Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (65685)	10/30/2004 10:39:48 AM
From: Crocodile	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

PARENTAL WARNING! THE FOLLOWING POST DISCUSSES DIFFICULT ISSUES IN UNVARNISHED LANGUAGE. COVER YOUR DARLINGS' EYES. I read your post last night and have been giving it some thought this morning. Examples of cruelty are, unfortunately, rather commonplace in that laboratory known as The Animal Farm. The whole "pecking order" thing in chickens is well-known to many, but what is probably less known is that it expands well beyond the boundaries of that species. When I kept both chickens and waterfowl, the geese were at the top end of the scale and took great satisfaction in displays of dominance. They would, for no reason, take the cruelest snaps at the backs of the necks of the poor ducks that would waddle as fast as they possibly could run with necks pressed against the ground, hoping to avoid persecution. The geese also terrorized certain chickens -- in particular, the small black Silky hens (the kindest little hens that will nurture any young chick or duckling). If they got half a chance, they would grab small chicks or ducklings and toss them into water buckets to drown. Very large and aggressive roosters take a similar delight in inflicting fear and pain on any creature smaller than themselves. I've often seen roosters stalk and peck at the faces of barn cats until they drove them up into the rafters. I would have to say that the only thing that can be learned from such behaviour is that very large, powerful, and dangerous creatures sometimes get their kicks out of displaying their dominance in the cruelest of ways. Likewise, that the meek shall turn against the strong is a given when the opportunity arises. One evening, I arrived at the barn to do chores, only to find that one of the chicken-wire gates had fallen over onto the largest and most aggressive rooster in the yard. In what was perhaps the course of a few hours, all of the poultry in the yard took great satisfaction in obtaining retribution by pecking at the trapped creature until there was not much left of it beyond a flattened heap of bloody feathers. I arrived to find them milling about, continuing to inflict occasional pecks and prods at the hated foe. The lines, "Ding-dong, the Witch is dead, the Witch is dead, the Witch is dead! Ding-dong the Wicked Witch is dead!" immediately came to mind and well express the malevolence that can build among the "ass-kicked" -- to turn this back to your discussion of human cruelty. Returning to the question of the part of cruelty to Darwinian value, I suppose it has a place. Likewise, I would say that cooperation and kindness have their own valuable place as there are many examples of both amongst the animal kingdom as well. Anyhow, interesting subject! -croc

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (65685)	10/30/2004 11:41:24 PM
From: JF Quinnelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

This surely must be related to that plague of modern life, loud boombox music. Tonight the high school across the way is sponsoring some high-toned cultural soiree, and I am being serenaded with loud pulsing noise of the sort that commonly emanates from pickup trucks with WMD sized subwoofers. There are no restrictions on sonically assaulting your neighbors in this suburban rathole. I hafta move.

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (65685)	11/4/2004 4:37:54 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Respond to of 71178

Speaking of cruelty, naked power and Darwinism, you might have seen killer whales [orca in the politically-correct parlance of today], on a nature documentary, which had been feeding on baby seals, and any else they caught, which were trying to get used to the sea and being alive. A couple of the whales had a baby seal which they flipped on their tails, up into the air, like a basketball. Like a cat playing with a mouse. After they tired of their game, one of them pushed it back to shore, like a seal with a ball on its nose, and the baby ran back up onto the beach, apparently none the worse for wear. I suppose the whales had had enough to eat. What a story that baby seal had to tell its friends and mother. But what were the whales thinking? They obviously weren't too worried about the baby's fear or pain it might have been experiencing, so it wasn't kindness. Curiosity? "Let's push it back onto shore and see what it does." Maintain the food supply? "Waste not, want not, my mother always taught me". Incipient kindness or guilt? "Hey, you know, it must be a bummer to be that baby seal. Maybe we should take it back to its mother." Mqurice