Are hammockers the new vegetarians?

[Toddy]

........so meat eaters don't ????

Yeah, right

M

 

[Husky]

I wanted to get into hammocking because of the very little impact and "no trace". Also it would be good when kayaking as very small islands don't have much flat ground but usually a couple of small trees. What put me off (apart from the possible discomfort issue) was that I needed a lot more kit to stay warm, overblankets, underblankets etc. than with my normal grounddwelling kit. If (when) I go to the tropics or jungle I believe that hammocks are no1 as they are cool, light and keep you away from the creepycrawlies but in the cold north going light means grounddwelling. On the foodhabit issue...

......and veggies will take over the world 'cos you can feed 20 people from the same bit of land that will feed one cow in a year ....

When things get tight people have been known to eat people so the last person on earth will be a meat eater! :yikes:

 

[Toddy]

I agree about the amount of stuff that seems to be needed to sleep warmly in a hammock in the cold, but sometimes, that peace, the fresh air, the realness of being outside, must be worth it

Meateaters ? last on the planet ? cannibals ? no, from all evidences cannibalism is not a long term survival strategy, and as I said earlier, food isn't just sustenance, and humanity is very complex Probably somekind of culturally constrained omnivore at the end of the day.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[forestwalker]

I agree about the amount of stuff that seems to be needed to sleep warmly in a hammock in the cold, but sometimes, that peace, the fresh air, the realness of being outside, must be worth it

Underblanket fans claim that it works fine even in the north in the winter. But a nice trench shelter with a tarp over (on a ridgeline, with a gap all around) it is nice in winter, no wind, no snow on you kit, comfy. When spring thaw comes I will dig the hammock out again, lug a blanket to use underneath me, saves me sleeping in melting snow.

Meateaters ? last on the planet ? cannibals ? no, from all evidences cannibalism is not a long term survival strategy, and as I said earlier, food isn't just sustenance, and humanity is very complex Probably somekind of culturally constrained omnivore at the end of the day.

Apart from any picky ethical issues, the two main problems with cannibalism I can see is parasites (you know that any parasites in your food can live in a human host...), and the fact that the hunting step is a bit too dangerous compared to other species. Like if we would hunt tigers (using only spears) for food. As the main food source.

 

[Chiseller]

I've re-discovered an ancient outdoors shelter known as a 'tent'. Lighter and more weatherproof than a hammock and can be used in nearly all environments. It'll make the hammock obsolete!

Here's an old mate, trying his best to pitch his tent on scafell.....

While I slept under tarp in the old fold....

He ended up jackin an bailed off the mountain side to go carcamping....I just made a brew an slept it out .

Now I'm a swinger....reckon I'm going to return to scafell an hang a hammock accross the fold. Never hammocked up a mountain top before......and of course, ill be frying a steak for supper

 

[xylaria]

Chiseller that is proper hardcore. There is times when only a boulder mat that can actually do boulders will do.

 

[Chiseller]

Chiseller that is proper hardcore. There is times when only a boulder mat that can actually do boulders will do.

Cheers but......its not quite as hardcore as it seems.....where the mat laid was pretty level . Like a bench made of flatter stones, possibly made by shepards or huntsmen (foot packs hunting foxes regular with hounds) way back when .

 

[xylaria]

Cheers but......its not quite as hardcore as it seems.....where the mat laid was pretty level . Like a bench made of flatter stones, possibly made by shepards or huntsmen (foot packs hunting foxes regular with hounds) way back when .

They look like hikers benightment shelters. Come on, most sheep aren't stupid enough to kip up the top of scarfel.

 

[Chiseller]

T Come on, most sheep aren't stupid enough to kip up the top of scarfel.

Baaaaa but I was lol.

 

[spiritwalker]

incoming @ Toddy....
Can't always grow crops where the animals can graze...sheep take to the hills which are useless for growing crops.
Besides i like veggies especially when super concentrated through the guts of animals and assimilated into meat.

on a less sarcastic note i was a veggie once for a year just to try it (no ethical reason as such it was just for the heck of it) but being lactose intolerant it became hard to eat out anywhere it would appear the imagination of chefs is well for the veggie option we can do a creamy cheese type dish

anyways back to the original post i haven't yet seen the merits of hammocks i do like to be at one with the earth waking up on the floor being bed washed by slugs besides all those ropes and things are bound to be a disaster for me im about as good with cord as kiar out of secrets of Nimh

 

[spiritwalker]

i also have some interesting theories our jaws changed to allow more brain space in the head the use of cooking and tools allowed for this not changing to veggies.

an important part of our physique to consider is forward pointing eyes this is generally very predatory and we still unvolantarily display many predatory instincts such as circling prey (can be seen in the supermarket when people stroll pass something they miss and circle backwards or when someone is in the way they circle around them)

we still lie somewhere in the middle as omnivores which is the best all round for both survival and future proofing, i wonder how much of the world we would have colonised without the high yields of meat..

I suppose now though with global shipping of foods and our knowledge it is socially viable to choose not to eat meat if desired..

and in this day and age choice is important

 

[Adze]

an important part of our physique to consider is forward pointing eyes this is generally very predatory

In non-primate species it's certainly a good indicator, but not definitive. Forward pointing eyes allow excellent depth perception, which would be absolutely critical in an arboreal species, as many would hold our ancestors to have been. The gibbon who cannot accurately judge the distance between branches soon becomes a damp patch on the jungle floor - regardless of what it eats.

and we still unvolantarily display many predatory instincts such as circling prey (can be seen in the supermarket when people stroll pass something they miss and circle backwards or when someone is in the way they circle around them)

"Bob, we missed the Basmati rice" "Don't worry honey, we'll get it on the next pass!"

