Biker Killed by Mountain Lion

(Edward Dolan) wrote in message

I have often wondered what northern Europe would be like without the
Gulf Stream. I think it might be a lot like eastern or western Canada
- pretty much a frozen wasteland. You would still have the influence
of the ocean of course, but it would be as much your enemy as your
friend.

The numbers I read were pretty depressing. 8-12C less for Scandinavia
and 3-4C less for Germany. And that was average temps. So yea it would
be something like Canada. Denmark is on the same latitude as Labrador.

I have often wished that I could have been born in the tropics, maybe
someplace like Panama. Man is a tropical animal and is only able to
live away from the tropics by his cultural adaptations. If we were to
live perfectly natural lives as nature intended without any cultural
adaptations, we would have to be living in the tropics. After all, we
are not polar bears who have evolved to live in these confounded
northern climes. Without cultural adaptations, we are in fact naked
apes (very little body hair) designed to live only in the tropics.

Amen to that. I think the stork flew a thousand miles or so too far
north
when it dropped me off.

Mikael
Copenhagen, Denmark

"Beth" wrote in message . net...

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 21:19:02 +0000, Edward Dolan wrote:

snip but there are certain things that
can only be accomplished by the male mind. It may be that mathematics
and chess are other such areas of supreme male dominance

Hey Ed -

Let's give credit where credit is due. Don't forget the other things the
male mind is supreme at:
- killing
- raping
- looting
- pillaging
- starting wars
- prolonging wars
- territorial aggression

And I won't pass on those other opinions to the other women at the aerospace
firm I work for. Don't want to confuse them.. (oh, silly me, where did I
put that engineering degree...)

:-)
Beth L.

Both men and women have enough mental competency to accomplish any
number of tasks, but I was referencing what is required to approach
the level of genius when it comes to musical composition, higher
mathematics and chess. Find me a female Beethoven and I will more than
meet you half way.

Frankly, I think women actually perform most of the jobs that are
available in the world we are living in today much better than men.
Men were evolved to spread those genes around and to be hunters and
warriors. Not too much call for either of those jobs in today's world.
It is pathetic to see women in the fighting armed forces and to see
them become suicide bombers (Palestinians). Women were evolved to be
wives and mothers and to basically carry on the task of seeing to the
survival of the species. What we men do as hunters and warriors is not
all that far removed from all those characteristics that you list
above. Did I not start my post to which you are responding by saying
that I have a very low opinion of the human male?

But I am glad that you recognize that men and women are very different
from one another. I have encountered women who thought precisely the
opposite, i.e., that men and women are really alike despite some minor
sex differences. Nothing could be further from the truth of course. We
are not only different physically, but also mentally and most any
other way you can think of too.

Of the two sexes, females are by far the more important to the
perpetuation of the species. All the males do really is just ensure
vitality to the species by spreading those genes around. But I do not
see what any of this has to do with my assertion that there are some
mental activities that only men are capable of and that women fall
short by a huge margin, like musical composition for instance. When
you find me that female Beethoven, let me know and I will give her
music a listen and tell you what I think.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:

... Have you ever noted the really extreme
reactions that some women have to mice and rats for instance? I can
almost regard these creatures as pets....

The main problem with rats is that they like/need to chew on things and
will makes holes in ones clothes if not watched carefully. They like to
ride around on a person’s shoulder, and will usually not jump off.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

Edward Dolan wrote:

...
It is really remarkable how far north most of Europe is compared to
the US. The Gulf Stream saves Europe and makes it habitable. Once you
get far enough away from the influence of the Gulf Stream you are into
the continental climate of Eurasia (Russia, which is like the interior
of the North American continent)....

Moscow, Russia is typically warmer in the winter and cooler in the
summer than Moscow, Iowa.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

Tom Sherman wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

...
It is really remarkable how far north most of Europe is compared to
the US. The Gulf Stream saves Europe and makes it habitable. Once you
get far enough away from the influence of the Gulf Stream you are into
the continental climate of Eurasia (Russia, which is like the interior
of the North American continent)....

Moscow, Russia is typically warmer in the winter and cooler in the
summer than Moscow, Iowa.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

The climate prevailing in Moscow, Russia is the equivalent to that
prevailing in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Iowa has
slightly less cold winters and slightly warmer summers. All of Europe
except for most of Sweden and all of Finland have a much milder
climate than Russia thanks to the Gulf Stream.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

The Kingdom of God (the world after death)

Ah.. you need to go back to Catholic school. The Kingdom of God is
anywhere where His rule and law are respected and obeyed, thus on
earth it is in the hearts of people who love Him.

I Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Note that this isn't people in general, he was speaking to those who
had devoted their lives to following Him, those who had given
themselves to Him and belonged to Him, His disciples.

But I respect anybody's right to be wrong on this topic! :-)

In one of the houses we've lived in, there was a
large house spider in residence in the bathroom,
who would come out and wave her legs at us
whenever we had a shower (Probably saying "Oi,
watch where you're spraying that water, you great
clumsy lump" in spider ). I was quite fond of her.

I also speak spider, and I offer an alternative interpretation:

Probably saying "Oi Vey! Ooo, La LA!!" in spider.

I was quite fond of her.

Him. Which explains everything.

