Please remember the right places to send things:
 
        1) messages to the FML go to [log in to unmask]
           or ferret-anon-list.  Messages anywhere else are being
           ignored.
        2) Messages about the FML, such as delivery problems, missing
           articles, subscriptions and cancellations go to
           [log in to unmask]  Cancellations sent
           to ferret-list/ferret-anon-list *are* ignored even if I
           see them.  If you wish to send a farewell to the FML
           please send your cancel to ferret-request, and your farewell
           to ferret-list.
        3) It should be very rare that anyone here sends mail to
           [log in to unmask] - my mail is handled separately
           and propagates to other places.  Sending me FML stuff
           directly just confuses things, and wastes my time receiving
           it at work.
 
Everything is highly automated, and sending stuff to the wrong place
costs too much time - especially with 400+ subscribers.  All of this
is documented in every FML in two places.
 
***************************************
 
People have been asking me about obtaining backissues.  The FML FAQ,
which you received when you subscribed, contains instructions on how
to do this.  Every FML issue contains instructions on how to obtain the
FML FAQ.  You should keep a copy handy.
 
***************************************
Propagation delays/problems
 
We are experiencing intermittant problems with the FML getting to the
FML exploder at CUNY.  This results in delays of the FML to almost
all subscribers.  The delay is at uunet.uu.net, and is completely
outside of my control.  I've asked Bill Gruber to come up with an
alternate route.  In the interim, please don't send mail to me
(ferret-request actually), if you don't get an FML issue every day, or
you don't see anything for a day or three.
 
If you do, however, get an FML issue, and previous issues are missing,
PLEASE send mail to ferret-request.  I then will repost the missing one.
[This indicates article lossage rather than delay]
 
If your FML arrives damaged - as in, there's no trailer message,
please let me know at ferret-request.  This indicates article damage
by external mailers, and I should be able to map out which mailers
are causing problems.
 
****************************************
 
Katie: yes, 420-someodd members is rather staggering - even to me,
having been "on the net" since 1982, considering that we loafed along at
<100 for the first three years.  This is indicative of the general
USENET/Internet/networking/email"information highway" (I hate that
phrase) explosion that is occuring.  Without Bill's exploder, my
boss would have freaked out long ago and pulled the plug on subsidizing
FML entry onto the Internet.
 
****************************************
Alcohol...
 
Alcohol affects animals in very much the same way as it does people.
There is, of course, differing toxicity levels over the animal kingdom,
but by-and-large it affects everything about the same way.  From,
I'd expect, minor health benefits at moderate consumption, through
intoxication at higher levels, and liver/circulatory problems with
long-term high level consumption.
 
Indeed, there are many reliable human studies that show benefits in
moderate consumption (I'm not going to get into an argument as to what
constitutes "moderate") in such things as prevention of coronary heart
disease.
 
And beer is actually a good source of quite a number of vitamins.
 
Animals are exposed to alcohols in the wild.  As they are exposed to
many other things.  If trace quantities were dangerous, the animals
would be extinct.  And in most cases, excessive amounts affect them
the same way at excessive amounts affect us - drunkeness.  It's
just that a drunk elephant (whether "angry drunk" or "sleepy drunk"
or "amorous drunk" ...) is usually a rather more serious affair than
Aunt Mabel accidentally imbibing a bit more "medicinal" sherry than
she should...
 
Everything is toxic if concentrated highly enough.
 
That being said, having a ferret consume a can of beer is obviously
not a good idea.  On the other hand, an occasional lick can't
hurt them.  And people should remember that ferrets, like other animals,
like people, don't always eat things that are good for them.  We've
all heard about ferrets eating styrofoam or foam rubber.  Car antifreeze
is quite popular (ethylene glycol not only is rather poisonous, it
also tastes quite good), and some ferrets seem to have a passion for
such things as soap, and indeed, Mr. Clean...  (yes, our ferret survived
that with no sideeffect, but it was the only time she ever threw up).
 
[Posted in FML issue 0747]