IN a recent experiment Partridge1 found a null result to 1 part in 108 for the effect of a local absorber on the power emitted by a source. This result is interpreted in the framework of absorber theory as setting some constraints on the absorptive properties of the Universe. Here I point out that this conclusion is by no means necessary, and that in fact a time-symmetric (static) local absorber should have no effect on the power emitted by the source, irrespective of the absorption of the Universe.