are a body of specialists, all versatile within our areas of expertise. 
> 
> To put expertise into perspective, let me say that I have the greatest admiration for the 5 year old little Chinese child. He can speak Chinese for heaven's sake! How does he do it?  It's all Greek to me--as math is to some others
> 
> As some have learned from me, I have learned from so many others. It is hard to remember but somewhere along the line I learned how to extract information from a list:
> 
> repeat for each line tLine in tList 
>  if tLine... then
>    put tLine & cr after results
>   end if
> end repeat
> 
> This seems mundane now, but I have picked up a vast storehouse of such tricks and techniques from others on this list, ideas that were as alien to me as a Fourier transform might seem to others. Among many other I have learned from Richard, our essayist, in response to the broader issues and provider of 4Wprops (where I learned that controls have more properties than Bank of America has in foreclosure); from Alejandro I have been introduced to the beautiful mathematics behind the Bezier curve and the utility of ExportToIllustrator" (I can't imagine what must have gone into that) and Ken's StackRunner and Stykz and answers to all matters on user interface.
> 
> And the hundreds of others who have shared their particular expertise with us. Their name is legion.
> 
> 
> Not only is this list the source of wisdom but it may be the most civilized list in the computer world.  And with so many who have a right to a considerable ego. Astonishing. It is so easy to be misinterpreted in communication without accompanying body language. There are about 45 muscles in the human face, most for the purpose to presenting emotion. How many emoticons are their? 
> 
> So, though 80, I am unwilling to accept Job's tribute to death as "the single best invention of life." That's a hard sell. To me, as I believe it was to Jobs, the best part of life is the pursuit of goals that excite.  (As an aside, when I retired from teaching and research, I moved to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and built my own house. Every bit. By myself. I am so proud. The worst part was being finished.) 
> 
> But I digress. Needless to say, I deeply appreciate being well thought of. Thank you.
> 
> Jim 
> 
> And now, back to Earth and breakfast.