FWIW, I've enjoyed this thread, and evidently a lot of others did as well.
R.A.P. seems to survive an occasional off-topic thread just fine.

Michael

"Philip Sondericker" wrote in message
...
John, your original post (quoted below) was eloquent and genuine. Only on
Usenet would a simple, heartfelt sentiment such as "May he rest in peace"
provoke such an onslaught as we've seen.