> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> One of my earliest memories is of the
> day when the pigs broke free of their pen while I was outside playing
> fairly far from our house. When they saw me they rushed at me in a big
> herd grunting their war chants. I was able to climb partially up a tree,
> but not before one of them tried very hard to bite off my foot.
How scary! The javelinas (native N. American pig-like creatures) have had
me up a tree before. I've seen them rip a dogs' guts out, so I didn't want
to take my chances on the ground with them when they seemed to be in a
vicious mood.
> I've often found baby birds who've fallen from their nests. Sometimes
> I'm able to lift them back up without touching them with my skin. Other
> times, heeding the advice of my parents given so long ago, I leave them
> for the adult birds to decide what to do.
That's usually what I do too. In the case of Pigeon Pi, though, I was
afraid to leave her, because there was a cat lurking around.
> >
> Formal studies are never a prerequisite for acceptable discussion. I
> hope I didn't give the impression otherwise.
No, you didn't; but you did sort of give the impresssion that it would take
a formal study to convince you that humans and non-humans can communicate.
It may be that I'm overly sensitive.
About the Latin words, I dislike pretentiousness. It's not that I have
anything against using Latin words, or any other sort of word, when it gives
a clearer or more interesting meaning to what a person is saying. But when
a person says "domestic canine" instead of "dog" they're not gaining
anything, and it comes across as pretentious. (canine is derived from the
Latin caninus) This is just my bias. Maybe some people would prefer
"domestic canine."
Bonnie
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:34:52 MDT