Are City Dwellers scared of the forest?

[jakunen]

Kilts, being woollen, are actually quite warm:chill: ...unless the wind blows up'em. Then you find out who the real Scots are... (and if anyone's read my post about Burns Night, if I do hire a kilt, I will be true to my blood:yup.

 

[jakunen]

Hoodo,

I didn't say I believed it either, just remember hearing about it, probably on some late night Open University programme on TV.

It did sound a bit far fetched to me, but not being quite that old....:rolmao:
As for modern humans being able to lay down fat, well, just look at the propensity of KFC, BK, MacDonalds and all the other trash food 'resteraunts' that are to be found in any town or city...

Had to shake my head at a rather large african (or whatever today's PC term is...) guy who ordered '3 double double cheese, 3 large fry and a small diet coke' the other day...:?:

 

[bambodoggy]

Cool...that was the thread I was talking about!

And I'm presumming a Sporan is a scotish possible pouch?

 

[jakunen]

Cool...that was the thread I was talking about!

And I'm presumming a Sporan is a scotish possible pouch?

Never heard it called that before, but seems to fit... and may 'possibly' contain a hipflask or two...

 

[bambodoggy]

I most likely spelt it wrong....the furry or leather bag thing they have hanging by their danglies...."sporen, sporan, sporran"...I don't know! :?:

 

[Hoodoo]

There seems to be a pretty good argument out there for an increase in genetic obesity in industrial nations. There seems to be little selection pressure to eliminate these genes from the population, since most health problems associated with obesity occur well after the age at which most people procreate.

 

[jakunen]

I most likely spelt it wrong....the furry or leather bag thing they have hanging by their danglies...."sporen, sporan, sporran"...I don't know! :?:

Sporran. And I meant I hadn't heard it called a possible pouch/bag.

 

[bambodoggy]

Sporran. And I meant I hadn't heard it called a possible pouch/bag.

Lol...that's coz it's called a Sporran... I'm not helping now am I..... :rolmao:

 

[jakunen]

Lol...that's coz it's called a Sporran... I'm not helping now am I..... :rolmao:

<wanders off muttering under breath and looking for large pointy stick...>

 

[Womble]

A litterstick do, Jak?

 

[jakunen]

A litterstick do, Jak?

Tempting, VERY tempting!!!

 

[bambodoggy]

Wups.....my que to leave me thinks!!!! :yikes:

 

[jakunen]

Well if you want to que(Californian for BBQ apparently) to leave rather than take your cue to leave...

Seriuosly mate, just having a little fun.

I'd never use a litterstick...

 

[Gary]

Just to sort of bring this back on topic again -----

Lewis and Clarke reported that native americans would go about their business in their usual dress or bare chested even in the coldest depths of winter while their men wore every article of clothing and had never taken to wearing their blankets.

This is possibly part climitization and we see it all the time, a farmer will happily work outdoors in just a shirt while the office worker out for a days hike is wrapped to the nines.

Also I believe there were several physical factures involved - firstly size, mental and physical hardiness but most importantly metabolism - a promative body would undoubtably utilize all food in a far better way than our modern bodies which are used to gealing with all manor of crap.

As for ice age man wondering around in fur with his bits showing - look at the inuit, cree ect - they dont - so dont believe all you read in books !!

 

[bambodoggy]

No worries Jak....I was teasing too

I have to agree with Gary, I'm a dispatch manager and run a large warehouse that is totally unheated and freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. My wife works in the same building but upstairs in sales where it's heated (actually I control the boiler for the whole site... )....anyway, the point is that I am working in the cold all day and she isn't. We share a car to and from work and on the way in we are both comfortable with the climate control at about 22C....on the way home it's a fight everyday as she wants the temp on 23c and above while I'm baking at that temp and want it down to about 15 -16C....

So I think it's what you get used too.....same way I can wear shorts almost all year round while most people I know look at me like I'm mad and ask if I'm cold. I'm not a fatty but I'm not skinny either however it is very rare I can't adjust my body (not with mind control...it just does it on it's own) to whatever temp I am in....hence saying in another thread that I was happy in both jungle or arctic.

 

[jakunen]

So I think it's what you get used too.....same way I can wear shorts almost all year round while most people I know look at me like I'm mad and ask if I'm cold. I'm not a fatty but I'm not skinny either however it is very rare I can't adjust my body (not with mind control...it just does it on it's own) to whatever temp I am in....hence saying in another thread that I was happy in both jungle or arctic.

