I don't think you fully grasp what evolution entails. Just because one form of selection has been removed (natural selection/competitive advantage) doesn't mean that others don't still exist (genetic drift and who we choose to breed with). As a previous poster mentioned there are certain genetic diseases that do provide a benefit. The one that comes to my mind first is the one for sickle cell anemia where if you carry one of the alleles for it you have protection against malaria and are otherwise just fine, but if you have both you end up with sickle cell anemia. I am sure there are others like this but I don't know them off hand.
From my course on in college that covered such things there are 2 components to evolution both dealing with reproductive success.
The first one is competitive advantage. This is what most people think about when discussing evolution. Basically the most fit for the environment have a better competitive advantage. This may in fact no longer be a evolutionary pressure for humanity.
The other is genetic drift that has nothing to do with environment. Think gingers in Ireland and Scandinavia. I would probably put societal things in this category as well as they seem to be a better fit. This is often ignored but as we remove pressures from competitive advantage we will still have genetic drift and that will play a more important part in any future evolution of our species.
Classifying things into small discrete categories is fine but it is the depth of the decision tree that matters. Simple example:
1. Is it right to steal?
2. Is it right to steal to feed your family?
3. Is it right to steal a loaf of bread to feed your family?
4. is it right to steal a car to get a loaf of bread to feed your family?
Although lower melanin production provides better frost bite protection. Most of the other ones I got from my physical anthropology class (basically human evolution) along with the frost bite one. That was one of the best intro classes as it was interesting and in most lectures was good for a laugh caused by some creationist in the lecture. It was rather interesting in that when I see a group of people with a feature unique to that group I wonder what competitive advantage it provided them in their original environment or if it was just random genetic drift. The feature I have been mostly curious about is the oriental eyes (I have no idea how better to describe them) where they lack the crease that other groups have in the upper eyelid.
Some are even direct decedents (as in they would be in direct line of succession if the monarchy still existed). One of my friends from high school was one such person we didn't believe him until he brought in his family tree from when they came to the US and we manged to find the historical genealogy in a book of European nobility in our history teachers class and confirmed that he actually was Polish nobility as a direct descendent of Stanislaus Leszczynski.
a weapon designed to be fired by the use of a single hand and with an overall length less than 26 inches, or having a barrel or barrels of a length less than 18 inches in the case of a shotgun or having a barrel of a length less than 16 inches in the case of a rifle (1) from which may be fired or ejected one or more solid projectiles by means of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances; or (2) for which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, air or other gas, or vapor.
I would add in great orator. I have seen and heard his speeches and I don't understand a single word but what every he was saying I felt like it was important and was needed. Maybe that was just part of his charisma, or being a good politician but if you haven't seen one of his speeches I highly suggest it.
I think a lot of it is status and has been marked up by a number middlemen. The beef and bison I get are bought by the whole animal and butchered by a local processor. My extended family purchases one of each every year and we divide it up amongst the households. Last year the beef cost $2.41/lb which is cheaper than even the really crappy ground beef at the stores (I am talking the 73/27 stuff), but I get good steaks, and roasts for that price as well as the ground beef. Last year I ran out of ground bison (a few weeks before the new one was going to slaughter) and was going to buy some at the grocery store and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw that they were charging $9.99/lb for ground bison. A few weeks later when the bison was ready we paid $2.74/lb for the whole thing. I like supporting good farmers and businesses as they seem to be a dieing breed even though I myself am not a farmer. I have my little backyard garden (10'x20') but I did spent most of my childhood summers out on one of my aunt's and uncle's farm so I have at least some knowledge of how farming works and can follow and understand news about it.
I prefer an example of all natural that is actually poisonous but most people don't think it is. I use the jasmine plant is actually toxic including the flowers which are used to make jasmine tea.
He possibly meant CWD or Bovine TB both of which are caused by the critters being nose to nose while eating which is more a function of feed lot or not feed lot. There is also the e-coli outbreaks that happen but that seems to be more a function of the critters being knee deep in their own filth (feed lot environment) or a processor that doesn't maintain proper sanitary conditions.
