Re: Scotsmen [Was: Olli Lounela's tournament report from IGS's early years (1993)]

"Harry Sigerson" <harrysigerson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

Could it be that the sensible teaching of Mohammed that one should
avoid pork was almost like a WWII, Ministry of Food, health instruction?

Interesting to note how the pig is the link between avian influenza and
human pandemics of high-mortality flu.
Tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dead could have been
avaioded if pigs were taboo.

Back then more than fourteen hundred years ago how would you disseminate
such good advice to folk who live in a hot country?

Religion is a genetical trait, used to enforce cultural rules rigidly over
centuries.
Those cultural rules are needed to ensure best survival of the group over
longer time, based on infrequent experiences or the experiences of a few
more "enlightened" individials.

Example: Mohammed said that men should pee sitting, just like women. He has
been ridiculed for that.
Last year, a Norwegian doctor said that due to the shape of some men's
bladders, they risk getting bladder cancer due to stagnant urine if they pee
standing. New research, found by dissecting bladders of deceased bladder
cancer patients. A lot had an indentation in the bottom.

Strict religious customs often have a basis in catastrophes in the distant
past of a poeple, region or culture. It is a clever way to survive or avoid
the next catastophe, even though it has been such a long time ago that
nobody remembers or understands what the real reason is.


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