Possible obituary for old Richard Norman

[Oxyaena]

https://obits.al.com/obituaries/huntsville/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-s-norman&pid=185246524&referrer=29

Could this be our Richard Norman? The date of death is April 25, 2017,
and if I remember correctly Norman stopped posting here around that time.

If it is, Rest in Peace, rsnorman, you will be missed.

[Ernest Major]

If I understand correctly talk.origins' Richard Norman was at Dearborn,
Michigan. (But he could have moved.)

--
alias Ernest Major

[jillery]

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:41:10 -0400, Oxyaena <oxy...@invalid.user>
wrote:

FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
"rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.

If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).

--
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Attributed to Voltaire

[*Hemidactylus*]

Odd:

https://www.quora.com/profile/Richard-Norman-7

Is this our Richard answering Quora questions?

Look under his “Knows About Tab”.

“Were Feynman's lectures on physics really too difficult for Caltech
students back in the 1960s?
Richard Norman
Richard Norman, B. S. Mathematics, California Institute of Technology
(1961)”

He knows about “University of Michigan” too. And Biology.

I hope its him. Indicates recent activity though his absence from this
sci.bio.paleontology thread coincides with the obit date:

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!searchin/sci.bio.paleontology/Rsnorman/sci.bio.paleontology/56j2a9t0hBs

See what may be a picture of the Richard S Norman from the obit above:

https://oxfordimages.smugmug.com

Scroll down a bit and compare to:

https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/2278/1/1961.pdf

Look at the pic of a Richard S Norman in the Math section page 38: “Next
year Dick will attend Michigan in Communication Sciences”

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED102017.pdf

“Richard;Norman,Ph.D.1967UniversityofMichigan,Comunication
Science,AsistantProfesor(RegulatoryBiology);Neuralintegration.”

I did all this in hopes our Richard is still kickin’. I miss him.

[satoshi]

big clues for you

[*Hemidactylus*]

*Hemidactylus* <ecph...@allspamis.invalid> wrote:
>
[snip]

>
> See what may be a picture of the Richard S Norman from the obit above:
>
> https://oxfordimages.smugmug.com
>
> Scroll down a bit and compare to:
>
> https://caltechcampuspubs.library.caltech.edu/2278/1/1961.pdf
>
> Look at the pic of a Richard S Norman in the Math section page 38: “Next
> year Dick will attend Michigan in Communication Sciences”
>

Apologies. I relied on my browser which said page 38. The pagination of the
original document makes it page 37.

[Oxyaena]

Thank you for this. I had brought up several times Richard's
disappearance, but nobody responded, so I finally decided to see what
truly happened to him to bring at least *some* closure to the denizens
of talk.origins and sci.bio.paleontology. Rest in Peace, Dick, you'll be
missed.

[*Hemidactylus*]

I think you misunderstood my take. I am assuming, mostly based on very
recent Quora activity that RSNorman is still alive even though his absence
from here and s.b.p. strangely coincide with the obit you provided. Mere
coincidence. Compare the 1961 Caltech yearbook photo of a younger Richard S
Norman to the older Richard S Norman from Alabama. In the latter case a
family lost a loved one so I want to tread carefully, but the physical
appearances are IMO strikingly different.

Caltech Richard appears on pages 37, 50 and other places. He doesn’t way
back then look African American to me. And the person in the obit was born
in 1925 so if graduated from Caltech in 1961 with a BS in Math at age 36 he
was a late bloomer. I would lean toward our RSNorman being alive and moving
his online presence to Quora. And condolences to the family of the Richard
Norman in Alabama. They lost a loved one.

[Paul J Gans]

jillery <69jp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:41:10 -0400, Oxyaena <oxy...@invalid.user>
>wrote:

>>https://obits.al.com/obituaries/huntsville/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-s-norman&pid=185246524&referrer=29
>>
>>Could this be our Richard Norman? The date of death is April 25, 2017,
>>and if I remember correctly Norman stopped posting here around that time.
>>
>>If it is, Rest in Peace, rsnorman, you will be missed.


>FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
>"rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
>contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.

>If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
>a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).

I believe that his sister did, in fact, let us know. But I could
be wrong.

