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9/2/2010 10:38:47 AM
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topic:
Wisdom of the Ancients and the Indigenous
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
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Speaking of horrible diseases, a number of cultures seemed to have had a way to protect against smallpox, hopefully, known as variolation. According to this site:
The fall of smallpox began with the realization that survivors of the disease were immune for the rest of their lives. This led to the practice of variolation - a process of exposing a healthy person to infected material from a person with smallpox in the hopes of producing a mild disease that provided immunity from further infection. The first written account of variolation describes a Buddhist nun practicing around 1022 to 1063 AD. She would grind up scabs taken from a person infected with smallpox into a powder, and then blow it into the nostrils of a non-immune person. By the 1700's, this method of variolation was common practice in China, India, and Turkey. In the late 1700's European physicians used this and other methods of variolation, but reported "devastating" results in some cases. Overall, 2% to 3% of people who were variolated died of smallpox, but this practice decreased the total number of smallpox fatalities by 10-fold.
I also remember reading about an African variation on this theme. In that area -- I can't remember the exact area off the top of my head -- the blacksmith was a kind of holy man with much of the shaman about him. The blacksmith would take a spear point and rub it in an oozing smallpox sore. The blacksmith would then heat the spear point up which seems to have killed or weakened the smallpox. Then he'd stab the one who was trying to get immunity to smallpox with the spear point. Hopefully, immunity would be conferred....
edited by Byron Bailey on 9/2/2010
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9/2/2010 10:36:13 AM
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topic:
The future City of New Jerusalem
T Radigan
Posts 902
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I actually toured this house years ago with my mother deacdes ago when it was newly built:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11950
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9/2/2010 10:24:05 AM
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topic:
Fasting
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
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Some people may be inclined to fast for weeks if not months after reading the "Let the Feast Begin" thread.
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9/2/2010 10:19:14 AM
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topic:
Fasting
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
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Mormons have the tradition of Fast Sunday which I never much cared for as a kid.
Some traditions also claim to have the ability to live without eating, subsisting on prana or sunlight. I'm thinking that for the most part, these folk might have better results when scientists find a way to replace melanin in the human body with chlorophyll.
A lot of the fasting I've seen now is for medical reasons, either a test that requires fasting or a scheduled operation.
I've also been known to fast occasionaly, but it's usually because I don't have food.
edited by Byron Bailey on 9/2/2010
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9/2/2010 9:52:31 AM
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topic:
Let the Feast Begin
Byron Bailey
Posts 3582
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Bearded dragon looks might tasty, certainly tastier than humped conch.
I'm not as sure on raisins/dried-fruits, but maybe it feels "unnatural" somehow.
The natural thing to do with grapes is to make wine out of them. In that light, you can't get more savagely unnatural than drying them. Speaking of dried fruit, someone gave me about five pounds of blueberries that were starting to turn bad. Maybe it's because of my unholy Lovecraftian influence or perhaps it's just a byproduct of reading too much Egyptology, but rather than letting the poor berries properly ferment as God/Cthulhu/Ra intended, I stuck them in my food dehydrator and mummified them. They now look like some kind of animal droppings only without the flavor.
edited by Byron Bailey on 9/2/2010
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9/2/2010 9:45:19 AM
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topic:
The future City of New Jerusalem
Jerry
Posts 121
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A cube that big would have to be built in space. Furlongs? Aren't they creatures from Stargate SG1? Biblical measurements would be cubits, wouldn't they?
--Jerry
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9/2/2010 9:17:36 AM
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topic:
Hatari !
6 of 1
Posts 299
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Seems like the music was a hit. I think it was Baby Elephant Walk, Mancini wrote it if I remember right. Seems like Shelly Manne was connected in some way.
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9/2/2010 8:57:42 AM
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topic:
Lee: Torhec the sculptor (Oct.-Nov./10)
Thinfea
Posts 79
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I saw another aspect to the art Aamon purchased from Torhec. The check was not the only , perhaps not the primary object that was created then destroyed, in fact Torhec had not created the check Aamon had. What was destroyed in the end, what was demonstrated was even Aamon's image of himself, his "word" that he ALWAYS kept, could not last. Nothing last including our own ideas of who we are.
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9/2/2010 7:58:56 AM
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topic:
Rusch: Becoming one with the ghosts (Sept.-Oct./10
Thinfea
Posts 79
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I just finished reading this story and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the perspective of the story, the captain from the deep past as the narrator into a familiar setting (for the reader).
Speaking of the Trek winks I laughed a bit at the 'away team' selection process. In Trek it would've been Captain and most highly valued crew rushing out, she did the exact opposite in this story using what seemed to me a much more reasonable process and covered the process in enough detail to make me think it was a deliberate if affectionate poke at Trek.
