You know ... this is going to be a waste of time, but I really wish you'd let that one drop. Having never met Tom, I could still tell you who he reminds me of, but see above re: waste of time. I'll just say that I've known many people in my life who'd say things that weren't technically correct, but who were outstanding at what they did. In fact, I once managed a shop for a large corporation, and one of my technicians was a lot worse than that. He couldn't pass a test to save his life, either. But on the subject of "trusting him" to do the work, I'd have traded any two of my other technicians for another one of him. He was that good. SCARY good.
Is water a solvent? Chemically, scientifically, technically, yes. But I knew what Tom meant. (As I recall, the thread was about corrosion.)
Next time you go to restaurant, ask the kitchen how a microwave works. If they say, "it cooks from the inside out," by your standard, why, horrors! Go find a different restaurant. (Microwaves heat certain molecules -- notably, oil and water -- much more quickly than others, which is why your sandwich may have lukewarm bread, but a slice of ma'loanley inside that burns your tongue off. Has nothing to do with "cooking from the inside out," and yet, many otherwise bright people say that all that time.
The key is whether I can understand what someone is telling me. That's all that matters, and to be honest, I've found Tom's advice here to be quite useful as I learn about this stuff.
As for his personality .. .. . well, I'm 63 years old, broadcast engineer for decades, have won awards, have written peer-reviewed publications, have several industry certifications ... but never finished college. I didn't have to. It was a waste of time. (Even back then, things were getting far more political than educational, so I quit, went to work, and never looked back.) I know what I know. From time to time, in one of the Broadcast Engineering groups on Facebook, some youngster will come in and tell me I'm wrong.
The first thing I usually do is to laugh and shake my head. If I thought they had the qualifications to question me in my area of expertise, I might be concerned.
I suspect that Tom feels the same way. I'd be honored to have Tom-D work on anything that I ever own, once I finally get the money straight so that I can start flying.