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This fable was forwarded to me from Judith Harris, passed on to her from Eric Dewar at University of Colorado Museum. If you haven't seen it yet -- enjoy THE RABBIT, THE FOX AND THE WOLF - A GRADUATE STUDENT FABLE One sunny day a rabbit came out of her hole in the ground to enjoy the weather. The day was so nice that the rabbit became careless, and a fox sneaked up and caught her. "I am going to eat you for lunch!" said the fox. "Wait!" replied the rabbit, "you should at least wait a few days." "Oh yeah? Why should I wait?" "I am almost finished writing my Ph.D. thesis." "Hah! That's a stupid excuse. What is the title of your thesis, anyway?" "I am writing a thesis on `The superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" "Are you crazy? I should eat you up right now! Everybody knows that a fox will always win over a rabbit." "Not really, not according to my research. If you'd like, you can come to my hole and I'll prove it to your satisfaction. If you are not convinced you can go ahead and have me for lunch." "You're really crazy." But since the fox was curious and had nothing to lose, it went with the rabbit into its hole. The fox never came back out. A few days later the rabbit was again taking a break from writing, and, sure enough, a wolf came out of the bushes and pounced on her. "Wait!" yelled the rabbit, "you cannot eat me right now." "And why might that be, you fuzzy appetizer?" "I am almost finished writing my Ph.D. thesis on 'The superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" The wolf laughed so hard it almost lost its hold on the rabbit. "Maybe I shouldn't eat you, you sound really sick in the head. Who knows if it's something contagious," the wolf wheezed when it got its voice back. "Come over to my place and I'll show you my verification. You can eat me after that if you disagree with my conclusions." So the wolf, still chuckling, went into the rabbit's hole and never came out. The rabbit finished writing her thesis and was out celebrating in the lettuce fields. Another rabbit came by and asked, "What's up? You seem to be very happy." "Yup, I just finished writing my dissertation." "Congratulations! What's it about?" "It's titled `The superiority of Rabbits over Foxes and Wolves.'" "That's amazing! I really can't imagine how you could propose such a revolutionary idea. The foxes and wolves will never let you get away with that." "Well, it seems to work. You should come over and see for yourself." So they went together to the rabbit's hole. As they went in, the friend saw the typical graduate student abode, albeit a rather messy one after writing a thesis. The computer with the controversial dissertation was in one corner. Next to it there was a pile of fox bones, and then a pile of wolf bones. Lounging in an easy chair sat a very satisfied looking lion. MORAL: It doesn't matter what you write in your dissertation if you pick the right thesis advisor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- John A. Van Couvering, PhD Voice: USA 212 769 5657 Editor in Chief Fax: USA 212 769 5653 Micropaleontology Press email: vanc@amnh.org American Museum of Natural History New York, NY 10024 USA -/- mail program used: Eudora -/- -----------------------------------------------------------------
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