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How do vegetarians feel about....

Ozzy

SirKristoff is a poopiehead
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I saw this article, and it made me wonder.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]'How do vegetarians feel about carnivorous plants?'

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]
Writes The Farm Boy of St. Paul: "Subject: Deep Thoughts. "I saw a story about carnivorous plants last weekend. It made me wonder: How do vegetarians feel about carnivorous plants, killing and eating all those defenseless insects? (Come to think of it, how do vegetarians feel knowing that government regulations allow a certain level of insect parts in the grain from which their veggie burgers are made? But I digress.)

"If a person is a vegetarian for moral reasons, because he or she believes it is wrong to kill and eat another living creature, then that vegetarian must think carnivorous plants are barbaric.

"Therefore, I must assume that such a vegetarian would make it his or her life's work to personally eat as many carnivorous plants as possible, in order to save the lives of defenseless insects.

"I'd like to learn more about this overlooked aspect of vegetarianism. For instance: Does French dressing go better on Venus Flytraps, while buttermilk dressing is just the thing on a Pitcher Plant?

"How about it, Bulletin Board readers? Can any of you shed some light on this little-known phenomenon?"

Not exactly what he had in mind

Plus: Please release me!

Jerry M. of Highland Park: "Every morning in the wee hours, I get out of bed to answer Nature's call. When we are at the lake, I usually go into the living room and look out at the lake and the front yard — just to look. No need to turn on a light, since there is always enough ambient light to see with dark-adapted eyes. (I always wonder why people come to a quiet place with dark nights and starry skies — and get a barking dog and install a yard light that burns all night.) I then wander into the kitchen for a drink of water.

"The other morning I opened the tap, filling my drinking glass with the cold, delicious well water. With the first mouthful, I realized something was amiss. I felt a small lump in my mouth. Our water does not contain lumps!

"I spit the mouthful into the sink and reached up and turned on the light above the sink. There, curled up in the sink, was a small spider — looking a little the worse for wear after the trip into and out of my mouth and into the sink. I looked at the critter, and immediately part of an old campfire song came into my head: 'I know an old lady who swallowed a spider that wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die!' Of course, I had to dig out the other eight or 10 verses of the song! Then the entire song became an earworm for nearly the entire day.

"The upside was that, at daylight, the spider was gone. The critter had survived.

"Now before I take a drink, I rinse the glass out first!"

A Coke and a frown

Fisherman Fred of White Bear Lake: "The recent 'Watchdog' article about the problems that students are having with vending machines at Harding Senior High School made me think of the single Coca-Cola machine we had in our dormitory back in 1941.

"At that time, the machines dispensed the small glass Coca-Cola bottles from a rotating table which was held within a steel cabinet. When the dime (yes, a dime; the bottles were a nickel unless you bought them from a machine) was inserted to get a Coke, the table would rotate to move the next bottle under the opening so it could be removed by the purchaser. You were able to see the other bottles, but you couldn't reach in to remove them.

"Some students — I should call them 'thieves,' as I do not know whether they were students — were adept enough to work a bottle opener inside to open the next bottle under the cover. Once the bottle was opened, the thief would slide a long flexible straw into the open bottle and drink the contents.

"Of course the next person to insert a coin would be presented with an opened and empty bottle. Fortunately not many people were adept enough to steal Cokes that way.

"We learned to always visibly check the next bottle before inserting a coin."

The gifts that keep on giving

From Wally of Eau Claire, Wis.: "A friend today said the cheapest Christmas present he ever got was a card from his boss — with the signature rubber-stamped, and postage due.

Small enough for ya?

Plus: Older than dirt

Lola: "My hometown was so small that when my nephew mailed a letter to my mom and the envelope was addressed to 'Grandma /Watertown, MN 55388,' it was put into her box at the post office."

Swampy of Cumberland, Wis.: "I attended school in Redwood Falls. After WW2, I moved to 'The Cities,' till my retirement brought me to Cumberland and the culmination of a life's dream — namely: a home on a lake, where we have now lived for 14 years.

