THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: Thrillho on 16 Jan 2013, 11:42

Title: This just in
Post by: Thrillho on 16 Jan 2013, 11:42
Burgers contain traces of Unicorn's avatar.

More on this story as it develops.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: pwhodges on 16 Jan 2013, 12:01
I'm still wondering (a) why anyone was testing the DNA in a burger at all, and (b) why anyone's worried about it, given that horse meat is eaten regularly in some places.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Thrillho on 16 Jan 2013, 12:03
It gave me the rare opportunity to joke about being a cannibal and having a necklace of human (and horse) teeth on Facebook. It was jolly good fun.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: The Seldom Killer on 16 Jan 2013, 12:11
All this Tesco horseburger silliness bemuses me. I've been eating My Lidl Pony for ages.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Thrillho on 16 Jan 2013, 14:03
And I stole that joke and posted it on Facebook already.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Zingoleb on 16 Jan 2013, 14:56
Eh, whatever. Horses are plebes.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: nekowafer on 16 Jan 2013, 14:59
Mmmm Unicorn meat
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: nekowafer on 16 Jan 2013, 15:00
I mean uh... horse meat. Yep.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Thrillho on 16 Jan 2013, 15:08
I dunno, I'd quite like some Unicorn meat.

In a sense.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Welu on 16 Jan 2013, 15:11
I'm still wondering (a) why anyone was testing the DNA in a burger at all, and (b) why anyone's worried about it, given that horse meat is eaten regularly in some places.

I hear it was just a random quality check, so they would be testing the amount of meat to filler? Also I'd be annoyed if I bought beef and it turned out to be mainly pork but not as disturbed as some people express.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 16 Jan 2013, 15:18
Horse meat has an emotional history in the US.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: BeoPuppy on 16 Jan 2013, 22:35
Yeah, quite a lot of horses got traumatised in the production thereof.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 16 Jan 2013, 23:40
It goes in and out of even being legal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_slaughter#Controversy
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Barmymoo on 17 Jan 2013, 04:42
I'd be concerned simply because the product was not as advertised. If they're lying about what's in it (or even worse, really, they don't KNOW what is in it) then I wouldn't trust it to be safe to eat.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: de_la_Nae on 17 Jan 2013, 10:30
Also I'd be annoyed if I bought beef and it turned out to be mainly pork but not as disturbed as some people express.

I'd be concerned simply because the product was not as advertised. If they're lying about what's in it (or even worse, really, they don't KNOW what is in it) then I wouldn't trust it to be safe to eat.

Pretty much this. I don't enjoy killing, but I have slaughtered and dressed some small game and was raised on a dying ranch; I'm not a vegetarian because most of the time I'm not really bothered that a portion of my food comes from tissue that once was, just like myself, a creature with a mind and the force of life running through it.

However I *do* mind being misled as to what I'm buying. Don't sell me sweet potatoes and then mix in normal potatoes without telling me, and don't give me horse meat if you led me to believe I was buying cow meat.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: de_la_Nae on 17 Jan 2013, 10:46
(http://namtab.com/mash/Cpotter.gif)
"Now hold on, son, you'd better run that by me again. What's this about hamburgers?"
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 17 Jan 2013, 12:09
I would eat a horse burger.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Welu on 17 Jan 2013, 12:50
So would I. I would try any form of meat, even dog and I own a dog. I admit I wouldn't like eating the meat of a specific animal I had bonded with, whether it was a domestic pet or a farm animal bred to be eaten. Although in general the cuteness or intelligence of an animal in its living state isn't enough for me to think it's wrong to eat it compared to an uglier or stupider animal.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: henri bemis on 17 Jan 2013, 13:03
I'd be concerned simply because the product was not as advertised. If they're lying about what's in it (or even worse, really, they don't KNOW what is in it) then I wouldn't trust it to be safe to eat.

same here.  There was something on NPR a few days ago about a rumor that pig anuses were being sold as calamari, and it IS just a rumor (there is no evidence at all to support it - it's complete bullshit, basically), but they did a taste test because why not?, and the judges couldn't really tell the difference.  Apparently, a properly prepared fried pig anus is pretty tasty.

