"Well, I've been out of the Niles area (which for me includes Warren, and kinda includes Youngstown) for something like, well, since 1971. I went to Niles McKinley with Rick, and had a small (ducks and hides) part in running "Omar the Tentmaker" for prom queen, back then. I kept in touch with Rick through college closely (and then Rick and Vicky) through 1976, and then less often after I moved off to NJ to work at Bell Labs, but we did keep in contact. My only disappointment was that Rick really didn't like email, which is my preferred method of long-distance communication nowdays.
"My first reaction on hearing the news was "but he's a skinny dude, YIKES". Let's just say that it's the loss of a good friend from way back, and it's a bit hard to write this. It's a loss for the world, too. People who actually try to combat nonsense and promote science seem to be fewer and farther between these days, and I think it bodes ill for both the country and the human race. Oddly, he and I have both taken a route to doing education, him in astronomy, and me via running tutorials in my own little speciality (human hearing, audio, and signal processing). While I don't think I ever discussed it with him, it seems like we both thought that there was no downside to actually having people know how it really DID work. If you had any doubt out there, go ahead, pummel them with how it really works. Figure out some experiments that anyone can do that make things clear. That would be the best memorial I can imagine for Rick.
"What do I remember? Well, Rick doing photo work for the Daily Times, wandering around taking photos of various dignitaries, accidents, and local disasters. Sitting in the darkroom at 90 degrees waiting for him to be done so the geek squad (we had one long before the bunch at the large chain store, thank you!) could go out and not cause trouble. (err, or something like that) I'm not surprised he got to be a political activist, I'm rather sensitive to the intrusion of mythology into our science and government, too. I also have a low "BS" threshold, and neither of us could really keep our traps shut when faced with astounding (other descriptions of said ignorance omitted for decency's sake) ignorance. I will give him credit for usually being able to be more (yes, really) diplomatic, my own reaction is more along the lines of 'you bleeding idiot!'. The old tactic of "beat them over the head with facts they can try out themselves" really does have great value, even in the modern world. I remember a lot more, but this is too long already, and I should stop torturing the electrons here."
Jim sent along some photos from a caving expedition about 30 years ago to Paxton Cave, VA. Rick took the one of 2 carbide lamps in the sidebar at right, and this one has Rick in the picture:
Jim forwarded the Paxton Cave photo in the right hand sidebar.
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