Depends on the farmer. I remember a few years ago when larger producers started to do large scale organic farming and the outrage by some of the smaller organic farmers because the large ones would have organic feed lots and all the other industrial farming techniques. Unless you know the farmer and processor you don't really have a way of knowing what you are getting.
I haven't seen that, I typically see cattle out in a pasture with food and water troughs with the critters all hanging around it. Besides I have seen a rise in places advertising 100% corn fed Black Angus beef of late so it seems that people believe that this is better. I have also seen the rise in 100% grass fed beef as well but that doesn't seem to be as strong.
Actually most cattle today wouldn't do well on an "all natural" grass fed diet as there has been so much pressure through selective breeding for ones that do better on grains. Granted these animals would still survive on grasses alone but for best yields until the population can corrected would need to be supplemented with grains. Corn is really good for making fat cattle (gives you the nice marbled cuts) but is really nutritionally poor compared to other feed like just about any other grain, or a good forage like prairie grasses and alfalfa.
It has been my experience that most of of the bovine related diseases are cause by them being packed in like sardines. The problem is when they are like this they are knee deep in their own filth and are nose to nose while eating out of the same trough. The eating nose to nose is why Wisconsin has such a problem with disease in their wild deer heard because people put out piles of corn as bait and as one Wisconsin hunter said to me "It's like shooting fish in a barrel". The filth close proximity of cattle herds necessitate the use of massive amounts of antibiotics and really stresses the animals. As far as e-coli that tends to also come from the critters being knee deep in their own filth as well as from improper handling and processing. Also I am not a big fan of what is used for feeding industrially raised meat. Corn is really good at making fat cattle but is pretty nutritionally poor and given that a fairly common cost cutting measure now is feeding cattle corn stalk silage (gathered from the feed corn harvest) which the stupid cows need to be tricked into eating it makes for some rather poor quality meat.
This is why I don't buy meat that has been in the feed lot environment. I know the farmers I get it from (or I go find my own in the woods) and they maintain small herds for the amount of land they have, my oldest son has been out to their farms and has pet the cows and bison. The one who raises beef has 10-12 cattle on 40 acres and primarily feeds them alfalfa grown on their own property adding in some grains before sending them to slaughter (barley, millet, wheat, oats, but no corn) to fatten them up a bit. The one who raises bison has a herd of about 20 on 80 acres that they are trying to get back to natural prairie which is what the bison ate originally. One interesting thing I found out from the farmer who raises cattle is that some of the silage that is being used now is the corn stalks that come out the back of the combine (no grain in it) from the corn harvest. To get the cattle to eat it they have to trick them by mixing in some grains. I really don't want the animals I am going to eat eating things they have to be tricked into eating. Another thing I found out is that corn is relatively nutrient poor compared to other grains and feed for cattle so corn feed beef may be nicely marbled, but wouldn't be a nutrient rich as cattle that are fed a better diet. The other issue I have with feed lot animals is that some are just expected to not make it, the cattle farmer I know has only lost 2 animals in 27 years, one was in 1996 when it got really fucking cold (below -40) and the other 2 years ago when wolves got one. The bison farmer hasn't lost an animal yet but has only been raising them for 6 years. Personally I want healthy animals for my food.
