Keeping animal captive and housed together is literally begging for worse and worse strains of diseases. Hoof and mouth, avian flu, mad cow.. Then we get stuff like e. coli from veggies, which isn't even from the plant: it's from the manure it's covered in. Adding antibiotics only accelerates the process. Yeehaw.

Some beaver dams are actually quite big, the biggest is twice the size of the Hoover dam, and can be seen from space! =)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/canada/7676300/Worlds-biggest-beaver-dam-can-be-seen-from-space.html

Or what about the original dam builders, beavers? They also 'destroy' a lot of habitat, which actually becomes very valuable wetlands... Not saying what we're doing is ideal, and our scale is usually much larger, but flooding is hardly a new experience for ecosystems..

Exactly - when you take away the trolls, whomever remaining is most 'troll-like' will then become the troll..the bigger question is 'can we really eliminate trolls', and 'what amount of trolling is tolerable'?

"Yeah, you've got to picture that you're on a ship at sea, and sometimes at a high sea state. You're picking up a 12-ton load, which becomes a wrecking ball if it gets out of control. It's stabilized by a bunch of tag lines going to wenches and so on."

You are as surprised as i was - it came as a shock to me that it was one of the least DRM'd readers out there!

Not sure now, but a few years ago the Sony reader had less restrictions than most (if that's what you're implying) - since it was able to read multiple formats, and no DRM requirements, i made it my choice, and we have 3 of them (different generations) in the house now. Will miss future iterations!

"It should help biologists more accurately model how disease spreads through herds of cattle and therefore better understand how to tackle epidemics."

For me, it would be 'it should give people second thought on what we're doing to our fellow earthlings'.

Here's a really incredible video on wolves, and their positive influence on Yellowstone National Park - doubtless we'll find that species have a much larger influence and impact that we assume, which makes sense that these systems all took millions of years to develop..it's not a haphazard configuration, most species depend on a number of others. Even in our bodies, look at the bacteria that inhabit us, and the influences we're finding they have on us....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

Sure there is - for example, you can prevent death from being in an airplane crash by never boarding a plane. That risk is eliminated, not "delayed or accelerated". Smoking-related diseases can be prevented by not smoking, and avoiding exposure to smoke. In the same manner alcohol-related deaths can be prevented by not consuming alcohol.

That's a pretty rude and awful joke..

Exposure to TSE/CJD is really a very big threat for medical facilities - it's hard to clean off surgical items, and so contamination can happen very quickly if it's not suspected..combine that with the fact they're not 100% certain how TSE/CJD spreads, and if it can spread from more than brain and spinal fluids..

In the name of sensitivity and good taste, why not try looking this sort of thing up before saying something both ignorant, and potentially hurtful?

Interesting thought...but am i an addict, or is this a state i should be experiencing regularly? (IE: being active?)

In my youth, i was prone to mood swings, and more extreme emotional states..people now often comment on how level-headed i am...maybe it's because i wasn't burning the calories and being as active as i should have been.

In a way i can totally relate to this - i'm a fairly high-level bike racer, and if i don't ride for 2-3 days, i find i start to get moody and restless, and it's *always* cured by getting out and getting my heart going a bit. Even a walk will make the difference. I wasn't active as a kid, only really started in my 20's, but ever since i started, i need to keep active to keep in a good headspace...and i know of several other riders who say the same thing. Their partners actually tell them to get out and ride because they get in a state when they're inactive. Maybe in a way other species are responding to some kind of natural need to keep active....?

It seems the down-mod still has some use, but the up-mod is preferred...how about if it just 'cost more' to mod-down posts?

I have to assume you were trying to make a joke, apologies for missing whatever reference you were making...