michael

From BBC series "Life of Mammals"? Unforgettable.

diederik_b

So you agree then? Domestication is the changing of a wild animal so
that it's habitat is that of the farm or house.

elroy willis

Green skin? Ewww... Sounds like a case of gangreen to me.

Chani? Who's that?


You're used to walking around on wet floors, aren't you?

--
Elroy Willis
EAP Chief Editor and Newshound
http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

elroy willis

That's entirely possible.


That's possible as well.


They could've covered their faces with scarves to hide their
gigantic canine teeth. Don't rule out that possibility. :-)

Did female saber-tooth tigers have much smaller saber tooths than
the males?

--
Elroy Willis
EAP Chief Editor and Newshound
http://web2.airmail.net/~elo/news

lp

On 25 Jul 2003 17:55:47 -0700, diederik_b@hotmail.com (Diederik)

And that was my point.

Generally speaking, I do use that criteria as my basis for deciding
what animals I am willing to use for food.

The original posters suggest that there is little difference between
killing a chicken, and killing a roach. I believe that there is a big difference.

A critical question of which the answer is most reasonably a Yes.

I doubt that you could listen to the tormented bellows of a bull being
castrated for very long without concluding that the bull was feeling pain.

Do you base all of your moral guidelines on the behavior of wolves, or
just when it is convenient?

robin levett

Read Jared Diamond - "The Third Chimpanzee".


--
I don't trust camels - or anyone else that can go for a week
without a drink.
(Use rlevett@ibmrlevett.uklinux.net - deleting big blue -
for email)

david jensen

I got the impression that while the health of neolithic farmers was
worse, the alternative _for the area_ would have been worse yet. Denser
populations drove humans to a greater dependence on agriculture both
because there was nowhere else to roam to and because the higher
population devastated the local hunter-gatherer supplements that the
first agricultural communities had relied on.
--

We are, in fact, the moral backbone of the nation: brights take their
civic duties seriously precisely because they don't trust God to save
humanity from its follies. -- Daniel C. Dennett

robin levett

Diamond describes agriculture as a "Two-edged Sword" (Ch 10
title). He points out that Kalahari Bushmen, on land that
is too poor for agriculture, manage to exceed US RDAs for
calorific value and protein intake, with a varied nutritious
diet. He also points out that dependence upon agriculture
created three problems. Firstly, lack of variety in the
diet because of dependence upon very few food crops, leading
to poor nutrition; secondly, greater risk of starvation as a
result of that same dependence, when the crop failed; and
lastly disease, which flourished in denser communtities in a
way ot couldn't in a hunter gatherer population.

Then, at page 171 in my edition (Vintage 1992 - Great
Britain) he writes:-

"...Instead of the progressivist party line that we chose
agriculture because it was good for us, a cynic might ask
how we got trapped by agriculture despite its being such a
mixed blessing.

The answer boils down to the adage, 'Might makes right.'
Farming could support far more people than hunting, whether
or not it also brought on the average more food per mouth."

He goes on a few lines later:-

"As population densities of hunter-gatherers slowly rose at
the end of the Ice Age, bands had to 'choose', whether
consciously or unconsciously, between feeding more mouths by
taking the first steps towards agriculture, or else finding
ways to limit growth. Some bands adopted the former
solution, unable to anticipate the evils of farming, and
seduced by the transient abundance they enjoyed until
population growth caught up with increased food production.
Such bands outbred and then drove off or killed the bands
that remained hunter-gatherers, because ten malnourished
farmers can still outfight one healthy hunter. It is not
that hunter-gatherers abandoned their lifestyle, but that
those sensible enough not to abandon it were forced out of
all areas except ones that farmers did not want."

So to an extent, in his view, the process went the opposite
way to that you suggest. The dependence upon agriculture,
admittedly initially sparked by rising populations, then led
to ever greater populations that then drove out of the area
those who remained hunter-gatherers; who then had a choice
of being beaten or joining in.

--
I don't trust camels - or anyone else that can go for a week
without a drink.
(Use rlevett@ibmrlevett.uklinux.net - deleting big blue -
for email)

tukla_ratte

</me expells some oxygen at Elroy> No, I'm pretty familiar with
gangrene ,and this doesn't hurt near as much.


She's like God. She created me, did some nasty things to me for
awhile, and then vanished without a trace.

Yes, but it's usually *warm*. And I don't like standing still. I get
all twitchy.

Could you let some more sunlight in, please?

--
Tukla, Eater of Theists, Purveyor of Truth, Squeaker of Chew Toys
Super Noble Protector of Trailer Trash
Official Mascot of Alt.Atheism

tukla_ratte

I don't, thank goodness. That would make for *way* too big a target!

They're just the right size for fondling. Go ahead, try it.

--
Tukla, Eater of Theists, Purveyor of Truth, Squeaker of Chew Toys
Super Noble Protector of Trailer Trash
Official Mascot of Alt.Atheism