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]