Not really. If you want to save on food costs it is better to buy direct from the farmer/processor. My extended family does this with beef and bison and it is substantially cheaper than buying from the grocery store, granted you need to have a chest freezer. For example I paid the following most recently:
$2.41/lb for beef (include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and liver), not quite organic but alfalfa fed non feed lot, hormone free and only given antibiotics when they get sick (rare with this farmer but this is why he isn't certified organic). In the past 27 years the farmer has only lost 2 animals, one when it was below -40 outside, and one that was taken by wolves. He only raises about a dozen animals a year on 40 acres. This is what I paid last September
$2.74/lb for organic bison, again includes ground, steaks, roasts, and liver. This farmer maintains a herd of about 20 animals on 80 acres.This is what I paid last October
$7.00 for a whole live chicken the farmer keeps maybe 50 - 70 chickens, granted I do have to butcher it my self
$0.99 for a dozen eggs from the same farmer where I get the chickens from
~$2.00/lb for the deer I shot, processing was a $0.99 a pound I included the cost for my inexpensive deer rifle and license as well in this
$37.50 for all the rabbit, grouse, pheasant, and fish I care to take and eat. Vegetable garden fed rabbit is delicious
Toss in my own small vegetable garden with tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, and cucumbers and food really is cheap for me. I also have a pear and apple tree on my property so each fall I have more apples and pears than I know what to do with. I usually end up taking about 100 lbs of them up to where I hunt and toss them out where the deer are so they get well fed. I toss them out all over the place so they aren't piled up as piles of food spreads disease amongst the herd (bovine TB and CWD). Granted I do buy food from the grocery store but spend about $50 a week to feed a family of 4.
Maybe you aren't, but I am. I have been known to toss someone down a flight a stairs and beat them bloody. This happened to one of my sister's more dodgy boy friends who thought it would be fun to beat a 100 pound girl.
I would say that the best example of them acknowledging that neither works is that you could be pulled out while boarding and searched again by a roving TSA checkpoint. I had this happen at the Baltimore airport last year.
My thoughts exactly. Why use a duffel bag when an almost carry on legal (you know those big ones people try for 5 minutes to get into the overhead compartment) suite case with wheels would be much easier to carry into the middle of a security line. The hold as much as a duffel bag but much easier to carry. Also the ball bearings, nails, or screws would be the denser component of that setup.
Usually when buying ammo it is pretty clear what is lead, bismuth, tungsten, or copper as the manufacture will label the box. How stupid does one need to be to think it would be a good idea to consume a rifle cartridge or shotgun shell.
It is usually fine lead shot that that is banned (your typical bird shot) as water foul will eat it mistaking it for sand and gravel. I haven't heard of a place banning lead rifle bullets, but it wouldn't surprise me if California did this. The problem with non lead rifle hunting bullets is that they don't perform like their lead counterparts (no I am not whining like people do with the switch to steel shot) because of the different densities and the required stabilization. I haven't seen bismuth bullets which would be close enough but a tungsten core bullet wouldn't expand like a soft or hollow point lead one does, same thing with steel core ones. I have seen copper bullets but those don't offer the accuracy that lead ones do (due to the different density) and are stupidly expensive by comparison. If I could find non lead bullets I would probably use them for hunting but I haven't seen any in the caliber I use. When I go bird hunting I always use steel shot even though I would only have to use it if I went on federal land (I don't hunt water foul) because I want to be a good steward of the environment and not spray lead shot all over the place.
My personal favorite warning was on an automotive fan belt that said to shut the engine off before removing the old belt. I also like the warnings on a box bullets stating that they contain lead and you shouldn't eat them.
As much as I dislike the bubble wrap world we are moving towards electronic fraud seems to be one area where it is still everyone for themselves. I have had to deal with it a couple of times, one was someone who was probably just guessing card numbers and seeing what ones worked and used wife's for a few purchases on XBox Live and PSN. The one was someone who took out a credit card in my name in another state (North Dakota) and then maxed it out. Interestingly it was a credit card brand I already had and that the payment gets sent to that state (before they had the ability to pay online). It was probably one of their employees who took the info and opened the account and then maxed out the new card. After about 30 minutes of working with the credit card company things were straightened out and it didn't cost me anything other than my time. The interesting thing was it was easier dealing with my credit card company and the ~$1500 in fraud charges than it was dealing with my wife's bank and the ~$75 in fraud charges which required multiple hour long phone calls and sending off several forms by certified mail.
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Simple answer is until they get the "correct" answer they are looking for.
