Q: "What gthe hell happened to the Geek's List?"
 
A: Nothing that can't be cured by posting.
 
Nothing has happened to it, but because of recent trips and stuff, I
haven't been able to post much lately.  Mostly, I split my free time into
parts, which right now gives me family and ferret time, school time, time
for the FML, and time for the Geeks List, etc.  I am extremely disciplined
in this and rarely deviate from the ratio.  My Geeks List time has been
mostly spent researching and reading the references for a paper designed
to refute the CaCaLand Fishing Gestapo and Fat Pathetic Butt Society's
position on feral ferrets.  I'm writing it as a true scientific paper,
which is difficult and time consuming.  This weekend I'll start listing
another large batch of references.  Including in this batch will be some
references I GUARANTEE most ferret people have never seen before!
 
Q: "Why don't you reference your FML posts?"
 
A: You don't have to reference things people don't believe.  Ever see a
reference for the Easter bunny?
 
To be honest?  There are enough hair-splitting people on this list that
dissect my posts, looking for the most nit-picking little mistakes, that
references are unnecessary.  No, I'm just kidding.  Not about the
hairsplitting and nit-picking, but about my reason.  It simply makes the
post too information dense to read and too long to post.  I have always
supplied references to those that ask (when I have the time).  But,
honestly, it has always bothered me because I have two copies of the
"lecture gene." That is what the Geeks List was designed to correct.  If
you need source information or lots of references, you should get it as
well as the FML.
 
The Geek's list is a mailing list like the FML, although the moderation is
done by some half-wit who cannot convince people to stop quoting entire
Geek posts when replying to a single sentence.  Some day I will whack him
upside the head.  You have the option of receiving it as a single list
(like the FML) or as individual posts (like the Morphometrics and Paleodiet
lists).  If you want to join, you can write the crazy moderator at my email
address and I will do it for you.  Now, this isn't much of a 'story' list,
so don't expect lots of cute anecdotes about ferrets attempting their own
version of an angiocath.  BUT, if you need references or help finding
information, it is a good place to ask.  One nice bonus which will start
again this weekend (after the trip-n-stuff hiatus) is a FREE gift of 25
ferret-related references posted per day, just for signing up!
 
Now, I have to warn you, "ferret-related" is not the same as "ferret."
An article on dog bites is not about ferrets, but it IS ferret related
when used to answer issues concerning pet bites.  So, you don't just get
stuff about ferrets, but also about related issues and species that could
be used in ferret research and argument, like related mustelids, ecology,
comparative physiology, carnivore nutrition, etc.  If you are not
interesting in some of the references, it is easy to delete them.  Also,
the list is a cooperative, everyone gets to list references they have
found, comment on them, that sort of thing.  Just email if you are
interested.
 
Bob C and 16 MO' Reference Hounds
[Posted in FML issue 3029]