posted July 02, 2005 06:55 PM              

As you know. The ecucation level is high

posted July 02, 2005 07:43 PM              

Magus ~ have you ever run into Jwhop on one of his rare forays into any of the other LL forums? He's usually quite a different person. I have it on good authority, from someone who has spoken to him outside LL, that he is actually a nice guy.

posted July 03, 2005 03:12 PM              

Great a typo. Now I am dumb and have no education.

oh please Johnny. Try harder next time. and quit licking jwhops a**.

posted July 03, 2005 09:06 PM              

Everyone reading this-- perhaps we shouldnt resort to using peaples typos or lack of proper spelling here to discredit them from the discusion or the masterdebation just because thats all we can think of to cast a stone on em about ?

posted July 03, 2005 09:12 PM            

What are you talking about TINK? I'd deny that as character assassination; besides everyone knows there isn't anything outside of LL. The outside world is just an illusion.

Oh, and thanks for the other kind words TINK, I appreciate it.

posted July 03, 2005 09:16 PM              

quote:

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So tell me, how did the Mother Superior react when you called her a bit*ch?

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She wasn't a b*tch. Now if she was. I would have called her one.

Oh and I am only 23. So it couldn't have been 50 years ago. You might be confusing yourself with me. You're the only old fart around here.

posted July 03, 2005 10:11 PM            

How do I get to be a WASP??

posted July 03, 2005 11:13 PM            

Please assure me you aren't planning to attend a university. No sense in destroying the education system in America completely.

posted July 04, 2005 02:35 PM            

Yes, I know "we all make typos." Must you be so patronizing? Besides, I wasn't smirking about AM's typo itself so much as the (small) irony of where her typo happened to pop up.

"Yes, as you know I have a good ecucation!"

Isn't that just a tad funny?

C'mon, Tink, she doesn't need you to stick up for her. If she is angry, she'll have no problem calling me a b*tch (another typo, I might add!) and then telling me I lick jwhop's a**.

And, by the way, =p isn't a typo. If I had wanted to type the little LL code for I would have.

posted July 04, 2005 04:50 PM            

quote:

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If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. ~James Herriot

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I don't doubt that at least some animals have human emotions, but to say that they are better off than us kind of implicates that humans aren't very well off, doesn't it? It would be silly to agree with that. There are plenty of animals as vicious or more vicious than humans. There are also plenty of animals that don't display any real emotion, only the instinct to survive. What about plants? I suppose they're better off than us as well.

Between animals, humans and plants, which has served the others the most? Probably plants. Then humans. Then animals.

posted July 04, 2005 05:19 PM              

AG ~ why do we label love, loyalty and gratitude human emotions?

"there are also plenty of animals that don't display any real emotion, only the instinct to survive"

I can think of a few humans who might also fit that bill.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a wishy-washy, new age nut. I acknowledge the general superiority of humans and I've no desire to return to an elemental state. We are certainly on a higher evolutionary plane, physically and spiritually. They do not ride our karmic wheel. Their pain has no purpose (at least for them). In that sense, animals deserve our pity, I think. But the fact remains, because of that very same spiritual make-up, they are very often more in tune with the universe. (ugly phrase. sorry.) I think that's what Mr Herriot is getting at. Also, bear in mind that he didn't claim that animals were inherently better, just that they were better off. Really big difference.

It's such a rich topic. Thanks for pointing it out.

posted July 04, 2005 05:39 PM            

quote:

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Between animals, humans and plants, which has served the others the most? Probably plants. Then humans. Then animals.

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What about the animals who have been used to plough fields, for transportation, or for FOOD? The lions jwhop posted about, who protected the little girl from the men who were beating and raping her? The elephants who rescued people in the tsunami? (and the dogs who helped search ~ I have an article somewhere of elephants and dogs working together after the tsunami). Guide dogs for the blind, those who visit people in the hospital or homes for the elderly? Search and rescue dogs, those who sniff for drugs and bombs... animals have been known to help the owners to be healthier, whether it's getting them out for exercise, or lowering blood pressure; mostly the fact that they can be so loving and comforting.

quote:

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The Beauty in the Beast

From the chaos of the Tsunami disaster comes an incredible tale from Jim France of the Pavilion Hotel Group in Bangkok:

At a resort on Phuket, one of the most popular attractions was the elephant ride. As many as eight people would sit atop one elephant, who would escort the tourists into the surrounding forest, down to the beach, to lunch at a fresh water lagoon, and then back to the hotel. A team of nine elephants was kept chained to in-ground posts, not because they were dangerous, but because it made tourist mothers feel safer when their children fed the huge animals.

Twenty minutes before the first wave hit, the elephants became extremely agitated and unruly. Four had just returned from a tour and their handlers had not yet chained them. Suddenly the four helped their five peers tear free from their chains. Then they all climbed a hill and began to bellow; many people followed them up the hill. Then the waves began to crash. After the tsunami subsided, the elephants charged down from the hill and began to pick up children with their trunks. Once the kids were in place, the elephants ran them back up the hill to safety. When all the children were taken care of, they started helping the adults.

The elephants rescued 42 people. Not until the task was done would they allow their handlers to mount them. Then, with handlers atop, they began moving wreckage.

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quote:

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Dogs Search for Victims, Paying Back Thais
January 09, 2005 8:42 PM EST
KHO KHAO, Thailand - Thailand has turned to three members of a crack
military team to help recover from the tsunami disaster - Maklua, Makok and
Bua Daeng, a trio of bomb-sniffing dogs who once roamed the streets as
strays.
Nearly two years ago, King Bhumibol Adulyadej suggested there were better
uses for strays than rounding them up and killing them. He proposed that the
dogs be trained to detect bombs and drugs.
The monarch also inspired the idea to use the dogs to help with the rescue
effort after the titanic wave engulfed coastal areas, said Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.
"His Majesty advised that Thai dogs can work better in rough areas than
imported foreign dogs, so I ordered the army to deploy Thai dogs to help
search for dead bodies," Thaksin said.
There are several dozen former strays in military service, but Maklua, Makok
and Bua Daeng were the most immediately available for the search operation.
The dogs' small size and agility makes it easier for them than for humans to
sniff around in the nooks and crevices of debris and the tangle of mangrove
swamps.
Already highly disciplined, they still needed a crash course in sniffing out
human remains, so they were trained with pieces of rotting pork.
"The dogs will help recover bodies that humans could not immediately see
with their own eyes," said Capt. Phuthiphong Jaengsuk, chief of the army's
dog search unit.
Late last week, they were deployed to Kho Khao island, where 70 people were
killed and 300 remain missing from a population of just more than 1,000.
Thailand's overall death toll is almost 5,300 people, with more than 3,700
others missing.
Maklua, Makok and Bua Daeng take the lead as the trainers cling to their
leashes. It's a difficult task.
"There is a lot of broken glass, nails and a wet surface, making it
difficult for the dogs because it could hurt their feet," said Sgt. Samarn
Nangwong.
One day last week they had an elephant helping them.
"They seemed to have very good teamwork. The dogs sniffed for bodies and
then the elephant used its trunk to remove the debris and get the body out,"
the trainer said.
"Bua Daeng was frightened at first when he looked up and saw a giant
elephant standing nearby, but he later worked very well with the elephant,"
he said.
Some of their discoveries were false leads - a decaying fish or dead animal.
But the dogs proved their worth by discovering four bodies in two days - two
policemen, a man in his 40s and a little girl about 6 years old.
"These dogs are strong," said another trainer, Sgt. Thongsuk Sinchareon.
"These dogs have gone through a lot because they used to have difficult
lives, eating one day and then starving the next."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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