 

[Toddy]

incoming @ Toddy....
Can't always grow crops where the animals can graze...sheep take to the hills which are useless for growing crops.

No, I agree that that's true, but I suspect that an arable use of the lands that we do use for grazing now (lowlands, I'm not talking about hill farms, though in the past the use of the cas crom (small foot plough, think really good spade) meant that small pockets of good, well sited, lands were actively cultivated for crops.) then the diet for a small planet becomes very realistic.

on a less sarcastic note i was a veggie once for a year just to try it (no ethical reason as such it was just for the heck of it) but being lactose intolerant it became hard to eat out anywhere it would appear the imagination of chefs is well for the veggie option we can do a creamy cheese type dish

Me too sick as a very sick thing eating milky stuff It's easy to get around it, but most commercial kitchen won't bother because the veggie option is actually a good seller to folks other than vegetarians. A good vegan restaurant is a pleasure to find

anyways back to the original post i haven't yet seen the merits of hammocks i do like to be at one with the earth waking up on the floor being bed washed by slugs besides all those ropes and things are bound to be a disaster for me im about as good with cord as kiar out of secrets of Nimh

I can see the appeal of hammocks, but I live in a country that has a problem with midgies in many of the places we like to camp, and since I have a real problem with clegs ......I like a good tent with an inner midge protection net tempted sometimes to just make a no seeum mesh tent and hang a tarp over the top, sometimes I have commented in the past that where there are a group of folks camping, and many are in hammocks, that the woodlands become like some giant spiderweb of throat grabbing lines. I know tents have guylines but at least there's a kind of expected symmetry to those.


cheers,
Toddy

 

[Harvestman]

I can see the appeal of hammocks, but I live in a country that has a problem with midgies in many of the places we like to camp, and since I have a real problem with clegs ......I like a good tent with an inner midge protection net tempted sometimes to just make a no seeum mesh tent and hang a tarp over the top, sometimes I have commented in the past that where there are a group of folks camping, and many are in hammocks, that the woodlands become like some giant spiderweb of throat grabbing lines. I know tents have guylines but at least there's a kind of expected symmetry to those.

cheers,
Toddy

Colliding with guy lines in the dark seems to be part of the hammocking ritual. Or maybe that's just me. Probably...

(Why is this in bold?)

That's better.

I got my wife to sew some midge netting from Midgie.com (a good Scots company) to the inside of the mosquito metting of my hammock. Seems effective. I hate clegs too.

No preference to hammocking or ground-dwelling. Both have their place.

As for vegetarians, I taught human physiology for 7 years, and we clearly have a carnivourous bias to our omnivorous diet. We eat large meals (gorging) at intervals instead of grazing, we respond dramatically to the sight/smell of meat with salivation and so on (I'm discussing the species, not individuals), and our digestive system/liver copes very well with meat products without adverse effects, but often reacts very badly to plant compounds (we call them poisons).

However, each to their own, and no-one should be ridiculed for their choices of sleeping arrangements or diet, if it works for them and does no harm to others.

 

[Toddy]

Interesting
The catching fire theory offers another viewpoint to those physiological issues.

Seeds, grains, nuts, etc., need cooking to be most digestible.....that cooking is most effectively done in batches....thus the large meal thing
The salivation thing is actually a response to food cooking.....pass a bakery and it works too.... and the the liver function is geared to process such a wide range of materials, not just meat, indicates that the omniverous part of our heritage is long standing. It doesn't cope well with cysts from meat parasites however.

In response to an earlier post; the shape of our jaws, throats and so on is supposed to owe much to the changes needed to allow speech and let us eat without filling our lungs with food.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[forestwalker]

However, each to their own, and no-one should be ridiculed for their choices of sleeping arrangements or diet, if it works for them and does no harm to others.

Look here, how would the world look if everyone was reasonable and understanding? Do you really want to live in a world where people would see others make different choices and just shrug it off as personal preferences? Do you want your friends, neighbours and collegues to not throw a punch, or at least shower in ridicule, anyone who disagrees with them? Is that the kind of flexible, understanding and reasonable scum you want to surround yourself with?

(Hmm, everyone does understand that this was firmly tounge in cheek?)

 

[spiritwalker]

incidentally has there ever been a tribe or primitive culture discovered that was just vegetarian im not fueling the fire i am just very curious i see most dabbling with plants as medicine / roughage / and perhaps flavourings as opposed to a main diet but i curious..

 

[Toddy]

I don't think so, might be wrong I can't see it though....."primitive" is an awkward word, really, but we know what you mean.

Until the advent of farming; and that seems to have been an idea that's time came, sort of thing, multiple sites of emergence, from Africa to China to the Americas; I suspect that the omniverous, and very seasonal, diet was the norm. We know that humankind have been cooking food since before the time that we date homo sapiens sapiens, so that explains the changes in our teeth, bone structure and guts. That these do not indicate a purely carniverous diet is not in doubt, but by the same token they don't indicate a purely vegetarian one either.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[spiritwalker]

yeah i hate the word primitive too actually my mate used it recently and i said are you sure they are primitive or just smart for not being part of the planetary balls up...

I know after my year of being veggie i dont depend on meat and certainly dont require it everyday and the cost of it only makes for me eating it 2-3 nights a week as i like at least one fish option and the rest are pure veggie...

 

[BOD]

Suspended over an active volcano perhaps, can't think of anywhere else where I couldn't use a tent.

Come friend and let me introduce you to tropical montane forest and some types of hill forest.