Neil Jones' responses

mbpi at juno.com mbpi at juno.com
Mon Jan 7 10:37:46 EST 2002


I think what Anne has to say pretty much covers everyone:  we ALL are
becoming genetically pre-programmed rationalizers...refusing to accept
responsibility for ANYTHING, even our random thoughts (!)  The more we
know and have access to, the more we think we have the answers, despite
the fact that time has proven that NOBODY is "right" on all
accounts...only on what they are "lucky" enough to predict!  

Nobody has the "luck of the draw" until the future randomness enables
them.  Anything can happen in the course of time and events...even the
much-touted, cloned "Dolly" has proven to be less than initially
expected...an "arthritic" before her time (!)  Well gee, how "dare" she?!
 How dare she, indeed!  She's a living creature with all sorts of
external and internal factors impacting her development and existence. 
Who can predict all of that?!  Certainly not the imperfect human being
who wishes to believe they are smarter than nature, God, or
whoever/whatever determines the randomness of our existence.

M.B. Prondzinski

On Mon, 07 Jan 2002 09:30:56 -0500 Anne Kilmer <viceroy at GATE.NET> writes:
> Chris J. Durden wrote:
> 
> > Thank you Felix Sperling for a response to Neil Jones, that I 
> think a 
> > lot of the rest of us will agree with. I cherish both virgin 
> old-growth 
> > vegetation and virgin successional vegetation, they are home to 
> > different sets of equally valuable animal species. There is just 
> more 
> > diversity in the successional species set. Neither Rush nor Neil 
> seem 
> > right on this one.
> > .................Chris Durden
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> Neil is in great distress, watching the little beautiful places 
> around 
> him die, replaced with urban and suburban squalor, non-native weeds 
> 
> (Buddleja, for godsake) that have muscled their way in and crowded 
> out 
> the choice little natives. He is watching the loss of some species, 
> 
> replaced by others more common, more easily supported by a wholesale 
> 
> environment.
> 
> I, too, am in distress. I am watching all this happen in Ireland, as 
> 
> well as in South Florida, and there is no euphoric that will 
> effectively 
> suppress my horror, pain, rage and guilt. I am equally distressed at 
> the 
> huge supermarket that has been built in Westport, Mayo, Ireland, 
> replacing my favorite little hardware stores, one of which was good 
> on 
> tools; the other paint, and lessons on how to use the tools.
> The fellow who smokes his own salmon is hanging on by an eyelash, 
> he's 
> only there sometimes, in his tiny shop, and it's easier to buy my 
> smoked 
> salmon from the supermarket, so I do that. This is a sin and I do it 
> 
> knowingly, just as I drop the jam jar into the trash instead of 
> rinsing 
> it and putting it into the recycling. It is a sin, and I am sorry 
> for it.
> 
> It is one thing to sin secretly and to repent. It is another to 
> claim 
> that sin is a virtuous act, and to recommend it to the innocent who 
> come 
> asking.
> 
> There is, we are promised, a special hell for people who falsify 
> results, lead people astray, poison the babies' milk with 
> formaldehyde 
> and claim it's a health benefit ...
> 
>   It is not the province of this list to assign people, whether 
> subscribing to this list or not, to that special hell. But please, 
> understand our pain when we see someone weighing short-term personal 
> 
> gain against long-term general good ...
> 
> There was a fellow a while ago, on this list, who explained that we 
> are 
> not really losing species for, although some go extinct, we are 
> continually creating more species ... yes, folks, all those special 
> dogs 
> and cats and sheep can make up to us for the flower fly and the 
> snail 
> darter. (Neil didn't like him, either, as I recall.)
> 
> The leopard does not change his spots nor the Ethiopian his skin. 
> Paul 
> Cherubini will continue to tout DDT and sing the praises of 
> eucalyptus; 
> Ron Gatrelle will continue to toss his hat in the ring, Mark will 
> quote 
> inflammatory sections of the Bible (but takes us along on wonderful 
> road 
> trips); Ken Philip will continue to provide the voice of reason when 
> he 
> can't stand it another minute, Chris Durden will provide balance 
> ...
> Balance, that's the word I was looking for.
> 
> But we all meet in that bloody ground where we shop at the 
> supermarket 
> and mourn Vincent Bourke's shop, so soon to go under.
> Few of us are comforted for the loss of the Xerces blue, by the fact 
> 
> that the exotic eucalyptus is just the place for the Monarch to 
> roost.
> 
> It is perhaps as well that we have among us at least one voice that 
> 
> defends and praises change, because after all, change is what we are 
> are 
> about, we human beings, and perhaps it is as well to take an honest 
> look 
> at it.
> 
> Like it or not, the train has left the station, and somebody here 
> had 
> better learn how to drive. This sucker is a space ship, changes are 
> 
> taking place, and the matter at hand is that we must decide what 
> we're 
> taking with us, whether we're headed for Mall World tunneled into a 
> 
> snowball, or learning to control the planet's weather. Because 
> anything 
> we don't pack, it ain't going.
> 
> On a trip like this, we need Paul, if only because he makes the 
> scientists take the time to pause and explain to the rest of us why 
> he 
> is so disastrously wrong. Or, occasionally, actually quite right.
> 
> We also need Neil, but Neil, Neil, you promised, keep it to your web 
> 
> page, just refer people there. I was around when He Who May Not Be 
> Named 
> was posting to this list, as part of his Community Service after his 
> 
> conviction ... and let's just leave it on the archives, please, we 
> don't 
> want to hear it all again.
> 
> As part of my plan for Mall World, I'll be needing all those 
> breeders to 
> produce suitable butterflies for the plazas. What an opportunity to 
> save 
> all the other species as well?
> Let's not need to do that. But let us not eliminate the part of the 
> 
> population that will be able to do that, if need arises.
> Peace
> Anne Kilmer
> South Florida
> 
> 
>  
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