"A short time ago, a friend and I were having coffee at our local bakery shop along with an old-time resident who, while listening to our conversation, looked me straight in the eye and, with a tone of suspicion in his voice, asked: 'You're not from around here, are ya?'

"I had no answer to his question! I guess that after 14 years of trying to be a good citizen, I'm still a stranger in my own town!

"Another small-town incident happened while I was a volunteer at the V.A. hospital in Minneapolis. I was escorting an elderly patient to his appointment and noted on his I.D. bracelet that his home was Cumberland, Wis. I mentioned to him that my wife and I were looking at a lake home for sale there. His very abrupt answer was: 'Too many people there already!' I continued that we are retired and would be spending a lot of money locally! His answer was: 'Money isn't everything!'

"Welcome to small-town living, all you 'big city folks'!"

Older than dirt

One piece (possibly two) of evidence, reported by Ms. Virginia of Bald Eagle: "There definitely are six of us who are older than dirt. My husband (the bagman) and I went out with two other couples for dinner on Friday night. Afterwards we came back to our house for coffee and cookies. The stimulating conversation this Friday evening was about who gave away the best free handouts at the Medicare Part D presentation.

"Selective hearing: The bagman and I were watching the Wild game with my daughter and her family when the announcer said a player was penalized for pixie dust. I asked my daughter what the announcer meant by 'pixie dust.' She said: 'MOTHER, he said "fisticuffs." ' "

My teacher said …

Always a Mother: "Many years ago, when our kids were in parochial school, the light in the boys' closet was always left on. I found out why 20 years later, when the kids were reminiscing about their school years. It seems that a certain nun had told them that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Tim was just trying to be sure we all made it.

"Sure hope it worked."

Band Name of the Day:

Lumpy Water — or: Pixie Dust

Web Site of the Day:

Questions Frequently Asked About Carnivorous Plants (including: "Are there any vegetarian carnivorous plants?") — at www.sarracenia.com/faq.html
 
If someone has a moral issue with insect deaths, I'm not sure how they could even leave the house...
 
lol funny. course there are different types of vegitarians. ive got a friend who just doesnt like the taste of beef and pork and such but will eat fish and birds. me? i spent yesterday turning a deer into steaks and roasts and cuts for mincemeat and burger, had to sample some of the butterfly steaks from the backstraps last night, ohhhhhhhhhhhh so tender making mincemeat for mincemeat pies this weekend my mouth is watering just thinking of it. i wouldnt last as a vegitarian
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Hey Rattler, do you hunt & cure your own venison?
 
Well, Davey, Rattler shoots'em, and a Doctor gives'em a shot, and cures it. Yup!
 
It's funny a lot veggies don't eat meat because they don't feel it is natural for humans to do so. Meanwhile it is very natural for CPs to eat insects. I know with Nepenthe you can substitute fish pellets whic are basically recycled fish parts. Maybe there is a soy equivelent of dead bugs that they can give to CPs.

Brendhan
;)
 
OK, so I understood the part about eating CPs, and the spider bit also seemed related, but what is this about stealing Coke and cheap Christmas presents? I'm confused.
~Joe
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (seedjar @ Nov. 28 2005,11:28)]OK, so I understood the part about eating CPs, and the spider bit also seemed related, but what is this about stealing Coke and cheap Christmas presents? I'm confused.
~Joe
No relation. Only the first paragraph is relevant to CPs.
 
schloaty, yes i hunt as does my wife and my step daughters are showing lots of interest though they are to young to hunt big game in Montana, the youngest even helped me field dress one of my does this year. young deer and pronghorn does we butcher ourselves with the help of my inlaws. we are looking for steaks, a couple roasts, burger, we even make some sausage. older does and bucks generally get taken to a local place that turns them into summer sausage and salami and pepperoni sticks and such. elk, well lets just say it takes us 4 hours to butcher a 150-200 pound field dressed doe, we take the 350-400 pound cow elk to be butchered into steaks and such by a local butcher, its worth it to us paying them to do a critter that large. this year i only filled 2 of my 3 tags and my wife didnt fill any of hers. this has more to do with us just being out and enjoying the hiking than not seeing critters. we dont have enough freezer space for 6 critters but if we wanted to we could have taken that many or more if we wanted to purchase more tags. my parents take extra meat as does my sister. its not hard finding freezers willing to take the extras. venison, be it elk, deer, or pronghorn is much much leaner than beef. infact if your going to make hamburgers you have to add beef fat otherwise the patties will not stick together very well and will be very dry. the steaks of a young, dry doe or cow however is some of the best steak i have ever had.
 
