Re: NANFA-L-- Grouper Tales
Bob Bock (bockhouse-in-earthlink.net)
Thu, 6 Jan 2005 09:48:40 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
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<DIV>Thanks for sending this on, Tom. I've corresponded with Ray a lo=
t over the years and consider him a good friend and a good person. He=
's also one of the most knowledgeable fishkeepers I know and anyone would d=
o well to ask his advice. I know that Ray was just joking and I'm sor=
ry for him that his e-mail got forwarded and misinterpreted.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>All, can we make a renewed effort to be careful about our political co=
mments? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I hope you'll all indulge me with a story from my local cichlid club.&=
nbsp; A couple of meetings ago, I was talking to one of my fellow club memb=
ers, and he was telling me about an intricate system he had for stacking ro=
cks in his cichlid tank. I don't keep cichlids, but I love to hear ab=
out how other hobbyists maintain their tanks. He also gave me some go=
od tips for using a digital camera. He was a nice guy, and I'm glad t=
o have talked to him.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We walked out to the parking lot. It was during the last electio=
n. I saw he had a bumper sticker for the candidate that I did not sup=
port.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Still, I'm glad I got to know him, and I'm glad we didn't get into som=
e stupid fight over politics that would ruin our great fish conversation.</=
DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There are lots of people with strong opinions in both directions here.=
Many of us have views that are deeply held. Please try to avoi=
d flashfire comments that will provoke someone else.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Bob<BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message----- <BR>From: Tom Watson <ONEFIS=
H2FISH-in-COMCAST.NET><BR>Sent: Jan 5, 2005 8:00 PM <BR>To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org =
<BR>Subject: NANFA-L-- Grouper Tales <BR><BR></DIV><ZZZHTML><ZZZHEAD><ZZZME=
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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>From the NFC list and our old friend Ray:<=
/FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT></FONT>=
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>Fr=
om: "R. W. Wolff" <</FONT><A href=3D"choupiqu-in-wctc.net"><FONT fac=
e=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D3>choupiqu-in-wctc.net</FONT></A><FONT face=3D"Ti=
mes New Roman" size=3D3>><BR>Subject: grouper / the facts<BR><BR>To clea=
r the air, this was a joke I sent to several friends, and what helped was t=
he picture was included with the email. It was of a hybrid sunfish, warmout=
h X green. The Jpeg was titled "cyanulosus" which might have been a tip ( o=
ne person caught this that I heard from). No need to read further, but I wi=
ll explain what prompted me...<BR><BR> It started with a normal winter=
time thing I do, run around the fishroom with my wifes digi cam and take p=
ictures of my fish. 90% of them don't turn out, but a few do. I then run th=
em through Adobe photo shop to make up for my poor lighting, cutting out un=
wanted border area etc. When I got done<BR>cleaning up the picture of my hy=
brid warmouth, I thought how nice he ( is a he) looked, and how this hybrid=
reminds me of a grouper.<BR><BR> I was just going to send the picture=
to these people with the title " grouper found in WI". After some adult be=
verages got my inner comic in gear, I started formulating this crazy story.=
A parody of news releases we see often enough.<BR><BR> After I was do=
ne with some spelling errors, and quotes of nameless people ( clues put in =
on purpose that a few people noted catching) I sent it out. I admit I am as=
hamed if I fooled anyone. What I was hoping for was to raise a chuckle from=
some, and get most people to think about what they read in<BR>sensationali=
zed news media. These stories often seem to drive the government agencies t=
o take quick and drastic actions, in my opinon. Warranted or not, I don't b=
elieve media press should drive these decisions, but scientific data, and c=
onversation with those it will affect.<BR><BR> That is all. I see it d=
id make some people think. Now I promise not to "cry wolf" again for a good=
long time, if ever. But hope that everyone thinks more deeply when they re=
ad the next story about the coming armegeddon of introduced species. =
Obviously we all know this is a serious problem, and I was not making light=
of that. I was just making light of the media hysteria<BR>side of it. =
; I was influenced by the snakehead movie on Sci-Fi channel to some extent.=
I could see some that read and heard the news accounts, believing much of =
this movie, which was as serious as my joke.<BR><BR>Thanks, and sorry if I =
offended anyone.<BR><BR>Ray</FONT><BR></DIV></FONT></ZZZBODY></ZZZHTML></BO=
DY>
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