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Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score 1) 625

by oodaloop (#44594969) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
There is a rodent, whose name I forget, that piles up seeds for food and urinates on it. The urine makes sort of a hard amber-like coating, and preserves them remarkably well. Studying the thousands of such seed piles found in various layers in Egypt, the seed content and distribution points to far more trees at the time of the pharaohs, and a remarkable decline in trees as the civilization expanded. There are many trees that were prevalent before we created cities, that are now completely gone.

You can't simply build pyramids, with thousands of slaves eating sand for lunch, in the middle of the desert without natural resources. It required food, wood, etc and in vast quantities.

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score 1) 625

by oodaloop (#44593045) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
So it's a coincidence that all ancient civilizations, that tore down trees for thousands of years, are now on the site of deserts? The place called the fertile crescent is now almost completely desert? Just a coincidence? The only desert in North America is where a civilization died out? Just a coincidence? I guess the fact that Easter Island is now completely tree-less after tearing down all its trees to make the Maori statues means nothing to you. Or that in Greenland, when the trees were cut down, all the soil ran out into the ocean, and the settlement died? That's a relief! I thought that maybe our wholesale destruction of forest around the world might impact us in negative ways, but I'm glad it's all just a coincidence! Thanks!

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score 1) 625

by oodaloop (#44590233) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
Forgive me for not recapitulating the entire world's history for you. I will, however, focus on just one civilization to make my point. Take Egypt, now a desert. Archaeological evidence points to it being a lush fertile land in the time of the pharaohs. It needed vast amounts of wood, for instance, for burning to cook food, make tools and buildings, for building things like pyramids, etc. Agriculture flourished in places were native vegetation grew. And as cities grew, they cut down an expanding circle of trees until it was no longer possible to transport the necessary supplies the long distance. Without trees, the soil washed away. And now it's desert. As in, in recent times. And shortly after the empire declined.

Same basic thing happened in southwestern US (Anasazi), Mexico (Aztecs), Argentina (Incas), Gobi desert (Chinese empires), and so on. They were all fertile and lush, which led to empires using the natural resources, which led to desert. Now, if you have evidence that these empires were built on, and thrived in, desert, please present it.

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score 1) 625

by oodaloop (#44589747) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
First world consumers, like the U.S. use 17 times the natural resources of developing nations. As you bring the birth rate down slightly and populations in developing nations drastically increase their consumption of natural resources approaching first world levels, we end up in a far worse position. You can't have 1/17th the number of kids you once did. I'm not advocating keeping people in poverty, but we have to realize at some point that we are consuming way more than the earth can produce sustainably.

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score 0) 625

by oodaloop (#44589601) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
Let's conveniently forget for the moment that 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct and that ours is in the tail end of average life expectancy. I suppose it's also escaped your attention that the doomsayers have been right, and mankind has in fact met with doom multiple times. There have been many collapses of societies, from Easter Island, to the Greenland settlement, to large civilizations like the Incas. They all consumed their natural resources and collapsed. In fact, every desert in the world is on the site of an ancient civilization, form the Gobi to the Sahara. Mankind turned vibrant forest into desert in a blink of an eye and died. You can read about these collapses of societies in a book called, surprisingly, "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. I don't get off on a dream of global doom; I am saddened by the wholesale destruction of our food, air, and water. I wish it weren't so, but wishing doesn't help. You, on the other hand, seem bound and determined to keep on doing what feels good no matter what. Which one of us is denying reality?

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score -1) 625

by oodaloop (#44589331) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
I'm sure you're right. Our exponential appetite for natural resources will be solved with a little creativity and technology without ever running out, right? I mean, what's the worst that could happen if I'm wrong, besides the end of our species? Might as well not try to save the world and continue consuming, polluting, and eating everything in sight. Good point.

Comment Re:Yeah, that's just what the world needs (Score -1, Flamebait) 625

by oodaloop (#44589193) Attached to: Aging Is a Disease; Treat It Like One
And far more people exploiting our natural resources. We're way beyond capacity as it is. I doubt the planet could sustain a mere 100,000 first world consumers, and we're orders of magnitude above that and climbing. So drastically increasing the number of people on the planet, and drastically increasing those who are first world consumers doesn't help us. But hey, on the bright side, it's probable that we're well beyond the decision point to stop or reverse the effects of thousands of years of destroying the environment, so why not? Let's just go out in a blaze of glory!

Comment Re:one of my favorites (Score 5, Funny) 98

by oodaloop (#44579107) Attached to: Amazon Selects Their Favorite Fake Customer Reviews
Apparently one of the reviews is from George Takei. Like, actually from the real George Takei. I guess?

This shirt has changed my life! Before, I couldn't walk through the aisles at Wal-Mart, graze on the buffet at Sizzler, or even take in a round at my local miniature golf course, without people pointing and saying, "Hey, you're that Zulu guy from Star Wars, aren't you?" Even if I wore sunglasses, I'd still get mistaken for Yoko Ono. But with The Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee, the SHIRT now draws the eye. One young teen even shyly approached me, and instead of asking for a picture or an autograph, simply smiled conspiratorially and whispered, "Team Jacob, right? Me, too. He's sooooooo dreamy." Yes he is, young lady. Yes. He. Is.

Comment All of the ones for the banana slicer are funny (Score 5, Funny) 98

by oodaloop (#44578763) Attached to: Amazon Selects Their Favorite Fake Customer Reviews
Most of those on that page are incomplete. For instance:

What can I say about the 571B Banana Slicer that hasn't already been said about the wheel, penicillin, or the iPhone.... this is one of the greatest inventions of all time. My husband and I would argue constantly over who had to cut the day's banana slices. It's one of those chores NO ONE wants to do! You know, the old "I spent the entire day rearing OUR children, maybe YOU can pitch in a little and cut these bananas?" and of course, "You think I have the energy to slave over your damn bananas? I worked a 12 hour shift just to come home to THIS?!" These are the things that can destroy an entire relationship. It got to the point where our children could sense the tension. The minute I heard our 6-year-old girl in her bedroom, re-enacting our daily banana fight with her Barbie dolls, I knew we had to make a change. That's when I found the 571B Banana Slicer. Our marriage has never been healthier, AND we've even incorporated it into our lovemaking. THANKS 571B BANANA SLICER!

And my personal favorite review of the banana slicer:

I would rate this product as just okay. It's kind of cheaply made. But it works better than the hammer I've been using to slice my bananas.

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