  • #10
I don't eat mammals.
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  • #11
Dyflam, and i really dont want this to come off the wrong way, but why? like i said ive got a buddy who refuses cause he doesnt like the taste. why dont you eat mammals?
 
  • #12
I'm a veggie!

Keeping CPs has nothing to do with vegetarianism. You wouldn't move all the spiders out of your garden because they kill flies. In the same way, you wouldn't your cat locked indoors and feed it vegetarian food.
 
  • #13
[b said:
Quote[/b] (rattler_mt @ Nov. 29 2005,12:34)]Dyflam, and i really dont want this to come off the wrong way, but why? like i said ive got a buddy who refuses cause he doesnt like the taste. why dont you eat mammals?
I find it a little bizarre that we raise animals in mass quantities and slaughter them. Don't get me wrong... If I were hungry and in survival mode I would eat whatever I had to to live. I would be the last person to judge anyone's decision to eat whatever they like. I cook ribs and steaks on the grill and they smell OK (I have eaten them in the past) but I stick to eating anything other than mammals. I feel these animals have a degree of intelligence (yes, even cows) and it seems a little absurd that we raise and slaughter them. Why not dogs, cats, manatees...? I know all of these have been eaten in the past and probably still are but hey... let's farm them.

Wow, what a dump from Dyflam.
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  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Alvin Meister @ Nov. 29 2005,2:48)]I'm a veggie!

Keeping CPs has nothing to do with vegetarianism. You wouldn't move all the spiders out of your garden because they kill flies. In the same way, you wouldn't your cat locked indoors and feed it vegetarian food.
Some people do, you know: http://www.vegancats.com/
 
  • #15
I keep my cats indoors...they don't belong outside. Ever. But they definitely aren't vegetarians..it is impossible for cats to get proper nutrition from a vegetarian diet.
 
  • #16
Dyflam, i see the point your trying to make. actually other than varmits i eat what ever i hunt. i want to hunt mountain lions iin the next few years. and the Montana Fish and Game claim mountain lion meat is fit for human consumption(as is black bear) and all meat must be taken. my brother says its some of the best meat hes had. i guess i just see things differently cause alot of my family raise cattle.
 
  • #17
Rattler's diverse taste in meat reminds me of a story - a guy was in court, charged with killing and eating an endangered spotted owl.  The judge asked him how did he plead and the man said, "Guilty, your honor."  The judge said he appreciated the man's honesty and, before sentencing him, he had a question, "What does spotted owl taste like?"  The man answered, "Kind of like bald eagle."
 
  • #18
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Good one!

I eat meat but I'm rather picky about it. I don't like handling raw meat and do it as little of that as possible. All meats must be well done! And a lot of meat I just can't or won't eat (veal). I love veggies. If I had to kill my own meat, I'd definitely be a vegetarian. I couldn't do that.

Human beings are omnivores and so by nature eat meat and plants. Being vegetarian is cool but its going against what is natural for our species. Then again, human beings can think and reason and therefore do a lot of things that aren't "natural." Which is a usually a good thing.
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  • #19
The pre-modern diet of some Inuit (eskimoes) was 98% meat and Jains are 100% vegetarian.  So there's nothing unnatural about a diet at either extreme or somewhere in between.

I think the all-meat diet is trickier unless you eat walrus livers and and other delicacies rich in vitamins otherwise lacking in a meat diet.  I think Jains can have dairy products, but not eggs.  The idea being that nothing is being killed.  Of course having dairy means calves are being born and, unless they become veal in the short term or beef in the long term, a dairy-consuming society will soon be submerged in cattle.
 
  • #20
I'm mostly vegan (nothing can beat actual cheese on pizza) and I don't have a problem with my hobby- a lot of people think it's funny, but it doesn't "bug" me at all
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