Hey Laurel!

[Never]

Weeelll, there is vitamin E lubricant. Though I'm certain the thought of enjoying the bobtoad phenomenon is enough to make any girl so wet her panties will have to be wrung out.


While we're asking questions. Laurel, how can you tell the difference between a male and female tortoise? What about a turtle and a tortoise?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you hold me, and you love me, and your heartbeats.

[Edited by Never on 09-06-2000 at 08:28 PM]

 

[Bobtoad777]

Never,

i think i will stay with the fry jerk, if i make you women that wet and to think when i was walking in the mall women just had a bladder control problem when it was me all along, damn i wish someone had of told me this earlier. thanks anyways Never.

 

[Samuari]

Re: AH SHIT LAUREL.........

SIREN
____________________________________________________
~~~IF I KNEW YOU WERE COMING, I'D HAVE BAKED A CAKE~~~

P.S. Laws were meant to be broken. Psst...I know my way around the law Laurel.....dont make me beg, it aint a pretty sight. [/B]

I want to watch! Make her beg PLEASE!

 

[Samuari]

So, tell me what this Vitamin E you're masturbating with is in and I'll tell you if you should clean or not. In most cases, however, you should avoid putting liquid or solution into the vagina that isn't made to be put there..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words are meaningless, especially sentences. [/B][/QUOT
You can buy vitamen E in Soya oil at you freindly Wal-Mart pharmacy. I don't know how efficatious it is, but what a marketing tool! Buy Stock now!

 

[Laurel]

While we're asking questions. Laurel, how can you tell the difference between a male and female tortoise? What about a turtle and a tortoise?

Male tortoises are generally much smaller than their female counterparts. Their tails, however, are longer (and thicker, as Jade pointed out a while back).

A turtle lives in water. A tortoise lives on land. Then there are terrapins, which is a whole nuther story.

I've taken pics of their enclosure. Now, I'm trying to get really good pics of the torts eating and out & about. Once those are developed (gotta use film 'cause my digital doesn't have zoom like I need to get good action tort pics), I'll scan 'em and put 'em up here for all to enjoy.

I'm considering putting a cam in their area and hooking it up to a website so you guys could see how durn cute they are. Of course, torts spend 90% of their time resting, but when they're active, look out!

Any other questions?

 

[Never]

What's better with a salmon roast Laurel, a white or a light burgundy?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
I heard that when God shook the world all the nuts rolled down to California, it that true? (Yes, I'm a native Oregonian)
Did you have any nicknames you hated as a child?
Does Aspartame have any sexual side effects?
Do you like Starbuck's coffee? Coffee People?
Ever been to Burgerville? Ever have an onion burger?
What do they call California rolls in California?
What do they call French fries in France?

I seriously want to know all the answers to these questions..

 

[Earthmuffin]

Hey, Laurel

Got your e-mail at the same time I was trying to explain to a nearly 5 year old with sinustitis why whining and talking are two different things AND why no, she couldn't have an ice cream sandwich for lunch. Thanks lots for your reply!
*gee run on sentence from hell above*

 

[Guest]

Hi, Laurel - here's a fun thing to do in bed. Torment hungry spiders by tapping rhythmically and insistently on the wall so that they think there's a fly caught in a web. When they've just about reached your pounding digits, STOP! Begin tapping on the opposite wall. It drives them loopy.

Uhm... sorry, that wasn't really a question as such. Ok. Why is it that whenever I set my King Of The Hill alarm clock I always wake up a minute before it's due to go off?

(BTW, Never - not all elephants are big and grey. Some are small and grey.)

 

[Siren]

Um....Samuri.....

 

[Never]

I didn't say all elephants were, I just said the elephant was.
There's a difference.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Surfin' the web..

 

[Guest]

Thought I'd better just point it out to save any confusion.

 

[Laurel]

What's better with a salmon roast Laurel, a white or a light burgundy?
Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
I heard that when God shook the world all the nuts rolled down to California, it that true? (Yes, I'm a native Oregonian)
Did you have any nicknames you hated as a child?
Does Aspartame have any sexual side effects?
Do you like Starbuck's coffee? Coffee People?
Ever been to Burgerville? Ever have an onion burger?
What do they call California rolls in California?
What do they call French fries in France?

- I'd recommend a Pinot Gris, as it complements salmon very well.
- That's just a naming convention.
- Yes.
- "Stare Eyes"
- Not anything proven, and I highly doubt it.
- I like Frappucinos, but usually have them decaf. I love the taste of coffee, but I'm high strung so I don't drink coffee very often. I do drink a cup or two of green tea every morning. I recommend Lipton's Green Tea with Orange, Passionfruit, & Jasmine. Manu hates coffee.
- No. Are they good?
- California Rolls.
- Junk Food.

 

[Laurel]

Earthmuffin - run-on, but brilliant!

Roger - here's a question for YOU: can arachnids be driven crazy? Do they suffer from neuroses? Stress on the job? Go, research, and come back with an answer!

 

[Never]

