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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">I love it! Well done!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Randy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">----------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Randy Singer<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">PhD Student<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">iDigBio/Florida Museum of Natural History<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Office Phone: 352-273-1958<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Email:
<a href="mailto:rsinger@flmnh.ufl.edu"><span style="color:#0563C1">rsinger@flmnh.ufl.edu</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">Twitter handle: @Randchovy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"><img border="0" width="132" height="42" style="width:1.375in;height:.4375in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D25790.BCB4AC30" alt="idigbio_logo_320 sig">
<img border="0" width="155" height="56" style="width:1.6145in;height:.5833in" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D25790.BCB4AC30" alt="FLMNH Fishes logo email small"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>John E Simmons<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 16, 2016 10:59 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] Twas the night<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif;color:black">For those of you interested, the 2016 version of our annual holiday poem is below. This is number 27 in the series, which started in 1989. If you would like a PDF of all 27 of these
things, please email me OFF LIST at <a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a> and I will send it along.<br clear="all">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">St. Entropy Takes on Interior Desecration</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">‘Twas that Night afore Christmas. (Yeah, heard it. Move on.)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The museum folk had partied; now most were long gone.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The curators fêted too much; all the aisles</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Were clogged with them, sleeping it off, with big smiles.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The trophy mounts hung side by side on the wall,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Each topped with a nightcap. (Now who is that tall?)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">A fruitcake was stowed on an archaeology shelf.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">(No, wait; that belongs there. Not the work of an elf.)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">As I came ‘round a corner, glumly pushing a broom,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">I stopped short and stared at the sight of the room.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">I saw tinsel on cases, bows and ribbons on jars,
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Glitter on all of the ‘gators and gars.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">LED lights pulsed and twitched all around the collection,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Color-coded just so for each separate section.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The cases were plundered, above and beneath,
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And someone had glued up a huge coral wreath.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Everything glistened with solvents and glues</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And more glitter. All over me, head down to shoes.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Fake snow (or moth crystals) lay in lumps, bumps and heaps.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The docents had done this. The scoundrels. The creeps.
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">I knew that this needed an investigation:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Someone was committing felony decoration.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Away to the fume hood I flew like a flash,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">But, due to the fake snow, could not lift the sash.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">When what to my watering eyes should appear</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">But a miniature forklift and eight hulking reindeer.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Most amazing (even now, a sane mind just boggles),</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">They were all dressed in Tyvek and wearing splash goggles.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And the little old driver, I realized much later,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Was decked out in gloves and a full-face respirator.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And then, in a twinkling, as I waited, expectant,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">They set to work cleaning, using much disinfectant.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">They rubbed and they scrubbed and they sorted in bins</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Recyclables, decipherables, a few study skins.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">I stood there in awe as they zipped station to station,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Tidying up every eyesore violation.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The tinsel, the ribbons, the bows, and the glue</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Vanished in seconds. (The glitter went, too<sup>1</sup>.)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">The dioramas were scoured, storage furniture polished,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And each decoration completely demolished<sup>2</sup>.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Then laying a finger aside of his mask</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">(And with one last gulp from his glittery hip flask)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">He called to his reindeer, and, as everyone knows,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Clanking back up the air vent, old St Nick arose.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">He sprang to his forklift, to his team gave a cheer,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And away they all flew like…a bunch of reindeer.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">But I heard him call out, going down his checklist,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">Making sure that no reindeer was idling or missed,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">“On Nitrile! On Spillkit! On Hardhat and Screen!</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">On Face Shield and Eyewash, Absorbent, Visine!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">And I heard him exclaim, ‘ere they flew out of range,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif;color:black">“Merry Haz-Mat to All! That museum is strange!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="gmail-msofootnotetext"><span class="gmail-msofootnotereference"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif">[1]</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif">
<i>Mostly</i> gone. It still surfaces, once in a while, on a curator’s shoes. Always gives me a smile.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="gmail-msofootnotetext"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="gmail-msofootnotetext"><span class="gmail-msofootnotereference"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif">2</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif"> We deaccession
by skeet shoot. It makes our hearts full. Object to an object? Just wait to hear “Pull!”</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Franklin Gothic Book",sans-serif">Sally Shelton and John Simmons wish everyone a glittering, glittering holiday.</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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