I came here to say this. Rabies is no joke—well it is because people die, and that's funny—but it's not because it's very deadly...and like you mentioned, once you see the symptoms it's too late. I didn't think rabies was that big of a deal until my girlfriend did a presentation on it for a nursing class. In less developed countries it is a big cause of death.>> ^UsesProzac:

Man, part of me as a parent would insist on killing that squirrel just to be sure. Better safe than sorry. By the time symptoms have started manifesting, it's too late. They've come a long way in the treatment of rabies, what with inducing a coma and all, but brain damage is almost a certainty.
And the treatment, all the shots in the abdomen, best avoided.
If a wild animal comes up to you like that, you should always be suspicious.

Good advice! And be extremely suspicious if the squirrel opens the trunk of his car and shows you these brand new set of $700 Bose speakers that he is selling for $100. Being an animal lover, I fell for the scam and found out the hard way that it's still illegal to buy stolen property even if you didn't know it was stolen. Luckily I didn't get into trouble (much anyway). And of course, hindsight is 20/20 so I should have asked myself how someone who lives in a tree would need a sound system to begin with.

Oh well.

>> ^UsesProzac:

Man, part of me as a parent would insist on killing that squirrel just to be sure. Better safe than sorry. By the time symptoms have started manifesting, it's too late. They've come a long way in the treatment of rabies, what with inducing a coma and all, but brain damage is almost a certainty.
And the treatment, all the shots in the abdomen, best avoided.
If a wild animal comes up to you like that, you should always be suspicious.

Man, part of me as a parent would insist on killing that squirrel just to be sure. Better safe than sorry. By the time symptoms have started manifesting, it's too late. They've come a long way in the treatment of rabies, what with inducing a coma and all, but brain damage is almost a certainty.

And the treatment, all the shots in the abdomen, best avoided.

If a wild animal comes up to you like that, you should always be suspicious.

*Doublethankyou and *thankyou
In reply to this comment by Hybrid:
*doublepromote *quality

Hahaha. So basically they need to find some beautiful coma victims and rig them up with puppet strings.

Its unreal. Either they seem to accept that their hate message is moronic, or they realise that celebs won't help them if they know they are being used. Unfuckingbelievable.

freedom of speech

but the moment he stepped outside he beaten into a coma by other cops.

Bored yeah, plus I've had people about run me down despite having flaggers, cones, and equipment parked in the roadway to keep people from running us over. You know they were close when they hit the handle of the tool you are working with.

And had a relative who works highway crew who got ran down by a car, broke his legs, brain bleed, had to be choppered to a specialized hospital to save him and deal with the damage done. Someone else got struck in the head by the side mirror on a semi truck who got too close, put them into a coma that led to their eventual death.

If possible embarrassment keeps them from running people over who have taken reasonable and sometimes extreme measures to block off the work zone......I support embarrassing the hell out of them. Sad thing is, driving into wet concrete will probably end up costing him more than running someone over with all that damage to his car and the state regulations on how streets must be built probably forcing them to throw out material he drove in.

>> ^transporter:

I feel your empathy towards wildlife, but if you lived near the Mississippi River you would understand. I don't know if you noticed but those sliver carp get pretty big and they jump out of the river when they hear a motor. So yeah, pretty much makes boating impossible, and there have been cases where people have been put in comas or worse from them. Not to mention they kill off all the native fish populations....and their next destination is the great lakes. So its tough to care about how it gets done --> these fish need to die. Slow, quick, I don't care, but they need to be culled big time.
The Mississippi is fucked up and the entire ecosystem of the great lakes is in jeopardy. This is a cause that unites sport fishermen (billion dollar industry in great lakes) and environmentalists alike. Although these guys aren't going to spokesperson for PETA anytime soon, the carp isn't exactly a higher life form. The farming industry does much worse to higher functioning animals. I think here the ends justify the means.
Anyhow, I thought this was hilarious.>> ^artician:
I'm not exactly an animal rights person, but I was a little miffed at the fact that they basically just maim the majority of the fish they hit.
Early in the video the guy with the machete even cuts a fin off of one. You know that fish lived, and it kind of sucks to think about.
For me...
Again, not an animal rights person, (maybe I am and don't know it?) but this is a good example of humans just fucking up their world and the species they share it with for fun.