I don't think you fully grasp what evolution entails. Just because one form of selection has been removed (natural selection/competitive advantage) doesn't mean that others don't still exist (genetic drift and who we choose to breed with). As a previous poster mentioned there are certain genetic diseases that do provide a benefit. The one that comes to my mind first is the one for sickle cell anemia where if you carry one of the alleles for it you have protection against malaria and are otherwise just fine, but if you have both you end up with sickle cell anemia. I am sure there are others like this but I don't know them off hand.
From my course on in college that covered such things there are 2 components to evolution both dealing with reproductive success.
The first one is competitive advantage. This is what most people think about when discussing evolution. Basically the most fit for the environment have a better competitive advantage. This may in fact no longer be a evolutionary pressure for humanity.
The other is genetic drift that has nothing to do with environment. Think gingers in Ireland and Scandinavia. I would probably put societal things in this category as well as they seem to be a better fit. This is often ignored but as we remove pressures from competitive advantage we will still have genetic drift and that will play a more important part in any future evolution of our species.
Classifying things into small discrete categories is fine but it is the depth of the decision tree that matters. Simple example:
1. Is it right to steal?
2. Is it right to steal to feed your family?
3. Is it right to steal a loaf of bread to feed your family?
4. is it right to steal a car to get a loaf of bread to feed your family?
Although lower melanin production provides better frost bite protection. Most of the other ones I got from my physical anthropology class (basically human evolution) along with the frost bite one. That was one of the best intro classes as it was interesting and in most lectures was good for a laugh caused by some creationist in the lecture. It was rather interesting in that when I see a group of people with a feature unique to that group I wonder what competitive advantage it provided them in their original environment or if it was just random genetic drift. The feature I have been mostly curious about is the oriental eyes (I have no idea how better to describe them) where they lack the crease that other groups have in the upper eyelid.
Some are even direct decedents (as in they would be in direct line of succession if the monarchy still existed). One of my friends from high school was one such person we didn't believe him until he brought in his family tree from when they came to the US and we manged to find the historical genealogy in a book of European nobility in our history teachers class and confirmed that he actually was Polish nobility as a direct descendent of Stanislaus Leszczynski.
a weapon designed to be fired by the use of a single hand and with an overall length less than 26 inches, or having a barrel or barrels of a length less than 18 inches in the case of a shotgun or having a barrel of a length less than 16 inches in the case of a rifle (1) from which may be fired or ejected one or more solid projectiles by means of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances; or (2) for which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, air or other gas, or vapor.
It can't get any worse without a bikini clad lady on page six.
Sounds like an April fools prank to play, but for more effect have it be a ./ calendar.
I would add in great orator. I have seen and heard his speeches and I don't understand a single word but what every he was saying I felt like it was important and was needed. Maybe that was just part of his charisma, or being a good politician but if you haven't seen one of his speeches I highly suggest it.
I think a lot of it is status and has been marked up by a number middlemen. The beef and bison I get are bought by the whole animal and butchered by a local processor. My extended family purchases one of each every year and we divide it up amongst the households. Last year the beef cost $2.41/lb which is cheaper than even the really crappy ground beef at the stores (I am talking the 73/27 stuff), but I get good steaks, and roasts for that price as well as the ground beef. Last year I ran out of ground bison (a few weeks before the new one was going to slaughter) and was going to buy some at the grocery store and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw that they were charging $9.99/lb for ground bison. A few weeks later when the bison was ready we paid $2.74/lb for the whole thing. I like supporting good farmers and businesses as they seem to be a dieing breed even though I myself am not a farmer. I have my little backyard garden (10'x20') but I did spent most of my childhood summers out on one of my aunt's and uncle's farm so I have at least some knowledge of how farming works and can follow and understand news about it.
I prefer an example of all natural that is actually poisonous but most people don't think it is. I use the jasmine plant is actually toxic including the flowers which are used to make jasmine tea.
He possibly meant CWD or Bovine TB both of which are caused by the critters being nose to nose while eating which is more a function of feed lot or not feed lot. There is also the e-coli outbreaks that happen but that seems to be more a function of the critters being knee deep in their own filth (feed lot environment) or a processor that doesn't maintain proper sanitary conditions.
