![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
Rob
PS
I enjoyed a rather tart little bug while out riding this afternoon. Enough of them might have made a nice sprinkle topping for vanilla ice cream.
Don't forget rats and cockroaches, which will also eat anything. Of course, we are similar to rats and cockroaches in many other ways, and either species is a likely candidate to fill our niche once we are gone.rstevenson wrote:Over the millenia there have been many attempts to explain what makes us so different from other animals on this planet, what key ingredient makes us human. Some have suggested opposable thumbs, some laughter, perhaps it's the ability to care about haute couture. But I think the thing that really sets us apart from all other animals -- with the possible exception of a starving hyena, and I'm not too sure about that -- is simply that we will eat anything. We don't even have to be hungry to do it; we'll do it for fun.
Soooooooo cute!!! Thanks!!
rstevenson wrote:
Over the millenia there have been many attempts to explain what makes us so different from other animals on this planet,
what key ingredient makes us human. Some have suggested opposable thumbs, some laughter, perhaps it's the ability to care about haute couture.
rstevenson wrote: But I think the thing that really sets us apart from all other animals -- with the possible exception of a starving hyena, and I'm not too sure about that -- is simply that we will eat anything. We don't even have to be hungry to do it; we'll do it for fun.
Chris Peterson wrote:Don't forget rats and cockroaches, which will also eat anything. Of course, we are similar to rats and cockroaches in many other ways, and either species is a likely candidate to fill our niche once we are gone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis wrote:<<The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It is often cited as one of the seminal works of short fiction of the 20th century and is widely studied in colleges and universities across the western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find that he has been transformed into a giant insect-like creature. Gregor briefly examines his new body, but wonders only momentarily about what has happened to him. Gregor smells food [and] realizes that his sister had brought him milk with bread in it. Gregor attempts to drink the milk, but finds that he is repulsed by the taste. Gregor notices that his father is not reading the paper to the family as he usually does and there is complete silence in the apartment. He wants someone to come in his room, but the doors are locked from the outside and no one will enter. Gregor climbs under the couch, where he feels more comfortable, and decides that he has to help his family through this difficult situation. Gregor's sister brings him a variety of foods in order to determine what he will eat. She throws away everything he does not finish, even if he has not touched it. Gregor hides under the couch to protect Grete from having to see him. Gregor discovers that he enjoys climbing the walls and the ceiling. Noticing this, his sister decides to give him more space by clearing the furniture from his room, and she asks her mother to help. Gregor's mother says that this will make it look like they are giving up on Gregor's recovery, but Grete disagrees. Hearing his mother's voice, Gregor realizes the importance of the furniture to him. The noise that the women make upsets him, and he decides to come out of hiding to save the framed picture on the wall from being taken. Seeing him, his mother faints and Grete runs out of the room for medicine to revive her with. Gregor follows and when his sister sees him she runs into his room and slams the door, trapping Gregor outside. His father arrives to find him out of his room and begins throwing apples at him. One of these lodges itself in Gregor's back, almost crippling him. As he loses consciousness, his mother begs her husband to spare her son's life.>>
Too late!Star*Hopper wrote:Question:
At some point, is this gonna turn strange?
If snails are prepared wrong, it could be digestive tract contents. Normally you shouldn't have anything like that in snails, though. In oysters, it is primarily the gonads and their contents.geckzilla wrote:The snails I've eaten actually remind me a lot of oysters (steamed) ... they both seem to have that sort of speckled brown / green stuff in them. Flesh? Organ meat? Stomach contents? Something else? What IS that stuff?
Gregor doesn't actually become a cockroach (apparently Kafka was adamant about that), but just some sort of disgusting, unclean, insect-like bug. The German word das Ungeziefer just means bug, although it carries a sense of grossness with it- perhaps as we might use vermin. So I guess any nasty bug you run across might be named Gregor, in case you're contemplating eating it. Or one of our cats may have done that; they are very good at crunching up (with emphasis on "crunch") things they catch skittering around.Ann wrote:So don't eat a cockroach, his name may be Gregor.