I want to know what I'm eating, and it's important that consumers aren't lied to, but I also know my biases against certain meats are irrational.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Lines on 17 Jan 2013, 13:04
I don't think I could eat horse. Mostly because my mom loves horses and she would hurt me. I'm not opposed to trying different types of meat, but so far that has only applied to different animals that are raised to be eaten/typically hunted to be eaten. I don't consider horse to be either of those, although I do realize some people/cultures do.

Don't wanna eat no ponies.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: de_la_Nae on 17 Jan 2013, 18:31
Don't wanna eat no ponies.

(http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/310/b/f/chiken_burger_by_kloudmutt-d4fdrul.png)
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Game and Watch Forever on 17 Jan 2013, 20:26
Mmmm Unicorn meat

 :-)

(http://toosquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/canned_unicorn_meat.jpg)

I mean uh... horse meat. Yep.

 :-( But... the excellent source of sparkles....
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Zingoleb on 17 Jan 2013, 21:10
WHY DO YOU KEEP POSTING THAT
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 17 Jan 2013, 21:36
Because only you can post the "other" Unicorn meat. 


 :angel:
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Valdís on 17 Jan 2013, 21:42
I ate horse now and then when I was younger, but I grew up in rural Sweden, so hey. At least it tasted pretty good.  :wink:

We owned and took care of some horses too, so hardly separate from dealing with them as animals.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Zingoleb on 17 Jan 2013, 22:06
Because only you can post the "other" Unicorn meat. 


 :angel:

actually I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who can do that at this point in time
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 17 Jan 2013, 22:27
Well, it didn't show up in Google. 




Yet. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 17 Jan 2013, 22:36
Postcount/post synergy: god-tier

(http://i.imgur.com/JAiaV.png)
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Pilchard123 on 18 Jan 2013, 02:32
(there is no evidence at all to support it - it's complete bullshit, basically)

Are you sure it isn't pigshit?
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Thrillho on 18 Jan 2013, 04:02
Because only you can post the "other" Unicorn meat. 


 :angel:

actually I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who can do that at this point in time

*regrets not right clicking and saving as*
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Barmymoo on 18 Jan 2013, 05:34
I wouldn't eat horse for the same reason that I wouldn't eat beef (read: I'm a vegetarian!) but if I ate meat, I think I might be prepared to eat horse. It's hard to say, I never have eaten meat so a lot of my views on things would have to be different for me to eat it and therefore my view on horses might be different too. I don't think I could eat cat or dog though. But the point is that they said "oh shit how did that get in there?!" which means either they are lying and knew it was there, or genuinely didn't know it was there, and either way that says a whole lot about their approach to food hygiene and safety regulations.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Game and Watch Forever on 18 Jan 2013, 08:28
WHY DO YOU KEEP POSTING THAT

I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've done that... I'll have to retroactively do it more to fix it and set continuity straight....

On topic, I can be fairly picky when it comes to food and may be among the people overly freaking out... but I'd like to think most of it would be the whole "hey, this is NOT what you said it was" deal. Though.... if horse looks and taste like beef anyway, maybe it wouldn't be a huge deal for me to try it. Maybe...
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 18 Jan 2013, 08:36
I don't know that there is a single animal I would outright refuse to eat outside of legality issues. I am not easily bothered by knowing what I'm eating due to being raised on a ranch. On the other hand, I also won't deny that I'd have some moral qualms about certain animals due to their eerily self aware intelligence such as elephants, dolphins and various primates.

Otherwise, I'm the kind of person who is well aware of what goes into sausage, and considers it a good thing, and gives no shits. So to speak.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Nikolai on 18 Jan 2013, 08:47
^ This.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 18 Jan 2013, 11:01
Not being able to tell the difference between horse and cow in hamburger is pretty likely.  The whole pig anus / calamari thing involved a taste test, and people couldn't tell - basically, if you slice something thin enough and then fry it, it'll be hard to tell what it is anyway. 