--
--- Paul J. Gans

[*Hemidactylus*]

I go back to a neuroscience newsgroup with Richard way before he started
posting here so this is very important to me. Quora activity of a Richard
Norman fits him to a tee. This Richard Norman has graced Quora with his
learned knowledge in SEPTEMBER 2018! This Richard Norman claims he knows
about Neuroscience. Richard Norman (aka RSNorman) appears to be alive and
well and news of his death greatly exaggerated. I hope you are wrong. You
might be thinking of another poster we lost.

[jillery]

<WHOOSH!>

[Ernest Major]

You might be thinking of El Cid.

--
alias Ernest Major

[Bob Casanova]

On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:03:39 -0700 (PDT), the following
appeared in talk.origins, posted by satoshi
<biggda...@gmail.com>:

....but none for you.
--

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov

[Paul J Gans]

You are probably right. I may well have RSNorman confused with someone
else.

[jonathan]

On 9/30/2018 2:35 PM, jillery wrote:
> On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:41:10 -0400, Oxyaena <oxy...@invalid.user>
> wrote:
>
>> https://obits.al.com/obituaries/huntsville/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-s-norman&pid=185246524&referrer=29
>>
>> Could this be our Richard Norman? The date of death is April 25, 2017,
>> and if I remember correctly Norman stopped posting here around that time.
>>
>> If it is, Rest in Peace, rsnorman, you will be missed.
>
>
> FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
> "rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
> contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.
>
> If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
> a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).
>

I miss him too, but last time I tried to look up
a long lost friend to see is she was alive I ended
up finding over 200 people with the same name and
from the same state.

Maybe a social media or Internet campaign could
flush him out? Maybe this weekend I'll give it
a shot, after all he left this ng professing
to be a mathematician, but I couldn't manage
to teach him the difference between a
non-linear equation and non-linear behavior.

Even though the two are apples and oranges
it just wouldn't compute for him. I'd like
to give it another try someday.



"I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile,
who weeps when I weep. My shadow in the pool
can do that."


~ Confucius



s

> --
> I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
>
> Evelyn Beatrice Hall
> Attributed to Voltaire
>

--

[Peter Nyikos]

Before I discuss RSNorman's fate (?), Paul, I recall a recent post in
which Oxyaena was wondering what happened to Mitchell Coffey. Since you
and he often participated on the same thread in days gone by, perhaps
you could answer the question of his whereabouts for us.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 7:20:03 PM UTC-4, Paul J Gans wrote:
> *Hemidactylus* <ecph...@allspamis.invalid> wrote:
> >Paul J Gans <gan...@panix.com> wrote:
> >> jillery <69jp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:41:10 -0400, Oxyaena <oxy...@invalid.user>
> >>> wrote:
> >>
> >>>> https://obits.al.com/obituaries/huntsville/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-s-norman&pid=185246524&referrer=29
> >>>>
> >>>> Could this be our Richard Norman? The date of death is April 25, 2017,
> >>>> and if I remember correctly Norman stopped posting here around that time.
> >>>>
> >>>> If it is, Rest in Peace, rsnorman, you will be missed.
> >>
> >>
> >>> FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
> >>> "rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
> >>> contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.
> >>
> >>> If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
> >>> a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).

Jillery's joke reminds me of a less black joke. It had to do with
a memo sent out by a big company about excuses for missing a day
of work. Most excuses were summarily dismissed, including the first
one I give below (loosely paraphrased from memory) but not the second one
(less loosely paraphrased from memory):

Death in family of someone else.
This is not a legitimate excuse. Presumably, the family member
who notified you is in a better position to make funeral
arrangements, etc.

Death in family, your own:
This is a valid excuse. However, it would be appreciated if
you could give us a week or two of advance notice of the date
of your death.

> >> I believe that his sister did, in fact, let us know. But I could
> >> be wrong.
> >>
> >I go back to a neuroscience newsgroup with Richard way before he started
> >posting here so this is very important to me. Quora activity of a Richard
> >Norman fits him to a tee. This Richard Norman has graced Quora with his
> >learned knowledge in SEPTEMBER 2018! This Richard Norman claims he knows
> >about Neuroscience. Richard Norman (aka RSNorman) appears to be alive and
> >well and news of his death greatly exaggerated. I hope you are wrong. You
> >might be thinking of another poster we lost.
>
> You are probably right. I may well have RSNorman confused with someone
> else.