Depends on the farmer. I remember a few years ago when larger producers started to do large scale organic farming and the outrage by some of the smaller organic farmers because the large ones would have organic feed lots and all the other industrial farming techniques. Unless you know the farmer and processor you don't really have a way of knowing what you are getting.
I haven't seen that, I typically see cattle out in a pasture with food and water troughs with the critters all hanging around it. Besides I have seen a rise in places advertising 100% corn fed Black Angus beef of late so it seems that people believe that this is better. I have also seen the rise in 100% grass fed beef as well but that doesn't seem to be as strong.
Actually most cattle today wouldn't do well on an "all natural" grass fed diet as there has been so much pressure through selective breeding for ones that do better on grains. Granted these animals would still survive on grasses alone but for best yields until the population can corrected would need to be supplemented with grains. Corn is really good for making fat cattle (gives you the nice marbled cuts) but is really nutritionally poor compared to other feed like just about any other grain, or a good forage like prairie grasses and alfalfa.
It has been my experience that most of of the bovine related diseases are cause by them being packed in like sardines. The problem is when they are like this they are knee deep in their own filth and are nose to nose while eating out of the same trough. The eating nose to nose is why Wisconsin has such a problem with disease in their wild deer heard because people put out piles of corn as bait and as one Wisconsin hunter said to me "It's like shooting fish in a barrel". The filth close proximity of cattle herds necessitate the use of massive amounts of antibiotics and really stresses the animals. As far as e-coli that tends to also come from the critters being knee deep in their own filth as well as from improper handling and processing. Also I am not a big fan of what is used for feeding industrially raised meat. Corn is really good at making fat cattle but is pretty nutritionally poor and given that a fairly common cost cutting measure now is feeding cattle corn stalk silage (gathered from the feed corn harvest) which the stupid cows need to be tricked into eating it makes for some rather poor quality meat.
This is why I don't buy meat that has been in the feed lot environment. I know the farmers I get it from (or I go find my own in the woods) and they maintain small herds for the amount of land they have, my oldest son has been out to their farms and has pet the cows and bison. The one who raises beef has 10-12 cattle on 40 acres and primarily feeds them alfalfa grown on their own property adding in some grains before sending them to slaughter (barley, millet, wheat, oats, but no corn) to fatten them up a bit. The one who raises bison has a herd of about 20 on 80 acres that they are trying to get back to natural prairie which is what the bison ate originally. One interesting thing I found out from the farmer who raises cattle is that some of the silage that is being used now is the corn stalks that come out the back of the combine (no grain in it) from the corn harvest. To get the cattle to eat it they have to trick them by mixing in some grains. I really don't want the animals I am going to eat eating things they have to be tricked into eating. Another thing I found out is that corn is relatively nutrient poor compared to other grains and feed for cattle so corn feed beef may be nicely marbled, but wouldn't be a nutrient rich as cattle that are fed a better diet. The other issue I have with feed lot animals is that some are just expected to not make it, the cattle farmer I know has only lost 2 animals in 27 years, one was in 1996 when it got really fucking cold (below -40) and the other 2 years ago when wolves got one. The bison farmer hasn't lost an animal yet but has only been raising them for 6 years. Personally I want healthy animals for my food.