Reminds me. A few years ago I was working in a shopping complex and it was snowing outside and REALLY cold. The up strolls this guy is sandals and shorts, and nothing else, well apart from his glasses.

I told him he was b***** mad and he said, and I quote, "Nah! I'm b***** boiling! I've been in Siberia for a two months and its minus 35 there...".

All I could do was say "Fair enough" and run back into my nice warm shop...

 

[sandbender]

We are now well off topic...

However...

I live in the middle of Perthshire in a 300 year old house with no central heating, I have occasionally worn a kilt in the depths of a Scottish winter and have felt perfectly comfortable (except when the wind takes a sudden turn!).

I have seen medieval sporrans which were more akin to belt pouches, some had additional slots for small knifes, forks, a waterproof insert for papers etc etc. So at one point they arguably were possibles pouches.

 

[Lithril]

Well...I'm not buying it eh? :wave: No one can lay down fat better than us modern humans. ): As for being hairier, I doubt that was significant. Humans originally evolved in a hot, arid environment and lost much of their hairiness early on when compared to their primate cousins. If you look at Eskimos, they don't appear to be hairier and they have survived some of the harshest cold on the planet.

Humans were able to move into colder climes mainly due to technology: animal skins for clothes and shelter, fire for warmth. However, there is a physiological "furnace" found in mammals that helps them produce heat. This is called "brown fat" and it's still with us today. It works by uncoupling the production of ATP from electron transport but then, that's another story.

The Eskimos aren't likely to be any hairier due to the fact that evolution needs people to die of natural causes such as predators and climate. Where we can now utilise and fashion aids such as clothes and tools we prevent some of these deaths and effectively stunt evolution (to a point). Survival of the fittest is no longer the case so physiological changes just add to the variety instead enabling us to benefit over others.

 

[bambodoggy]

I have seen medieval sporrans which were more akin to belt pouches, some had additional slots for small knifes, forks, a waterproof insert for papers etc etc. So at one point they arguably were possibles pouches, however mine is used to hold a mobile, wallet and car keys.

Hey....lol...if a possibles pouch was originally meant to keep things that made life "possible", then the sporran you wear with your mobile, wallet and car keys is definately a modern possibles pouch.....if you doubt me try a normal working day without your mobile, car keys and wallet :rolmao: :rolmao: :rolmao:

 

[Hoodoo]

Just to sort of bring this back on topic again -----

Lewis and Clarke reported that native americans would go about their business in their usual dress or bare chested even in the coldest depths of winter while their men wore every article of clothing and had never taken to wearing their blankets.

This is possibly part climitization and we see it all the time, a farmer will happily work outdoors in just a shirt while the office worker out for a days hike is wrapped to the nines.

Also I believe there were several physical factures involved - firstly size, mental and physical hardiness but most importantly metabolism - a promative body would undoubtably utilize all food in a far better way than our modern bodies which are used to gealing with all manor of crap.

As for ice age man wondering around in fur with his bits showing - look at the inuit, cree ect - they dont - so dont believe all you read in books !!

Some interesting ideas. If you read Cody Lundin's book, he spends a lot of time running around half naked in an attempt to acclimate his body to the cold. The problem with this that there's not a whole lot of plasticity in the physiology for this. However it has been reported by some and repeated by many that consuming lots of meat, especially raw meat, will prepare you well for the cold. This was talked about in a wonderful book on the Inuit, "Kabloona!" by Gontran De Poncins. Granted, the information is almost entirely anecdotal.

We also know that there is some genetic differences among mammals that use physiology to warm their bodies. This process is called Nonshivering Thermogenesis. Cody Lundin actually mentions this in his book but unfortunately he got the mechanism for this all boogered up. I asked him about this and he said he got it out of some book on outdoors medicine. I never did get around to checking that out. Anywho, mammals that are born and live in the cold tend to have a much greater ability for nonshivering thermogenesis than those from warmer climates. And these are genetic differences although NST can also be enhanced by acclimation (well documented in rodents). Very little though is known about this in humans. Brown fat is used as the main effector organ for this process and not much is known about the distribution of brown fat in adult humans (btw, this is a controversial issue), but large depots of it can be found in neonates around the neck, in the interscapular area, and a few other places. Finds of brown fat in adults have not been well documented.