Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Never Trust a Pig

From the Wiki article:

Pigs are omnivores, which means that they consume both plants and small animals. Pigs will scavenge and have been known to eat any kind of food, including dead insects, worms, tree bark, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs. In the wild, they are foraging animals, primarily eating leaves and grasses, roots, fruits and flowers. Occasionally, in captivity, pigs may eat their own young, often if they become severely stressed....

Pigs harbour a unique (when compared to other domestic animals) range of parasites and diseases that can be easily transmitted to humans. These include trichinosis, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Very commonly, pigs are also known to host large concentrations of parasitic ascarid worms in their digestive tract. The presence of these diseases and parasites is one of the main reasons why pork meat should always be well cooked or cured before eating. Some religious groups that consider pork unclean refer to these issues as support for their views.

Pigs are extremely susceptible to pneumonia, usually caused by weather. Pigs have small lungs in relation to body size; for this reason, bronchitis or pneumonia can kill a pig quickly.

Pigs can be aggressive and pig-induced injuries are relatively common in areas where pigs are reared or where they form part of the wild or feral fauna.

Domestic pigs are often inbred, leading to the expression of recessive traits. Congenital malformations are common. One such malformation is the duplication of a pig's head.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Domestic pigs. Is this a metaphor? Does this explain the melacholy?

Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite movies. After reading the post, I couldn't help flashing on this scene:

*Warning: R-rated language*


Vincent: Want some bacon?
Jules: No man, I don't eat pork.
Vincent: Are you Jewish?
Jules: Nah, I ain't Jewish, I just don't dig on swine, that's all.
Vincent: Why not?
Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.
Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got enough sense enough to disregard its own faeces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charmin' motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?


Hope that brings a smile to your face. ;-)

Rae Ann said...

Yes, thanks! I love Pulp Fiction too. I should see if it's available OnDemand and watch it. ;-)

Well, I finally decided that it's completely no use to keep visiting CIP's blog. Yes, I should have done that a long time ago, but I was just way too optimistic in thinking that my minority opinion might have some marginal value there. It was my mistake to think that liberals would actually value diversity and tolerance. You know, I can take a lot of abuse but after so long I'm going to just up and leave.

The melancholy is complicated. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I guess I've been a way too long. When I read your post, I didn't even make the connection with that other blog. I understand much better now.

Funny thing about liberals...They talk a great game about tolerance and accepting the opinions and ideas of others, but when it gets right down to it, they are not likely to listen to anybody who doesn't conform. Yep, that from the party of non-conformity.

No worries, though. You know that there are plenty of us out here who appreciate and value you and your opinions.