Anne Ryan introduced a bunch of us to a saying very long ago here on the FML. She said that when people assume they "make an ASS of U and ME". Of course, even worse can happen; I recall some times when some third parties decided that two people were fighting and then actually got the primary parties fighting -- even in a situation where they had been working together and not fighting -- because of all the third party "defending" of each primary. Seriously, third party assumptions of who is "fighting" are so often off-base that they deserve to be completely ignored if the people are not known. If the people are ones you know well enough then just reassure them that they have made an assumption which is so far away from reality that it is out in fiction land. BTW, it long ago used to be (still is?) a sport among immature boys or even more immature men to flame-bait, which means trying to cause fights, sometimes for points with their friends. Back then the fashion was for them to often pose as being female when doing it. Hopefully, that sort of stupid competition has long ago died out. I can verify that on the same days and nights when a few deluded people assumed a fight was happening the reality was that Alexandra, Wolfy and I were actually exchanging a bunch of very silly emails and had each other completely in giggles. Giggles, I tell you! Punctuated by guffaws, and on my part also by snorts, because Wolfy and Alex are too lady-like to snort when they laugh. Don't assume, folks. Assumptions may not be as wrong as internet rumors (which, in a study a few years ago turned out to be more than 90% wrong -- which is kind of cool since that had been my observation independently so it felt kind of good to see that) or maybe assumptions actually are wrong as often as rumors are. I don't know how often assumptions are wrong, just that they are very, very, very often wrong. Oh, and most people are fine with differing opinions and new information; those are tools to help people learn. Forensics in real life is not like on tv. There are waiting line-ups and the places that have to use state or federal labs have especially long lines. The cases are also prioritized. I read recently of some toxicology in a critical case where getting the info soon mattered still taking 6 weeks. Okay, and now I am going to do something from that day and night when there was no fighting to make Alex gag and weakly laugh, and make Wolfy have milk come out her nose from laughing: Primo! Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." (2010, Steve Crandall) On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall) [Posted in FML 7001]