Eh, must work Madonna into this thread.. Must work..

Hey, Laurel, what's your favorite Madonna song?

 

[Guest]

Madam...

Actually - studies have shown that "spiking" spiders with LSD makes them behave in an uncharacteristic and repetitive manner. They spin webs that have strange patterns and act illogically. During the "trip" they're probably suffering from drug-induced psychosis. Does that count?

Here's a genuine question, though. I'm wanting to register my friend, Paul, from my computer. The new system won't seem to let me do this because I'm already registered. Is there any way around this? (I know it could be done with the old system, which is how Rachel Picabia exists.)

 

[Laurel]

Roger - go to the front of the bulletin board and scroll down. You should see the words "log off" or "log out" or something to that effect. Click that, and that should clear your cookies and enable "Paul" or any of your other personalities ( ) to join in the fun.

Never - I dunno. She annoys me lately. She takes herself sooo seriously.

 

[Laurel]

Actually - studies have shown that "spiking" spiders with LSD makes them behave in an uncharacteristic and repetitive manner. They spin webs that have strange patterns and act illogically. During the "trip" they're probably suffering from drug-induced psychosis. Does that count?

I've heard that, but does that mean they have "minds" or does it mean merely that LSD affects their motor skills and coordination in such a way as to create such patterns?

That's something I've always wanted to know. Do animals have minds? In "more evolved" species, like porpoises and chimps and even dogs and cats, there's no question in my mind. All evidence moods, personalities, and can solve problems that require "higher level" thinking. But what about other creatures? I'm tempted to think that no, spiders do not have minds, but I'm afraid I'm basing my decision on my lack of understanding of spiders. Many would say that cats and dogs do not have minds, because they cannot speak and their behavior is so different from ours as to be incomprehensible. In the past, that's been said about "native" peoples from India to South Africa to the Americas - and for the same reasons. So, would I be a "speciesist" if I were to say that spiders had no minds and ran on instinct? Any biologists here?

Any other questions?

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Laurel. Sorry, I don't know the answer to your arachnid poser. I'd say that spiders, insects and basic lifeforms like amoeba, or whatever, probably act purely on instinct or genetic code. Birds and animals, though, show intelligence and creative thinking - I've seen both Apes and birds using basic tools on tv programmes. Cats are surely using thought and creativity when they teach themselves to open doors. (It's fairly advanced thought making the connection that jumping up on the door handle opens the door.)

Many domestic pets seem to experience emotions - reflecting their owners' moods. I remember a cat we had, called Tara, who always seemed to look thoughtful and a bit melancholy when my Mum was listening to Bob Dylan or Beethoven - possibly just reflecting my Mum's mood. (Maybe Tara only responded to artists beginning with the letter "B".) I'd say that the only difference between human and animal minds is that, through evolution, we've ended up with brains that allow us to tackle more complicated intellectual tasks and that these have allowed us to develop a more powerful and complex form of communication - language. Birds and animals do communicate simple messages to each other, like "DANGER!" or "Hey, babe, how YOU doin'? Wanna get jiggy?". They use sounds and body language (tail wagging etc.) to symbolise various emotions (eg contentment, anger or fear). It's just that our brains have allowed us to develop a far more complex and powerful collection of symbols, and to keep expanding this collection (coming up with new words, like "spiffleglump", which I've just decided is the name for the saliva that collects on your pillow after a salacious dream involving go go dancers).

I saw a programme about apes recently and they seemed to spend a great deal of time just sitting apparently daydreaming and thinking deep thoughts (maybe not "What force causes bananas to fall to the ground when I shake the branch?" but you never know).

So, yes - I think animals have minds. I don't think arachnids or insects do.

What about the soul though? Unlike hardcore Christians, I think that if humans have souls then so do animals.

SCOTSQUATCH - THE THINKING WOMAN'S APE

 

[Samuari]

Re: Um....Samuri.....

[

I want to watch! Make her beg PLEASE! [/B][/QUOTE]


If I beg, it will be private...and I will only beg to Manu. So, sorry, no tickets being sold for that performance. It will be something to watch too.

SIREN
____________________________________________________________
~~~BUT IF YOU WANT ME TO BEG, JUST ASK FOR A PRIVATE SHOW THERE SAMURI~~~ [/B][/QUOTE]

I'm asking! Please! Please! or do I have to beg , too?

 

[Never]

Yes, spiders have minds - mindless minds but minds nonetheless. I suppose I'd need to know what you consider a mind for me to answer your question. Do they have emotions? Emotions are mostly chemical reactions to external and internal stimuli. A spider can feel fear but not dread. A spider won't feel lust because it relies totally on instinct, a spider can't feel love because love is based on mothering instincts and spiders don't raise their young.

