While it is quite fun reading the myriad of flame mail to Bob Vila that has been put on this list over that past week, enough is enough! We must remember that he is not a museum professional and is not versed in safe handling techniques that museums employ. And lets be realistic, what museum visitor actually follows the do not touch signs? I must admit that as a museum professional-to-be, I too have touched museum pieces without my white cotton gloves at various times in my life. Haven't any of you? Further, in Bob Vila's profession, he looks at objects in terms of how to fix them and make them better, more sturdy, and usable. That is very different from our plan of keeping objects as they are in perpetuity. If you are not a museum professional, then chances are you don't know how we do things or why. Most museum visitors don't know why they aren't allowed to touch artifacts or photograph them so often they regard that as a lame rule and ignore it. We say do not touch, but perhaps we should explain the importance of that to our visitors. Give them a clue to the importance of not touching objects rather than saying 'not to touch that because I said so'. Vila is just a musuem visitor. He does deal with antiques, but in a much different way, and in his profession, what he did was acceptable.