Interestig how words and their use and mis-use can tie together all the
responses for today.  Kinda cool when there is a theme to the responses.
 
>From:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: A female in heat
>I have recently been given an Albino female Ferret who is apparently 2
>years old and has not been de-sexed.  I have a neutered male ferret and
>have been told that he will mate with her and "bring her out of heat".
>Is this possible?
 
Basically, no.  Assuming desexed is really desexed which is castrated or
neutered.  A vasectomized hob is what whoever told you that was thinking
about.  This is the first word use issue.
 
>Should I get her to the vet to be speyed/injected straight away or hope
>that my male will get her out of heat
 
Don't count on the neutered boy.  He will not help.  Look under her tail
for a swollen vulva.  A enlarged puffy ring basically.  If its swollen
get a hormone injection.  Then schedule a spay.  If its not then just
schedule the spay.  Normally (guessing US or at least Northern hemisphere)
she wouldn't be in season until January or later.
 
>From:    Melissa <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: FP and Monopolies
>I'm a law student graduating in May (please don't hold it against me!)
 
Well we certainly won't.  By the way thats bill's parents' alma mater.
Thanks for pointing out the Sherman act and how it can apply to ferret
magazines.  Sort of a meta word use getting to laws and the sum of the
words in them.
 
[bill's section - diane hates the politics even more than I do but I will
discuss them with the goal really being to break the cliques to open up
the ferret world - not to bash one side in favor of the other]
 
>From:    Murray Mustelid <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Show Sleuth missed some comments, sorry!
 
Since I had been asked in a priavte email and I have rather obviosuly
mentioned I liked what ole Murray was doing.  Nope.  Don't know who the
Show Sleuth is.  I think I want to keep it that way.  Wouldn't it spoil
some of his anonymity if I knew?
 
>Though I know last year that some AFA higher-ups did attend a
>LIFE show (don't think they showed) and that was great to see.
 
And some LOS/LIFE folk have been seen at AFA shows.  Its not hopeless.
 
>Bill, if you want to discuss politics off-line, Show Sleuth will be happy
>to go there, but not in public forum -- could be dangerous! :-)
 
Sure.  But not knowing you are Show Sleuth.  How I got into such political
trouble in the first place was trying to get along with everyone.  I was
friends with LIFE folk first and some (far from all) didn't like when we
decided not to be rah rah LIFErs and hate the AFA.
 
I'll discuss the ferret organization politics with anyone that asks.  I
STRONGLY believe that many goals of the ferret world would be far better
served with a dropping of the internecine politics.  That most DEFINITELY
includes California legalization.
 
Most of the politics tends to be about using words in a twisted way to
make one organization look better than another by using different words to
describe the exact same thing that both organizations are doing.
 
>From:    Sukie Crandall <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: *those* destroyers, shots, keep 'em away from those burrows
>Oh, and the wording error was NOT by Mary van Dahm; the error was made by
>an editor at Fancy in their Pet Product News.  Bill and Diane didn't get
>that straight the other day, but I think I repeated it maybe a half dozen
>times.
 
Re-read what we wrote.  Even adding the word 'not' which is all that was
claimed was missing did not completely fix the sentance.  There is
ambiguity and can be interpreted wrong.  Note - interpreted - not claiming
Mary was wrong, just a potential for misinterpretation.  Lots of other
folks here saw the problems in the 'correct' version of what she was
claimed to have said.  And likewise how taking the 'not' out didn't make
the statement completely wrong because of the same ambiguity.
 
Diane is a writer so chooses words carefully.  As a legal secretary she
likewise ends up having to proofread what is dictated by lawyers.  Bill
is a software engineer and thus has to carefully consider all ramifications
of wording - thats what programming is really, writing instructions in a
funky kind of language.  Ambiguity in software can be catostrophic.
 
We stand by our believing the original statement was ambiguous.  Not really
a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  The brevity that led to the
ambiguity was most probably encouraged by the journal though.  Too bad.
 
And that sums up the word-play for today.  We mean the writing of words to
express ideas based on use of other words.  Well and hopefully some useful
ferret information in their as well.  We really think so with the first
issue.  The others are more related to the ferret owner's world than to the
ferrets themselves.
 
b&d
[Posted in FML issue 2798]