Can a spider learn? In a limited basis, yes. Do to their place in the ecosystem and lifespan they don't need to learn. A group of ten spiders of the same species was placed in a wooded area on a mountain, in ten years the spider population boomed to over ten thousand; the spiders that stayed in the wooded area became large and aggressive hunters. Those that wandered further up the mountain into the clear areas became about an inch smaller and hunted only on a nocturnal basis, scuttling forward to catch a bug and then running back under leaves and twigs, since they had no cover they became easy pray for birds and bats and as a species adapted.

There's no need for intelligence in a species if in ten year it can split into two different groups in response to the environment. That is not to say that all spiders are dumb, I believe there are over 50 thousand species of arachnid and there's no way we could test the intelligence of all of them. The tarantula has been known to become protective of its owner, relaxing when held, becoming cautious and aggressive when strangers were around. I've heard tarantula owners talk about their spiders being depressed, nervous, happy..
Spiders communicate like other animals; though their 'speech' is limited to 'I kill you.' 'I fuck you.' Spiders are not social animals, they don't need to communicate.

Most of what we are taught about the mind is based on the idea that the mind and body are somehow split apart, like the white and yolk of an egg. The nervous system of a spider is not as complex as ours and their specialized organ, which becomes the brain in higher creatures, is nothing more than a sensory relay. If you wanted to make an argument that spiders having the first true 'primitive' intelligence, you could but I doubt that's what you were looking for.

By most people's definition, no, spiders don't have minds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By most people's definitin, yes, Never lost her mind awhile ago.

 

[RisiaSkye]

I think that Never did an excellent job of summing up the arachnid neurology side of the intelligence question, so I won't even attempt to cover that ground again. I am, however, very interested in the question that (I believe) Roger raised about souls.

I am puzzled by the question of what beings have souls and which do not. Some psychologists have argued that the soul is effectively self-awareness--a variant of human intelligence which allows us to recognize ourselves as being separate intelligences, and which connects our self-concept to a body. If this is true, it would seem possible that any creature which can experience pain would qualify as having a soul--pain being the experience of physical stimuli at the threshold of tolerance. A significant reminder of one's embodiment would seemignly necessitate a recognition of embodiment, and thus a certain level of self-awareness.

But even if this is true, (and who's to say that it is?) how do we determine who/what can feel pain? Does any response to physical stimulus count? How do we measure the importance of emotion in the sensation of pain? Must they be capable of psychosomatic pain?

Not to mention--this is only one theory.

Laurel, have you the answer?

 

[Guest]

Interesting thoughts on arachnids, Never, and the soul, Risia.

Some psychologists have argued that the soul is effectively self-awareness--a variant of human intelligence which allows us to recognize ourselves as being separate intelligences, and which connects our self-concept to a body.

I'm not sure whether I'd agree with this as a definition of the soul. Would that idea not suggest that a newly born baby doesn't have a soul? I've read somewhere that a baby cannot at first separate herself from her environment / other people. As far as she knows, at that early stage of development, she is the only think that exists - no sense of "self" as separate from "other". She has not yet learned that, although she can control the movement of her arms, legs, fingers, toes etcetera, she has no direct control over the other strange lights, shapes, sounds and smells that she experiences. Over a short period of time she begins to recognise her mother (or other carers) as separate from herself. Even once she has grown older and learned that she is separate from the environment and people around her, she will still have a sense through most of her early childhood that she is the centre of the world.

 

[Samuari]

The Midevels used the terms body, soul, and spirit to desribe human psycology. Body included beyond the strickly physical, the instictual reactions(like flight or fight). Soul included emotions, memory, will, and intellegence. (yes domesticated animals had souls, the jury was devided on wild things.) Spirit covered strictly those facets that were "illuminated" by God, (or should be) and were distinctly human.

I have found this terminolgy usefull when I considered such topics. It gives me a frame-work to to hang my thoughts on. I hope it helps.

 

[Guest]

Those sound like pretty good definitions Samuari.

 

[Laurel]

Laurel, have you the answer?

Of course. But I'm not telling you people.

But seriously...that depends on your definition of a soul. If a soul is something separate and distinct - an entity unto itself, for which the body is merely a vessel, and that lives on even after the body dies - then I don't believe in such a thing. If you're referring to a soul as described by RisiaSkye, then what's the difference between the soul and the mind? Aren't they one and the same? And if so, why not just call it a mind and be done with it? Why even use the term "soul", with its supernatural implications, when you're referring to the biological processes of the brain - the storing of knowledge and experience, of problem-solving, of making connections?

The brain is an amazing organ. It's hard for us to comprehend that a three-pound hunk of grey tissue can design the Eiffel Tower, write music, build bombs, feel emotions...so people often feel the need to invent a "soul" to explain the origins of genius and creativity. But every day, more evidence accumulates linking mental illnesses - even mild depression - to biological problems, ones that can be fixed with medication and other physiological therapies. Head trauma has deprived artists of their creativity, and caused an outpouring of creative talent in those who previously had none. Blows to the head have changed personalities completely. If indeed the personality and creativity are the result of a soul, then why would a physiological change have such a drastic effect?

I dunno...I'm no biologist. I'm a porn webmistress, for chrissake.