Languish Not, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

This mailing list is a neat method of making our thoughts, experiences,
and hopes come to life on our computer screens. Some of us are
contributors, some are critics, and some others are lurkers. In
addition some are only occasional visitors who may have a word or
two to say when there appears on the list a post that touches them
personally. They respond in a manner that satisfys them.

I have received a few emails from list folks who have a fear of posting
because they cannot stand the dread of criticism that they feel is
insulting, often irrelevant, and sprinkled heavily with insults to
their intelligence, moral character and on and on . . .

In addressing these folks who fear posting because of the consequences
they deem unacceptable, please let me urge them to ramp up their
gumption and let fly. Don't let those who'd crucify you keep you away
from posting to this list. Express yourself with mucho gusto (A little
bit of Spanish lingo there) and let the rose petals fall where they
may. Your rights are sacred and are supported by the majority of folks
on this list. Your contribution may be just what somebody else has
wondered about for years. So let's hear from you, so you can develop a
rhinoceros's thick and impenetrable hide and ward off all those barbs
and spears from the unwashed.

Some of us, and I can think of one person in particular, who stimulates
the unwashed, well maybe the washed too, and posts messages that
sometimes seem deliberately designed to stir the sodden hearts of the
fence sitters to come down to earth, on one side or the other. We can
flush out the Nazis, the Holier-Than-Thou's, and perhaps those whose
greater fear than death is the fear of being shown to be wrong. I,
Edward Lipinski, don't like it very much either, to be shown that I'm
wrong. But what the heck, I learn from the bitter pill of ignorance.
I'll not make that mistake twice.

So come on out, post, and be an inspiration to all of us. It only hurts
for a little while, but I know that you can improve the Ferret Mailing
List with you here amid us all.

Speaking of list improvement, I have a suggestion that might work to
do just that. Let us who care to do so, contribute some $ on a regular
basis, sort of a donated subscription payment to add to this list the
capability of posting pictures with our messages. Those who don't care
to donate don't have to and they will be equal to those who do donate.

My hope is that some day soon, Bill Gruber could use the donated funds
to do whatever he has to do to permit us to post pictures with our
messages. I'm sure most of you would receive this improvement with
great joy. I certainly would - 'cause of my ulterior motive.

My confession: At Christmas I received a gift that I could not get out
of Germany, because of the German government's absolute ban on war
materials. What I wanted is priced between $500 to $7,500, depending
upon condition, and is a historical relic of the Prussian/German
governments, circa 1895 to about 1914.

This historical item is a helmet that goes by the German name of
picklehaube. In English it has been translated to mean, spiked helmet.
It was standard army issue up until the time air burst artillery was
developed, at which time is was abandoned for the steel helmet.

Hopefully if'n we get the privilege of posting pictures on the FML,
before I assume room temperature, I'd like to be viewed wearing my
picklehaube with a frettchen on each shoulder. Ahh, yes . . . I will
have achieved my purpose in life.

Achtung!  Long Live the Kaiser, yes siree!
Edward Lipinski

[Moderator's note: I could easily opt to allow pictures on the FML.
It is not a financial issue and only somewhat a technical issue (some
e-mail programs don't know how to handle pictures embedded in a digest
as opposed to single e-mails). In other words the server and host used
to distribue the FML both allow pictures but I CHOOSE not to enable the
feature. I like people to know the FML does not allow attachements so
it is virus-free and downloads very quickly. A single picture would be
larger than the entire FML.

Now, I realize the nature of e-mail has changed over the years and
connection speeds are much less of an issue than years ago. And the
FML is also a lot less critical than years ago. So perhaps one day
I'll reconsider. But probably not anytime soon. The FML is lean, fast,
safe and is primarily about newsy items, not pictures of Slinky in a
neon harness wearing a football helmet. I like cute pictures as much
as the next reader, but the FML isn't the place for them.

For now, as in the past, if a picture is really critical, people can
post link(s) to it. And if for some reason they don't have a place to
put the picture then they can e-mail it to me so I can store it on my
own server and post the link to it.

And Ed, your picture of a picklehaube with your and your weasels is
neither critical nor related, so please don't ask. BIG]

[Posted in FML 6233]