a Pete B snip followed by > my comment...
OK, let's use your example. I have a small garden plot which I stopped using a few years ago. I do nothing there. Is that a form of gardening?

>I guess you are now gardening weeds and wildflowers!  The key word in my post was purpose.  You are confusing a physical items with what you do (action or no action) with that item.

>The bias for many is that it is always presumed what they do has a positive effect. Sometimes patience (always in short supply) and doing nothing is the best way to 'do no harm' or at least pause and collect a bit more information (if you are into decision making models).

>For those of us who have taken multiple statistic classes and studied experimental design and methodology one of the first things you learn is about adding a control to your experiment.  Within the experiment this is still called a 'treatment' although for most experiment this means you do nothing.  

Gene in Central Texas....

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html