Not really. If you want to save on food costs it is better to buy direct from the farmer/processor. My extended family does this with beef and bison and it is substantially cheaper than buying from the grocery store, granted you need to have a chest freezer. For example I paid the following most recently:
$2.41/lb for beef (include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and liver), not quite organic but alfalfa fed non feed lot, hormone free and only given antibiotics when they get sick (rare with this farmer but this is why he isn't certified organic). In the past 27 years the farmer has only lost 2 animals, one when it was below -40 outside, and one that was taken by wolves. He only raises about a dozen animals a year on 40 acres. This is what I paid last September
$2.74/lb for organic bison, again includes ground, steaks, roasts, and liver. This farmer maintains a herd of about 20 animals on 80 acres.This is what I paid last October
$7.00 for a whole live chicken the farmer keeps maybe 50 - 70 chickens, granted I do have to butcher it my self
$0.99 for a dozen eggs from the same farmer where I get the chickens from
~$2.00/lb for the deer I shot, processing was a $0.99 a pound I included the cost for my inexpensive deer rifle and license as well in this
$37.50 for all the rabbit, grouse, pheasant, and fish I care to take and eat. Vegetable garden fed rabbit is delicious
Toss in my own small vegetable garden with tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, and cucumbers and food really is cheap for me. I also have a pear and apple tree on my property so each fall I have more apples and pears than I know what to do with. I usually end up taking about 100 lbs of them up to where I hunt and toss them out where the deer are so they get well fed. I toss them out all over the place so they aren't piled up as piles of food spreads disease amongst the herd (bovine TB and CWD). Granted I do buy food from the grocery store but spend about $50 a week to feed a family of 4.
Maybe you aren't, but I am. I have been known to toss someone down a flight a stairs and beat them bloody. This happened to one of my sister's more dodgy boy friends who thought it would be fun to beat a 100 pound girl.
Too bad she wasn't a biter.
I would say that the best example of them acknowledging that neither works is that you could be pulled out while boarding and searched again by a roving TSA checkpoint. I had this happen at the Baltimore airport last year.
It also fails to find shotgun shell, and rifle rounds, but does seem to to a good job of finding old metal body SLR cameras.
My thoughts exactly. Why use a duffel bag when an almost carry on legal (you know those big ones people try for 5 minutes to get into the overhead compartment) suite case with wheels would be much easier to carry into the middle of a security line. The hold as much as a duffel bag but much easier to carry. Also the ball bearings, nails, or screws would be the denser component of that setup.
Usually when buying ammo it is pretty clear what is lead, bismuth, tungsten, or copper as the manufacture will label the box. How stupid does one need to be to think it would be a good idea to consume a rifle cartridge or shotgun shell.
It is usually fine lead shot that that is banned (your typical bird shot) as water foul will eat it mistaking it for sand and gravel. I haven't heard of a place banning lead rifle bullets, but it wouldn't surprise me if California did this. The problem with non lead rifle hunting bullets is that they don't perform like their lead counterparts (no I am not whining like people do with the switch to steel shot) because of the different densities and the required stabilization. I haven't seen bismuth bullets which would be close enough but a tungsten core bullet wouldn't expand like a soft or hollow point lead one does, same thing with steel core ones. I have seen copper bullets but those don't offer the accuracy that lead ones do (due to the different density) and are stupidly expensive by comparison. If I could find non lead bullets I would probably use them for hunting but I haven't seen any in the caliber I use. When I go bird hunting I always use steel shot even though I would only have to use it if I went on federal land (I don't hunt water foul) because I want to be a good steward of the environment and not spray lead shot all over the place.
My personal favorite warning was on an automotive fan belt that said to shut the engine off before removing the old belt. I also like the warnings on a box bullets stating that they contain lead and you shouldn't eat them.
As much as I dislike the bubble wrap world we are moving towards electronic fraud seems to be one area where it is still everyone for themselves. I have had to deal with it a couple of times, one was someone who was probably just guessing card numbers and seeing what ones worked and used wife's for a few purchases on XBox Live and PSN. The one was someone who took out a credit card in my name in another state (North Dakota) and then maxed it out. Interestingly it was a credit card brand I already had and that the payment gets sent to that state (before they had the ability to pay online). It was probably one of their employees who took the info and opened the account and then maxed out the new card. After about 30 minutes of working with the credit card company things were straightened out and it didn't cost me anything other than my time. The interesting thing was it was easier dealing with my credit card company and the ~$1500 in fraud charges than it was dealing with my wife's bank and the ~$75 in fraud charges which required multiple hour long phone calls and sending off several forms by certified mail.