lenbrazil
Saturn
Now there's a man with an open mind - you can feel the breeze from here!
Posts: 1,045
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Post by lenbrazil on Dec 5, 2005 13:14:45 GMT -4
I have to ask, though: It is possible to build up a resistance to certain deadly toxins, isn't it? Depending on how you handle them? Arsenic is the usual example: there are people exposed to relatively high levels in their diet, and some who deliberately acclimatise themselves to doses that would normally be fatal. IIRC both Lord Peter Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes confronted murderers who had done likewise. There are some Pentecostalists in Appalachia who 'handle' rattlesnakes and intentionally let themselves get bitten as a sign of faith during special ceremonies. They believe that if their faith is strong enough the 'holy ghost' will protect them. Science of course explains their survival on developed resistance. I saw such a ceremony when I was in West Virginia when I was hanging out with the late great Rockabilly one-man band Hasil Adkins.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Dec 5, 2005 14:17:54 GMT -4
Life expectancy isn't too high in that part of the USA, IIRC....
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Post by Retrograde on Dec 5, 2005 22:54:00 GMT -4
There's the whole US Special forces "Snake Eater" mindset as well, from what I understand it came into being during the Vietnam war, where to prover their manliness, (or stupidity) the SF soldier had to eat a snake - raw , including the Venom sac, usually left until last ! Do they kill the snake first? Life expectancy isn't too high in that part of the USA, IIRC.... That's quite possibly true, although probably due to other reasons; death from snake bite is extremely rare in the US...
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Post by colinr on Dec 12, 2005 12:54:54 GMT -4
Do they kill the snake first?
Yup - part of the "ceremony", pick the poor creature up, snap its neck - consume....yum....
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