UNgeziEFER: Items of a disgusting nature, vermin (Vere man?)Chris Peterson wrote:
The German word das Ungeziefer just means bug,
although it carries a sense of grossness with it-
perhaps as we might use vermin.
Haha, well, I knew that it had to be something like that. I mean, you eat the entire body minus the shell and it has to think, reproduce, and poop somehow. For the snails I don't think there is anything wrong. They come in shells with a small hole broken in the apex of the shell. You then pick off the epiphragm and either use a toothpick or your mouth suck out the contents so I assume it's pretty much everything, poop and all. Well, the only way I've had it is the way the dim sum places prepare it, which I assume is Cantonese style, so I also assume is prepared "right" for their standards. Is there actually a way to get rid of the digestive tract? The dim sum snails are so small and numerous I really doubt they do much other than break tiny hole in the shell.Chris Peterson wrote:If snails are prepared wrong, it could be digestive tract contents. Normally you shouldn't have anything like that in snails, though. In oysters, it is primarily the gonads and their contents.geckzilla wrote:The snails I've eaten actually remind me a lot of oysters (steamed) ... they both seem to have that sort of speckled brown / green stuff in them. Flesh? Organ meat? Stomach contents? Something else? What IS that stuff?
Aren't you glad you asked? <g>
An oyster has no central nervous system at all, so you can be sure there's no thinking going on.geckzilla wrote:Haha, well, I knew that it had to be something like that. I mean, you eat the entire body minus the shell and it has to think, reproduce, and poop somehow.
As it happens, I had a professor in college who made a hobby of raising snails for food, and he served them at little parties and social events on campus. He'd take the snails from the vegetation he raised them on and put them in an aquarium with corn flour for a couple of days. This cleaned out their intestines. Then the snails went into a vat of salt water- lots of gross green bubbles and mucus get discharged. Then the snails go into boiling water, and they come out of the shells. They are ready for use in cooking now. There is also a method where the viscera are removed after the snails come out of the boiling water. So there should be no poop- either because they haven't been fed for a few days, or they've only eaten corn flour, or they've been gutted.For the snails I don't think there is anything wrong. They come in shells with a small hole broken in the apex of the shell. You then pick off the epiphragm and either use a toothpick or your mouth suck out the contents so I assume it's pretty much everything, poop and all.
Okay, I missed that when I made my first comment, and I don't want to go back and change it.(Before anyone nit picks my post, yeah, I used think incorrectly up there... I need a shorter way to mean it has some nervous tissue in there somewhere)
[list][list]King Lear Act 1, Scene 5 [/list]Chris Peterson wrote:An oyster has no central nervous system at all, so you can be sure there's no thinking going on.geckzilla wrote:
Haha, well, I knew that it had to be something like that.
I mean, you eat the entire body minus the shell and it has to think, reproduce, and poop somehow.
Ostracize, v. t. [Gr. ostrakon, a tile or potsherd used in voting,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bivalve#Nervous_system wrote:
<<The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified. The sedentary habit of the bivalves has led to the development of a simpler nervous system than in other molluscs; they have no brain. In all but the simplest forms the neural ganglia are united into two cerebropleural ganglia on either side of the oesophagus. The pedal ganglia, controlling the foot, are at its base, and the visceral ganglia (which can be quite large in swimming bivalves) under the posterior adductor muscle. These ganglia are both connected to the cerebropleural ganglia by nerve fibres. There may also be siphonal ganglia in bivalves with a long siphon.>>
And just how can you be so sure that's what they think with, hmm?Chris Peterson wrote:An oyster has no central nervous system at all, so you can be sure there's no thinking going on.geckzilla wrote:Haha, well, I knew that it had to be something like that. I mean, you eat the entire body minus the shell and it has to think, reproduce, and poop somehow.
King James Bible, Job 38:31-32:King Lear Act 1, Scene 5
Foole: Canst tell how an Oyster makes his shell.
Lear: No.
Foole: Nor I neither,
Do I want to know how you knew it was a "he"?owlice wrote:Bad thing #1: this is from last night's ride, which means he'd been in there for over 24 hours...
eWWWWWWWWW!!! Hope you haven't/aren't suffering any bad (#4) aftereffects.owlice wrote:Ewwww!!