My daughter and I had an orb-weaver spider move into our back yard one
year. We watched her intently (the spider, not my daughter) as she
made a lovely web. We knew it was a 'she' because it was a very
organized and tidy web. Unfortunately, she had made it in a
vulnerable spot and I knew that 'Alex', the great oaf of a cattle dog
we have would walk through the web, so we got a small mister/sprayer
out and misted her web over and over. Soon she got the hint and
disassembled her web strand by strand, section by section, in reverse
order, ate the entire thing,[1] then moved out to a more hospitable
spot.

Did I tell you about the spider I met once, on an island in the
Columbia River, Washington, just east of the Olympic peninsula? Grass
was about 10 -12' high. I was walking along a path and almost walked
into this thing. Spider was about 5-6" across, counting legs.
HHEeee-UUGE!! Beautiful colors. An orb-weaver. Web was huge and
strong [3]. Longest lateral measured about 22' long. Web was about
10' high. Fangs were not quite the size of a tarantula's. Glad I
wasn't on my bicycle, it would have tumbled me backward off my bike in
a heap (bike content). Did he run and hide under a leaf like other,
lesser orb-weavers when I came around bothering him? No! He just
humped his back up and glared at me. Uh, I think he glared, it may
have been a light reflection [4].

[1] The protein a spider expends in creation of a web can represent a
very significant life-energy investment. By my observations and
notes, some common orb-weavers leave their webs up for an average of 3
nights before eating and reproducing them for the fourth night. Some
spiders take their webs down every dawn, and reassemble them the next
evening. Please don't purposefully mess up the webs of desirable
spiders [2].

[2] Earlier, in my Black Widow story, I forgot to mention one of the
more esoteric methods of catching them. A Black Widow always tries to
have a 'bolt hole' to run into when threatened, and for daytime. A
crack, a hole, somewhere dark. They can be really quick (the spider,
not the hole). One trick I use is to chuck up a 3-foot rod into a
drill-motor, spin it up and plunge it into the web near the spider.
She runs, but she can't hide. The web is wound around the rod faster
than she can run [5]. Soon she is trussed up, wound against the rod
in her own sticky secretions, helplessly awaiting my ministrations.

Trivia: A Black Widow web's classic shape, if the surroundings allow,
is much like the Eiffel Tower. The area underneath and between the
four corners is strewn with single stretchy sticky strands under
tension that are fastened to the ground lightly. A small critter
walks into one, it sticks to them, comes loose from the ground and
jerks them into the air so they can't get purchase on the ground to
break loose.

[3] the kind of web the Pacific Northwest Indians used to wind around
a forked willow stick making a net to catch small fish.

[4] Sometimes a trick of lighting can make a noble glint look for all
the world like an evil gleam (from Dick Tracy's Fearless Fosdick comic
strip).

[5] In those long lazy country summer afternoons as a kid I would use
a similar technique to drag skunks out of their logs or holes.. I'd
push a long stick in there, and wind it up in their fur, then pull
them out, snarling, hissing and spraying! Then run howling and
laughing away! Wheeee! We knew how to have fun! (we didn't injure
them doing that) We'd whack the hornet nests too, and ran even
faster.

I think (therefore I'm old) that Fearless Fosdick was an Al Capp (Lil'
Abner) character.
"GeoB" wrote in message
om...
large snippage
[4] Sometimes a trick of lighting can make a noble glint look for all
the world like an evil gleam (from Dick Tracy's Fearless Fosdick comic
strip).
sinp

(GeoB) wrote in message . com...

The Kingdom of God (the world after death)

Ah.. you need to go back to Catholic school. The Kingdom of God is
anywhere where His rule and law are respected and obeyed, thus on
earth it is in the hearts of people who love Him.

I Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Note that this isn't people in general, he was speaking to those who
had devoted their lives to following Him, those who had given
themselves to Him and belonged to Him, His disciples.

But I respect anybody's right to be wrong on this topic! :-)

I absolutely, positively, and totally refuse to get drawn into a
religious discussion here on ARBR. I have already got everyone here
****ed off at me as it is. Trust me on this, you do NOT want to hear
what I have to say about God and that one and only true religion,
otherwise known as Roman Catholicism.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

PS. Please note my Irish name. In Ireland it is O'Dolan!

(GeoB) wrote in message . com...

[...]

[5] In those long lazy country summer afternoons as a kid I would use
a similar technique to drag skunks out of their logs or holes.. I'd
push a long stick in there, and wind it up in their fur, then pull
them out, snarling, hissing and spraying! Then run howling and
laughing away! Wheeee! We knew how to have fun! (we didn't injure
them doing that) We'd whack the hornet nests too, and ran even
faster.

It is a wonder that you ever made it to adulthood! My thinking with
respect to wild life was do not disturb, otherwise known as letting a
sleeping dog lie. But like you, I like to observe it. It is a pity
that we can not go through life respecting other life forms and
leaving them be. I got my view and respect for other life forms from
visiting just about every National Park Visitor Center in the US. What
an education that was! Everything I know about natural history (the
life around us) I got from those visits. I will eternally be grateful
to the National Park Service for educating me. As others have
repeatedly noted, the National Parks are the crown jewels of America.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota