New here, but otherwise a seasoned interlocutor

Ferret_annica · Post by **Ferret_annica** » Mon May 10, 2010 12:42 pm

Just arrived the other day. Interesting place with quite the worldwide representation.

I have been kicked from nasty echo boxes like Jim Robinson's Free Republic, Goldi's Liberty Post; but post at Democratic Underground, the Daily KOS and other places.

Have my 15 post in, and I am ready for the HTML to be turned on. I know how to use it and don't spam, whoever might be listening who are the moderators. So hey Mods, please, you need not worry.

I first started posting and blogging in the mid 1990s. I started at the Well, and Time Magazine's Time dot com/ politics.

I am a political activist in real life, and have been a 'usual suspect' locally here in Eugene, Oregon for a long time.

I do forest defense, am interested in the protection of dolphins and whales, and do this sort of posting for amusement and because it dovetails into my real time passions.

Nice to meet all of you. And worry not if you post regarding politics and are conservative, I'll try to be gentle with you; of course don't blame me if I don't. Old habits are hard to break.

along-for-the-ride · Post by **along-for-the-ride** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:03 pm

Hello annica! Enjoy your visits with us.

Here's a welcome mat for you.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon May 10, 2010 1:25 pm

Could make life interesting - welcome into the Garden

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Mon May 10, 2010 3:28 pm

Welcome!

Ferret_annica · Post by **Ferret_annica** » Mon May 10, 2010 9:36 pm

along-for-the-ride;1309180 wrote: Hello annica! Enjoy your visits with us.

Here's a welcome mat for you.

That's darling, thank you. Delighted to meetcha. :-6

Ferret_annica · Post by **Ferret_annica** » Mon May 10, 2010 10:01 pm

Bryn Mawr;1309188 wrote: Could make life interesting - welcome into the Garden

Thankies. Lovely place here. I am tired of many of todays political forms that lack ambiance and charm.

All too often they get staid and have no savior faire to them. Nice to meet you, and I have been known to make things interesting.

I have done allot of real life activism and spent time up in old growth trees and taken part in lock downs using black bears, which are locking devices. And have been arrested many times for trespassing and other fun little activist related bother the authorities games.

But in forum, naturally I have no cause not to be better behaved. :wah:

Jeff Luers, (Free) a good friend at Red Cloud Thunder, a sit which took place at the Clark timber sale at Fall Creek Oregon.

User:Salix alba/Tree Village - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ferret_annica · Post by **Ferret_annica** » Mon May 10, 2010 10:11 pm

Odie;1309231 wrote: Welcome!

Likewise. Nice to meet you, have already enjoyed reading you.

Post by **spot** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:37 am

Ferret_annica;1309178 wrote: Interesting place with quite the worldwide representation.I take a while to reach consciousness in the morning, I thought that said "worldwide reputation" for a minute or two. We've been badly behaved, admittedly, but even so.

I do forest defense, am interested in the protection of dolphins and whalesAre you up for commercial harvesting and putting them back on the menu, once they reach plague proportions the way seals have? It's a biological inevitability that any population with no predation and unlimited food resources will destroy their environment, eating them in moderation seems kinder.

Oh... welcome to ForumGarden. I hope you have fun here.

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue May 11, 2010 4:54 am

Welcome to Forum Garden and all it's different members ! Saving the trees is a must. Without trees, like without water, we will die out ! Seems straight forward enough to me, but then I'm not blind like most of the greedy, money-grabbing ignorants that purport to run the countries of the world !

Post by **spot** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:09 am

G#Gill;1309340 wrote: Without trees, like without water, we will die out ! Seems straight forward enough to me, but then I'm not blind like most of the greedy, money-grabbing ignorants that purport to run the countries of the world !On a technical note, trees evolved around the same time as the dinosaurs in the Triassic. There was plenty of complex animal life around before trees turned up on the scene. I'm sure there are potential natural solutions to your environmental concerns which don't rely on trees surviving.

Back to the welcome thread...

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:12 am

If you say so, spot !

I could mention the causing of deserts by such massive deforestation, and what good is all that to living creatures (except of course desert dwellers!) ?

Post by **spot** » Tue May 11, 2010 5:25 am

G#Gill;1309343 wrote: If you say so, spot !

I could mention the causing of deserts by such massive deforestation, and what good is all that to living creatures (except of course desert dwellers!) ?

I apologize for a kneejerk post triggered by the sight of "we will all die out", my instant reaction to which was what nonsense, all you mean is you like trees. A welcome thread for a committed environment activist is not, on reflection, the right place to have said it.

Ferret_annica · Post by **Ferret_annica** » Tue May 11, 2010 7:46 am

spot;1309328 wrote: I take a while to reach consciousness in the morning, I thought that said "worldwide reputation" for a minute or two. We've been badly behaved, admittedly, but even so.

Are you up for commercial harvesting and putting them back on the menu, once they reach plague proportions the way seals have? It's a biological inevitability that any population with no predation and unlimited food resources will destroy their environment, eating them in moderation seems kinder.

Oh... welcome to ForumGarden. I hope you have fun here.

Whales and dolphins are mammals as or more intelligent as humans. I am a student of John Lilly, and he has proven to me that they have culture and language, and unfortunately as we humans are arrogant and too specio-centric for our own good, we are the weak links in communication and respecting the rights and value of live not of our own SPECIES.

So in other words, when humans become Soylent Green for real, then yes, let's eat other species that are our peers.

Thanks so much for the welcome, and oh yes; Earth First!

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:51 am

Ferret_annica;1309178 wrote: Have my 15 post in, and I am ready for the HTML to be turned on.

Urgh. I do not think that it is necessary to have animated whatsits, huge HTML-ised SIGS and other outrages when putting across one's point of view.

I hope you do well here.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:05 am

Welcome, Ferret!

(Saint bows)

Did you say you were Locutus? Isn't that a Borg?:wah: Just kidding!

I'm the board science fiction writer and general good-time Charley.

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:18 am

I keep reading it as inoculator, I'm worried she is going to stick me with a needle.

Oh by the way, welcome well salted interlocutor...

kazalala · Post by **kazalala** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:23 am

welcome!!! I like trees:D

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:38 am

I'm mainly on the Save the Broccoli kick right now.

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Tue May 11, 2010 9:49 am

Well-come...

I like these:

We have one thing in common..........Feeling Mr. Robinson's jack boot.......

I was booted about 4 years ago for pointing out what a turncoat a Utah congressman (Rob Bishop) was on his boarder control stand (or lack of it).

Yes quite a collection here, I post in spurts and may not return for a month or more depending on what is going on in my life...

Post by **spot** » Wed May 12, 2010 4:56 am

Ferret_annica;1309395 wrote: Whales and dolphins are mammals as or more intelligent as humans. I am a student of John Lilly, and he has proven to me that they have culture and language, and unfortunately as we humans are arrogant and too specio-centric for our own good, we are the weak links in communication and respecting the rights and value of live not of our own SPECIES.

So in other words, when humans become Soylent Green for real, then yes, let's eat other species that are our peers.

I have a number of problems with this approach. As Professor Joad was so fond of saying, it all depends on what you mean by intelligence. Just defining a measure appropriate to the concept in people is difficult enough. Cultural baggage gets in the way. A culture-free index has never yet been agreed. Finding a species-free approach strikes me as far harder.

If you get a bunch of people in a room and you want to differentiate them on the basis of intelligence then most of us would agree with the order produced by the available tests but even at that point, what is it you've measured? It's certainly not any indication of worth. There's no indication of social empathy, for example. There's no hint of determination or sociability. Any of those might be better indicators of value than intelligence.

For decades, behaviorists have warned researchers to avoid anthropomorphism if they want to retain professional respect. Given the extent to which all mammals, for example, are distinct more in the expression of a host of common genes rather than possession of unique genetic variability, equating some behavior in human terms doesn't seem unreasonable. I've yet to see a mammal species that doesn't engage in play. Projecting the human concept of having fun onto those situations seems legitimate.

If you dilute any test for intelligence to the point where you can apply it to another species then it's no longer testing for intelligence. It might be testing for an ability to problem-solve, or to communicate information, but it's not going to distinguish between job applicants or filter juveniles into appropriate schools. There's a commonality between all mammals which brings them all far closer than listing their differences does. What all of them perform in common is a larger set than what some of them can be distinguished by. Given which, eating cows and pigs and sheep on the basis of ownership is a greater wrong in the first place than eating whale and dolphin too. They all had mothers who loved them.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Wed May 12, 2010 9:26 am

Well, I blame the dolphins themselves for their predicament. They decided to go back into the ocean after the Devonian Era, so it's their own damn fault they ended up with no opposable thumbs and no way to build a technological civilization.

mikeinie · Post by **mikeinie** » Wed May 12, 2010 9:37 am

Greetings from Ireland and welcome :yh_shamrk

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Thu May 13, 2010 3:29 pm

Hey Ferret,

Welcome to our Garden. Your posts are very interesting, and you seem like a 'good egg' who is a welcomed addition to our group.

Hope you stick around and post some lively threads....Don't get banned, OK:wah:

I took a quick drive through Oregon on my way from California to Washington. Wish I could have stopped...beautiful state you have there;)

PS.....I absolutely love, and I'm a bit obsessed with, dolphins and whales.

Post by **spot** » Thu May 13, 2010 5:08 pm

Kathy Ellen;1309946 wrote: PS.....I absolutely love, and I'm a bit obsessed with, dolphins and whales.With horseradish. It has to be with horseradish.

Royd Fissure · Post by **Royd Fissure** » Fri May 14, 2010 2:30 am

I suppose "wasabe" is a bad joke given the Japanese bulldust about "research" into cetaceans.

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Fri May 14, 2010 6:49 am

Ferret_annica;1309319 wrote: Likewise. Nice to meet you, have already enjoyed reading you.

don't read to much into it!:yh_rotfl

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Sun May 16, 2010 2:15 am

I do forest defense, am interested in the protection of dolphins and whales

spot;1309328 wrote:

Are you up for commercial harvesting and putting them back on the menu, once they reach plague proportions the way seals have?

Freaking Seals !