Comments Tai Haku has made

  • they've already seen it

    It was mentioned proudly in the flickr group's discussion area.On The Encyclopedia of Life keeps plugging along posted 1 year ago 5 Responses

  • agreed.

    I totally agree. I've submitted a big chunk of my caribbean and indopacific photo archives through the flickr group but at the moment each image is going to attach to a species page without a lot of data. Whilst having a library of clearly correctly identified images of a lot of species would of itself be vastly useful the project could be so much more.

    I would suggest a comnbination approach. Each species page could have brief scientific details editable and approvable only by the relevant scientist curator and then a wiki type editable section to which all can add further detail. For some species, like many birds, this would obviously be rapidly expandable
    (see for example the birdforum opus).
    On The Encyclopedia of Life keeps plugging along posted 1 year, 1 month ago 5 Responses

  • Bad science VasuMurti

    VasuMurti - I need to take you up on some of the stated points and quotes in your comment:
    First you lump us with chimps, gorillas and other primates as frugivores based on anatomy. A) Gorillas have proportionally more massive intestinal tracts than us (hence that big pot belly) and B) Chimps are skilled and efficient hunters that work together frequently to kill small primates for food and hence are also omnivores.

    Then you compare human anatomy to that of pure carnivores which is a rather unfair comparative standard. The other widespread mammalian omnivores in the world are the pigs so they would be a fairer comparison and guess what pig anatomy is very similar to humans.

    The murderous ape australopithecine reference  is I believe a reference to the now discredited bloody ape theory which suggested australopithecines were often canabilistic killers (based incorrectly on what turned out to be evidence on a number of fossils of leopard predation).

    I have no problem with the vegetarian lifestyle at all - my fiancee is one and I've cut most of the meat from my diet - just don't misrepresent the science

    My tip for those trying and struggling with an environmentalism-based switch to vegetarianism would be to allow yourself the odd-bit of eco-friendly meat (eg pasture raised cattle or locally reared chicken).On Umbra on shifting to vegetarianism posted 1 year, 1 month ago 19 Responses

  • what latenac said...

    I agree with entirely. On Food Network star Alton Brown adds a pinch of sustainability to the pot posted 1 year, 5 months ago 27 Responses

  • not really John

    its really not an 800lb gorilla unless you're a vegan. We all get the reduce meat thing but embracing a vegan diet would make a candidate in the US as electable as if he were a publicly announced atheist which is to say not at all.On Ragin' Cajun for Gore posted 1 year, 5 months ago 9 Responses

  • cause of extinctions

    Actually Wolverine its a bit of both. As I understand it the Maori knocked off a lot of the big flightless stuff themselves wiht overhunting.

    http://nzbirds.com/birds/moa.html

    Feral mammals - pigs, rats, stoats, cats etc which came over with both arrivals have also done massive amounts of damage along with the other usual suspects.On New Zealanders seek to save endangered kiwi bird posted 1 year, 11 months ago 2 Responses

  • benefit

    well if you think solely in terms of immediate benefit to mankind then I'm guessing a lot of ecological concerns are gonna drop off your list....but as I said before is allowing a cat to eat/kill a load of other stuff really the best way to deal with the vermin issue?On Umbra on cats and birds posted 2 years ago 72 Responses

  • Overall, cats surely are more helpful than not

    Tony

    1. How can you prove the numbers are excessive if they are, according to you, by their nature unproveable? The estimates quoted from the various surveys are estimates and are stated to be so but there have been a number of these survey driven estimates around from various locations and they all produce frankly staggering results.
    2. I'm glad your cat only kills the animals you find "annoying". Unfortunately a)"annoying" isn't an ecological concept and b) how do you know your cat isn't wolfing down any number of smaller "non-annoying" prey items without your knowledge?
    3. This isn't nature. Unlike the hawks and owls you refer to the domestic cat is not a species naturally found in North America (or for that matter those parts of Europe and Australasia where it is proving equally devastating) and as a result species it preys upon there are ill-equipped to avoid it as a predator hence its devastating efficiency and the numbers chalked up above.
    4)Plenty of people stick up for feral cats (unfortunately)- here's an example of the issues caused: http://birdchaser.blogspot.com/2007/10/boycott-cape-may.h ...

    So to sum up not absurd, not at all.
    On Umbra on cats and birds posted 2 years ago 72 Responses

  • not just mice no.

    "Small mammals means mice, right?"

    Yep mice, pocket mice, jumping mice and of course all the various voles, chipmunks, gophers, squirrels, flying squirrels moles, rabbits, prairie dogs and shrews Americans are lucky to have spread across their continent. Then of course there is the reptile and amphibian prey they take (a lot of it beneficial in control of undesirable insects and excess rodents).

    If you have a mouse problem unleashing a cat to hunt all wildlife it can lay its claws on is really not a great answer for the cat, your mouse problem or the rest of your neighbouring wildlife.On Umbra on cats and birds posted 2 years ago 72 Responses

  • Yep

     "wouldn't normally say this, but maybe what Gristers should be concentrating on is making the US (and Canada and Mexico) more British."

    or french or italian. As usual big agriculture is the issue here, funded by the US taxpayer courtesy of their elected representatives.

    The Ethicurian is an excellent source on this as, as has already been pointed out, is Michael PollanOn On PETA's latest campaign posted 2 years, 2 months ago 256 Responses

  • Shades of grey

    the real issue I have with this whole Brouhaha is the lack of middle ground people are showing. I'm currently trying to eat less meat (for environmental-only grounds; I have no issue with the humaneness of culture of what meat I do eat) but am unwilling at this time to go, if you'll pardon the pun, cold turkey.

    It seems to me however many of the environmental issues raised could usefully be addressed by taking a hack at producing a US farm bill that assisted ethical and environmentally sound food production. Corn and Soy aren't environmentally sound industrial products as currently grown by most farmers whether they go into fuel, tofu, beef steers or chickens. I have a hard time believing farmers who produce pastured products using the sort of skill sets people like Joel Salatin are pioneering are environmentally damaging (I suspect these few examples are environmentally positive) so why not support them and reform the food system rather than setting up 2 absolutes of veganism and everyone else? I accept veganism may be the best option but most people aren't going to accept it so why not accept the shades of grey in global diet and work to make the grey green?On On PETA's latest campaign posted 2 years, 2 months ago 256 Responses