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9/2/2010 7:26:04 AM
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topic:
Fasting
jimbraiden
Posts 2680
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Kevin,
You’ll burn in hell for that one.
Thomas,
I did a sponsored fast for charity years ago- 4 days.
First two as I recall were the worst.
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9/2/2010 6:50:41 AM
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topic:
Fasting
Kevin C.
Posts 1686
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Thomas R wrote:
Note: I'm doing this as I've been relatively absent for awhile.
So . . . this post is sort of a break-fast? 
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9/2/2010 6:43:55 AM
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topic:
Global Warming Revelations.
jimbraiden
Posts 2680
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Gunman: crazy.
No doubt and given that he seems to have spent all his time reading Al Gore not a surprise
East Anglia scientists: innocent.
No- as clearly proven by the Climategate emails.
And if further proof were needed one has only to look at the laughable "investigations" which claimed to clear them.
IPCC: Gold standard for AGW science.
Totally discredited and proven corrupt- see various posts in this thread, not one of which Jeff has ever refuted.
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9/2/2010 6:37:30 AM
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topic:
Fasting
Thomas R
Posts 3572
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As we had a thread on feasting here's one on fasting. After all it is Ramadan, isn't it?
That statement aside I'm going to try not to make it specifically religious. There are other reasons for fasting. Some consider periodic fasting to be healthy. Also some medical procedures require you to fast or do a "water fast." (No food or liquid except water) Although religion does play a role for many people's fasting. The Coptic are among the most "fast observing" religions as they practice some kind of fast for 210 days, or more, a year. Still hopefully this won't get moved to RP.
Note: I'm doing this as I've been relatively absent for awhile.
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9/2/2010 6:31:18 AM
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topic:
Let the Feast Begin
Thomas R
Posts 3572
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Byron Bailey wrote:
Actually I think these make sense. I think the majority of the world's people are lactose intolerant. In fact some have indicated we should maybe call "Lactose tolerance" the oddity and drop the term "lactose intolerant" as it's the more normal state. Many kinds of mushrooms are poisonous so I think a certain aversion might have been useful. I'm not as sure on raisins/dried-fruits, but maybe it feels "unnatural" somehow.
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9/2/2010 6:31:17 AM
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topic:
Global Warming Revelations.
Jeffhaas
Posts 2450
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Gunman: crazy.
East Anglia scientists: innocent.
IPCC: Gold standard for AGW science.
edited by Jeffhaas on 9/2/2010
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9/2/2010 6:24:47 AM
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topic:
Enter Sandman?
Thomas R
Posts 3572
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I'm actually not a Metallica fan, far from it, so this is about Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series. I never read it, but two of my siblings liked it and it might be set to appear as a TV series. Was it any good? Do you think it will work on TV?
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9/2/2010 6:23:53 AM
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topic:
ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE
StevenLP
Posts 683
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I read Miller's "Sand of Time" last night: an enjoyable ER Burroughs-like romp - a bit like R Garcia Robertson, but without the sex - time traveller goes back to the age of the dinosaurs, there's a beautiful alien princess and a war between two alien races (one black, one white).
Also re-read Lewis Padgett's "The Proud Robot" - very silly (but intentionally so) - the star is the vain robot, but there's also an idea that may have been ahead of its time: to stop the showing of pirated TV shows in cinemas the inventor (Gallagher) devises a system where ultrasonic sound is broadcast with the show - in the home environment where the TV show is watched the volume is too low for the ultrasounds to have an effect, but with the broadcasts in the cinemas the volume has to be high and the ultrasound panics the audience. This sort of echoes the attempts to halt cassette and video copying by having an additional element to the product which meant that dis not effect the playing but screwed up the recording.
I read Heinlein's "Requiem" a few weeks back: OK, but not to my taste (though a reminder that people have being bemoaning the nanny state for decades).
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9/2/2010 6:14:51 AM
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topic:
Wisdom of the Ancients and the Indigenous
Thomas R
Posts 3572
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StevenLP wrote:
mmmm .... anthrax beer
All the kids are dying for it.
Did I mention I only slept 5 hours last night?
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9/2/2010 6:03:50 AM
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topic:
Wisdom of the Ancients and the Indigenous
StevenLP
Posts 683
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mmmm .... anthrax beer
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9/2/2010 6:02:34 AM
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topic:
Jack Vance Turns 94
StevenLP
Posts 683
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The Cthulhu Kid wrote:
Well, Wodehouse is a god to many of us!
How many tentacles does he have?
444, plus a huge beak to tear apart those it feels unworthy (which is pretty much everything biological) and an immense eye whose glance dessicates the soul
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