And apparently you did, according to Ernest Major.

The year of the obit, 1925, is well before my recollection of his birth year,
which he posted at least once. It stuck in my mind that he was born
about a decade before I was, in the 1930's. That also jibes well with
the dates of his academic degrees.

So there is lots of hope. I really miss Richard. He had lots of expertise
in various fields, including paleontology. The troika of Harshman,
Oxyaena, and Simpson in sci.bio.paleontology has lost some of its sense of
direction since Richard departed. He used to bring some perspective
to our discussions which helped the troika stay on course.


Has anyone tried to figure out how to access Richard using Quora?
It seems to be for people in academia/pedagogy, and I certainly qualify.
So I could give it a try if no one else has.


Peter Nyikos
Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
University of South Carolina
http://people.math.sc.edu/nyikos

[Peter Nyikos]

On Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 4:55:03 PM UTC-4, *Hemidactylus* wrote:
> Paul J Gans <gan...@panix.com> wrote:
> > jillery <69jp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 12:41:10 -0400, Oxyaena <oxy...@invalid.user>
> >> wrote:
> >
> >>> https://obits.al.com/obituaries/huntsville/obituary-preview.aspx?n=richard-s-norman&pid=185246524&referrer=29
> >>>
> >>> Could this be our Richard Norman? The date of death is April 25, 2017,
> >>> and if I remember correctly Norman stopped posting here around that time.
> >>>
> >>> If it is, Rest in Peace, rsnorman, you will be missed.
> >
> >
> >> FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
> >> "rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
> >> contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.
> >
> >> If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
> >> a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).
> >
> > I believe that his sister did, in fact, let us know. But I could
> > be wrong.
> >
> I go back to a neuroscience newsgroup with Richard way before he started
> posting here so this is very important to me. Quora activity of a Richard
> Norman fits him to a tee. This Richard Norman has graced Quora with his
> learned knowledge in SEPTEMBER 2018!

And later: I'm looking at a reply by him on Oct. 7 to a question:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-physical-and-biochemical-process-in-biology

Trivia: "what is the difference between..." questions seem to
be quite popular. When I was growing up, there were "tons" [as kids
say nowadays] of joke riddles starting that way. Are they still popular?

Example: What the difference between looking up along a flight of
stairs and walking up it?

Answer: In the first case, you are staring up the steps; in the
second, you are stepping up the stairs.

>This Richard Norman claims he knows
> about Neuroscience. Richard Norman (aka RSNorman) appears to be alive and
> well and news of his death greatly exaggerated.

I certainly hope so.

Peter Nyikos

[Peter Nyikos]

On Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at 7:55:03 PM UTC-4, jonathan wrote:
> On 9/30/2018 2:35 PM, jillery wrote:

> >
> > FWIW the last post to T.O. with a nym of either "rnorman" or
> > "rsnorman" was Fri, 31 Mar 2017. I had mentioned his lack of
> > contribution in threads relating to Ray Martinez' disappearance.
> >
> > If he died, it was damn thoughtless of him not to let us know (that's
> > a bit of black humor he would have appreciated).
> >
>
>
> I miss him too, but last time I tried to look up
> a long lost friend to see is she was alive I ended
> up finding over 200 people with the same name and
> from the same state.
>
> Maybe a social media or Internet campaign could
> flush him out? Maybe this weekend I'll give it
> a shot, after all he left this ng professing
> to be a mathematician, but I couldn't manage
> to teach him the difference between a
> non-linear equation and non-linear behavior.
>
> Even though the two are apples and oranges

More like apples and social media. Non-linear equations
are solid mathematical concepts, very familiar for
centuries. Non-linear behavior is pop science,
bandied about in e.g. pop psychology (as in "nonlinear thinking")
for about half a century

> it just wouldn't compute for him.

Give us an example of non-linear behavior that one
can compute with or about.

Peter Nyikos
Professor, Dept. of Mathematics -- standard disclaimer--
University of South Carolina

http://www.math.sc.edu/~nyikos/