Demons and such

What always struck me as odd were the people who consider it a sin to work on Sunday, and tell you about it as they sit in a restaurant putting people to work with their patronage.------------------
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For instance, the professor claimed that shellfish, pigs, and dogs were not to be eaten because those animals do not sweat out toxins, so some stays in the meat and is thus less healthy than other meats.

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This was not a professor of biology was it? Shellfish do accumulate heavy metals, though I am not sure would have been a problem pre-industrial revolution. Pigs and dogs may not sweat, but they do have kidneys. ( Well, technically, dogs do have sweat glands on their feet. )The prohibition against eating pig doesn't have anything to do with toxins. It concerns economics. Pig farming is not very efficient unless certain specific conditions are met. Try to find Marvin Harris' "Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Withches." Harris is an anthropologist who focuses on the biology surrounding, influenced by, and influenceing human culture.------------------
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Yeah, but it doesn't hold. Too many other cultures of the time ate pig. They didn't have a problem with trichinosis for the same reason we don't have that problem now-- fire. Marvin takes up this issue in the book I named.Basically, pigs eat the same things we eat. Raising a pig is essentially giving it food your kids could eat. The same with dogs, but worse still, since dogs are mostly carnivorous. Pigs will, at least, eat veggie scraps and such.If you get the organization right, you can raise pigs and still end up with a net caloric gain. But such high organization doesn't work for a nomadic people. Pig ranching has never hit the frequency of cattle ranching for pretty much the same reasons. Squeezing a caloric gain out of the deal is much more difficult that squeezing such gain out of a cow. ( Modern cattle ranching is hellishly inefficient. Don't get me started. )
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No webpage found at provided URL: www.hells-handmaiden.com[This message has been edited by John, 08-13-2003][This message has been edited by John, 08-13-2003]