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/484/doppelgangers

It's act 1.  I can't get the player to post as a link, sorry. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Akima on 18 Jan 2013, 16:58
I wouldn't eat horse for the same reason that I wouldn't eat beef (read: I'm a vegetarian!) but if I ate meat, I think I might be prepared to eat horse.
Just so. I'm a vegetarian too, but I think that once you've decided that it's OK to kill animals and eat them, choosing which animals to eat is simply a matter of local taboos. As everybody knows, my ancestral culture has more... adventurous eating habits than many, especially in the south.

Horse-meat is eaten without qualms in East Asia wherever is is readily available. It is something of a staple in Mongolia and other parts of Central Asia, where nothing derived from horses goes to waste (fermented mare's milk wine, yum! :-P), and donkey-meat buns are a Beijing regional favourite. Australians don't generally eat horse-meat (a few "gourmets" feel they should, in emulation of the French :oops:), but horses are slaughtered for meat here, and each year thousands of tonnes are exported to Japan, Korea, and China.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 18 Jan 2013, 17:35
Now I'm thinking that I'm ethically inconsistent for deliberately passing up the chance to eat whale meat while visiting Iceland.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Sorflakne on 18 Jan 2013, 19:08
I'd say that you shouldn't eat whale, because whales are rather intelligent.  But then again so are pigs, and I love grilled pork chops, which would make me a hypocrite.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 18 Jan 2013, 19:16
As a friend once said while fishing "If it can't outsmart me during the hunt, it shouldn't complain when I eat it."
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Barmymoo on 19 Jan 2013, 01:43
If you give a shoal of fish a fuck-off big boat and a net I'm pretty sure they would outsmart you with it. And I would love to know what you'd do against a herd of cows with electric shock guns powerful enough to kill a grown man.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 19 Jan 2013, 02:31
i'd get a dog, cows cant outmaneuver a dog
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 19 Jan 2013, 02:35
Let's not forget hands, because neither cows nor fish have them, and therefore cannot operate even basic machinery.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: bainidhe_dub on 19 Jan 2013, 07:43
I wonder how it would go if they were wired into one of those control-the-robot-hand-with-your-brain setups?
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Papersatan on 19 Jan 2013, 08:49
If you give a shoal of fish a fuck-off big boat and a net I'm pretty sure they would outsmart you with it. And I would love to know what you'd do against a herd of cows with electric shock guns powerful enough to kill a grown man.

I think that is a part of the issue though.  No one gave us boats and stun-guns, we made them.  The other animals had their opportunity to come up with ways to attack and defend, and, as a result, many of them are difficult to catch, or are even poison. We may have an unfair advantage in most individual encounters we have will our future food, but way back when, we started with the same playing field. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 19 Jan 2013, 08:57
Cattle would lick their their stun-guns and electrocute themselves.

They are not intelligent creatures.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 19 Jan 2013, 10:05
Also May I think you forget to realize that a group of things isn't necessarily any smarter than an individual. Just look at Congress, the inverse is true.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Barmymoo on 19 Jan 2013, 10:14
I'm not really saying that cows are as intelligent as humans. Just that the argument that we're just taking advantage of our position futher up the food chain isn't really very plausible.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 19 Jan 2013, 10:28
Keep in mind I'm not arguing for or against vegetarianism here, but our intelligence and tool making capabilities are very much part of being the apex predator and a key element in our evolution. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by that?
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Barmymoo on 19 Jan 2013, 10:32
I suppose it depends on what you constitute to be "predator". To me, although there's nothing wrong with using tools and systems, once you introduce factory farming and industrialised slaughter it's no longer a food chain issue.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 19 Jan 2013, 10:52
I'd say a predator is any species which regularly takes the life of another animal for reasons other than self defense, usually for food purposes, but not limited to such reasons.

All we've really done its made ourselves such efficient predators, on the whole as a species, as to be ridiculous.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 19 Jan 2013, 10:54
Have people forgotten the animation, from the mists of deep time, "Cows With Guns"?
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Zingoleb on 19 Jan 2013, 10:55
That sounds like a Gorillaz parody...
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 19 Jan 2013, 15:53
Correction: That sounds like an AWESOME Gorillaz parody. . .
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 19 Jan 2013, 15:54
It's a little older than that...

Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 19 Jan 2013, 19:19
Well, that is old. Still amusing, but old.

Kinda like Chevy Chase.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 19 Jan 2013, 19:40
We're such efficient predators that we've made it systematic, and I really don't care, because fuck you I'm too poor for free-range chicken alright
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: jwhouk on 19 Jan 2013, 19:43
(pause)

It's got a nice rhythm, but if that's your band's next single, I don't think it's going to be a big hit.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 19 Jan 2013, 20:04
Does anyone know if there have been advances into the area of vat grown meats? Because as I see it, it's either that or the hyper-industrialization of farming to provide for the growing world.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Patrick on 19 Jan 2013, 20:40
(pause)

It's got a nice rhythm, but if that's your band's next single, I don't think it's going to be a big hit.

my singer will probably love it because it's basically the opposite of the band CAKE and he hates them (I love them though).

Besides, it's hip to be counterculture, and what's more counterculture than countering veganXcore counterculture? I think we'll do just fine
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 20 Jan 2013, 05:41
...

I would not consider us predators as far as the food chain was concerned when it comes to lab grown meat due to the lack of animals being killed. I absolutely consider what we have now as predatory because it requires the death of a rather large number of living creatures. The fact it's been made so efficient and specialized is just simply a unprecented increase in efficiency amongst the species and us essentially side stepping the natural limiting factors of our environment. Very cold, systematic and detached from a large portion of the species, but I'd definitely argue that it still makes humans, as far as the food chain goes, a predator.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: jwhouk on 20 Jan 2013, 07:27
Well, I am a Predator.

Proof:
(http://imageshack.us/a/img535/9219/3024nshlightfront.th.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/3024nshlightfront.jpg/)
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 20 Jan 2013, 11:05
I kind of disagree with the term predator for animals that we have genetically altered (bred) and raised to be docile for food purposes. 

I reserve it for hunters. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 20 Jan 2013, 11:15
To me it feels far too much like it's romanticizing what a predator is. All a predator is, is a creature/organism that preys on other living organisms, and prey is simply one that is killed by another, usually for food.

We do happen to be incredibly lazy predators now days.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 20 Jan 2013, 11:24
Perhaps "well organized" is a better term than "lazy". 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: ackblom12 on 20 Jan 2013, 11:27
I don't consider them mutually exclusive. ;)
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Valdís on 20 Jan 2013, 16:58
Exactly. If lions could keep gazelles in pens then you bet they would. All that hunting is just wasted energy. They go after the easy, sickly prey for a reason and it's not that they like a challenge.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 20 Jan 2013, 19:35
Reminds me of those ants that farm aphids for food. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Cire27 on 21 Jan 2013, 06:12
We steal all our ideas from ants and Star Trek.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Bluesummers on 25 Jan 2013, 17:37
Exactly. If lions could keep gazelles in pens then you bet they would.

Pfft...now I have to ask someone for an artwork commission of that mental image. :psyduck:

The real question is, would the lions come up with a form of currency and charge other "predators" for gazelle meat, or would the several top species on the food chain form a hippie cooperative?
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Kugai on 25 Jan 2013, 19:41
Things will only improve when Bears learn to make fire.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 25 Jan 2013, 19:44
Just wait until cats learn how to bake catnip.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Carl-E on 26 Jan 2013, 13:24
The cats would use immigrant mice laborers. 
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Akima on 26 Jan 2013, 13:53
Cats would outsource catnip production to mice in Laotian sweatshops.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: RedWolf4 on 26 Jan 2013, 14:18
Then the Mice stumble across a battered but still working copy of "An American Tail."
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: Bluesummers on 28 Jan 2013, 06:08
Moved by Fievel's courage in the story, they attempt to stow away on a container ship bound for the United States, only to have it hijacked mid-route by Somali pirate ferrets.
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: nekowafer on 28 Jan 2013, 06:54
(http://youwantmetowearwhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Pirate-Ferret.jpg)
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: de_la_Nae on 28 Jan 2013, 07:07
YESSSSSS
Title: Re: This just in
Post by: nekowafer on 28 Jan 2013, 07:17
Dook, me matey