Hah! Not a perspective I had previously thought of. Thanks for shedding some light on it for me!

I feel your empathy towards wildlife, but if you lived near the Mississippi River you would understand. I don't know if you noticed but those sliver carp get pretty big and they jump out of the river when they hear a motor. So yeah, pretty much makes boating impossible, and there have been cases where people have been put in comas or worse from them. Not to mention they kill off all the native fish populations....and their next destination is the great lakes. So its tough to care about how it gets done --> these fish need to die. Slow, quick, I don't care, but they need to be culled big time.

The Mississippi is fucked up and the entire ecosystem of the great lakes is in jeopardy. This is a cause that unites sport fishermen (billion dollar industry in great lakes) and environmentalists alike. Although these guys aren't going to spokesperson for PETA anytime soon, the carp isn't exactly a higher life form. The farming industry does much worse to higher functioning animals. I think here the ends justify the means.

Anyhow, I thought this was hilarious.>> ^artician:

I'm not exactly an animal rights person, but I was a little miffed at the fact that they basically just maim the majority of the fish they hit.
Early in the video the guy with the machete even cuts a fin off of one. You know that fish lived, and it kind of sucks to think about.
For me...
Again, not an animal rights person, (maybe I am and don't know it?) but this is a good example of humans just fucking up their world and the species they share it with for fun.

>> ^speechless:

Shit people who are sick of this so called meme say:
"Please slip peacefully into a coma and shut the fuck up."


when was the last jack ass nyan cat. It will die if you ignore it. Or downvote it !

Shit people who are sick of this so called meme say:
"Please slip peacefully into a coma and shut the fuck up."

Why is everyone so scared by consideration of the real question, when does life begin?


First off, I agree it's clear there's value to this question. I think a logical, utilitarian ethical calculus has to rely on some definition of a "live human" and a "future live human" (not "could be" but "will be"). I think, going by a materialist view, this definition of life has to itself be based on some definition of "being human" involving capacity for thought or reason. And I think it also can't rationally be binary (not live human/live human); there has to be weighting (almost dead guy, 12 week-old fetus, guy in coma, etc... should probably all be partially weighted).

But humans aren't rational utilitarians when it comes to ethics. We're superstitious. We're habituated to rely on deontology. We value aesthetics.

And that's why debates like this take place is terms of analogies and emotions. And that's why, I think, you aren't putting down your simple answer for "when does life begin" - because we understand that having a single answer gets a whole deontological train moving. If we take any single answer there as a premise, we're driven to accept other answers we don't like, so instead it's arguing in the margins and specific cases.

It's a deadlock inherent in our irrationally based ethical system. Sorry.

I like what Sylvester said about not putting in the stuffing, and using a meat thermometer. Personally, I put the thermometer right in the breast meat, and pull it out somewhere between 161-165 F (72-74 C). And then let it rest. Just like a good steak, don't you dare cut into that juicy sucker until it has sat for at least 15-20 minutes or else all your moisture will just pour out all over your cutting board instead of being absorbed back into the meat.

BUT, the real secret, is to brine your turkey. Check out this recipe by food scientist Alton Brown: Good Eats Roast Turkey Recipe. There's a reason it has 3,750+ reviews and a 5-star rating. Only instead of a 5-Gallon bucket, I just use a brining bag and put it in the bottom drawer of the fridge. Do make sure it's fully submerged. A brine promotes osmosis, which lets your flavorful bath soak through the meat. It's SCIENCE!

The only reason I don't eat turkey more often is because it's just me and my lady here and a weeks worth of food comas would be counter-productive.

All religions are at their heart rotten. They are anti-thought. A form of intellectual coma. All of them.

I havent watched this video, but it seems a little rude to say that Bachman is in a coma.