"George M. Middius" wrote in message


In case anybody ever wondered, Ed Shain was quite displeased with my
refusal to ignore Phoebe's nastiness and Kroopologism. He became
completely irrational on the subject.

Contrary to considerable evidence and popular belief, Ed Shain did have at
least one functional brain cell. Admittedly, his greatest strength appeared
to be the ability to make small fortunes out of large ones.

While Shain was almost completely blind to what Middius was about, this
comment suggests that a little mental activity did occur at some odd moment.
Brownian Motion, I presume.

He convinced himself that since
Phoebe was valuable to him, both personally and professionally, all of
her behavior was beyond reproach.

Given how Shain courted JJ and J Feng, this comment would appear to have
some truth to it, despite its source.

This despite considerable evidence
that her motives for playing on Usenet were a long way from being
pure.

Subject to his own biases which were a bit weird at times, I would say that
JJ was and probably is basically interested in seeking the truth.

I think that when Shain and Middius neutralized JJ and J Feng, they set the
Usenet audio world back more than a little. It was a sad day, but they are
masters of their own destinies. JJ wan't perfect, but he was and probably
still is very, very, good.

OTOH, he had a completely open and objective understanding of the
Krooborg. He once told me that as mean as some people are
(presumably, it was me he had in mind), Krooger's odious dishonesty
and unbalanced mental state were despicable in the extreme.

Let's tell a little more of the whole story. Near the end of his tenure here
Ed Shain convinced some present and past RAO regulars to participate with
him in an audio-related investment scheme. Middius is said to have been
intentionally excluded because he is well known by the parties to be nuts.
Six-figured amounts of money were *invested* by the parties. Based on
comments made to me by several insiders, all or most was lost. Ed Shain
obviously had some responsibility for this. He an a number of the other
investors apparently departed these parts in self-imposed disgrace.

AFAIK Ed Shain last posted some months later on Usenet in a panic, having
just trashed a server at a place of business that he somehow gained Sysop
access to. Might have been a different Ed Shain, but the stench of disaster
fit.