I am not surprised dogs gave us an advantage. They have been humanity’s partner for thousands of years and that partnership will continue as we journey to the stars.
You can’t be Sirius…
What roles do you see dogs performing in space?
Chasing space cats.
Companionship and a backup source of meat (like on many Artic and Antartic expeditions).
Putting Fido in a space suit and taking outside to poop just isn’t going to work.
The same roles of protection, support and companion ship they have done so well for thousands of years. Or do you folks only see space settlement consisting of tin cans like the ISS? Or Zurbin’s vision of Mars Direct?
I don’t see them doing much hunting and not really sure how they deal with micro gravity.
I can see them as a safety device sniffing out things that are not supposed to be there and picking up chicks.
Wodun,
Again, you are thinking of tin cans with a handful of scientists, not space settlements.
TM,
Not really.
Allamagoosa, Offog.
There has to be a list of star travelling dogs on the net. I heard that the Star Trek with the Quantum Leap guy had a dog.
Daver,
I am not sure if there is any fictional list of space dogs, but here is a list of real dogs that actually have traveled in space as part of the Russia space program.
[[[ Countless Americans bristled at Soviet inhumanity.]]]
[[[While the debate over animal experimentation still rages, the fading of the Cold War tempered at least one prominent voice. Speaking of Laika in 1989, Gazenko declared: “Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. . . . The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it.”]]]
Dr. Gazenko was the Russian researcher in charge of the program.
BTW I haven’t heard any such apology from Gov. Romney. Or do you have a link to one 🙂
[[[Was the dog distressed? Was it illegal under Massachusetts law as cruelty? There is some evidence that both are true.]]]
After all, someone with a Harvard Law degree should be expected to know they law, shouldn’t they?
Lanny Davis is full of it. He didn’t demonstrate that the ride was unsafe.
(At least Seamus turned out better than Mary Jo Kopechne.)
What law was broken?
Jenna raises a good point:
“Any dog lover who condemns his or her precious pooch to travel in the confines of an airline’s baggage compartment with no water, food, heat or air conditioning is in no position to criticize the Romney family’s choice of travel arrangements for Seamus. At least he wasn’t at risk to slowly suffocate to death from loss of air pressure in his kennel atop the family auto.”
If Romney broke the law, some state trooper woudl have stopped him.
Or are Yankee smokies less than vigilant?
I think we should get the UN to call for humans to give Europe back to the Neanderthals…
There were Neanderthals in Israel too… I’m sure the UN would rather start with that!
We’ve already given the UN to the Neanderthals.
Did anyone else notice that the article was illustrated with a photo of a dog and a homo sapiens with a shotgun? No wonder the Neanderthals lost. All they had were spears.
The Neanderthals had spears? I thought spears were advanced tech, especially making the spear points. Weren’t those dudes restricted to clubs?
Neanderthal had spears, there is some question as to whether they were throwing spears or thrusting spears.
The spear-thrower, or atlatl, seems to have been an invention of Homo Sapiens.
The Neanderthal spear was certainly used as a thrusting weapon. They may also have thrown it (they were very muscular and powerfully built), but a spear thrown by itself would not have had the speed, range, and force as a spear thrown with the aid of an atlatl.
Agreed. Also, I think I’d read that the Neanderthal spear points were more time-consuming to knap than the Cro-Magnon ones, as well as requiring more flint. So maybe they’d be less likely to be tied to a stick and thrown away.
I don’t think there’s any unambiguous evidence of Neanderthal arrow heads or dart heads, but there is some evidence that Neanderthal ate birds. That might imply some sort of projectile weapon.
Daver,
Yes, here is a good article on their weapons tech.
Being able to use a stand off weapon is always nice, especially after the dogs points out of their hiding place, just as they did for Saddam Hussein, his sons and Bin Ladin.
Incidentally another of Robert Heinlein’s predictions has come true as the K-9’s in Starship Troopers also beamed pictures when used as scouts.
It certainly seems reasonable that Neanderthal musculature would prevent them from being any good at throwing over a distance. Maybe that would lead to some sort of intellectual blindspot that would prevent them from inventing the bow and arrow or slings. There is some evidence that they ate small animals and birds, so they likely had some sort of projectile weapon (although there’s no way to rule out trapping)
I was trying to think of dogs in Heinlein stories, but managed to forget about those in Starship Troopers. It seems like there should be more, but I’m blanking on them.
Cats could be a source of energy on long-duration space voyages, though:
Raquel Welsh in a fur bikini… need I say more?
I am not surprised dogs gave us an advantage. They have been humanity’s partner for thousands of years and that partnership will continue as we journey to the stars.
You can’t be Sirius…
What roles do you see dogs performing in space?
Chasing space cats.
Companionship and a backup source of meat (like on many Artic and Antartic expeditions).
Putting Fido in a space suit and taking outside to poop just isn’t going to work.
The same roles of protection, support and companion ship they have done so well for thousands of years. Or do you folks only see space settlement consisting of tin cans like the ISS? Or Zurbin’s vision of Mars Direct?
I don’t see them doing much hunting and not really sure how they deal with micro gravity.
I can see them as a safety device sniffing out things that are not supposed to be there and picking up chicks.
Wodun,
Again, you are thinking of tin cans with a handful of scientists, not space settlements.
TM,
Not really.
Allamagoosa, Offog.
There has to be a list of star travelling dogs on the net. I heard that the Star Trek with the Quantum Leap guy had a dog.
Daver,
I am not sure if there is any fictional list of space dogs, but here is a list of real dogs that actually have traveled in space as part of the Russia space program.
http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/dogs/library/library_space_dogs_russian.htm
Yes, given all dogs have done for humans they have truly earned the right to accompany us to the stars.
I’ll bet that Laika would have preferred the top of Romney’s car.
Where is the phony outrage for that astrocity, er, atrocity?
Titus,
Actually there was outrage at the time. But I guess history isn’t your strong point…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/animals/laika.html
[[[ Countless Americans bristled at Soviet inhumanity.]]]
[[[While the debate over animal experimentation still rages, the fading of the Cold War tempered at least one prominent voice. Speaking of Laika in 1989, Gazenko declared: “Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. . . . The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it.”]]]
Dr. Gazenko was the Russian researcher in charge of the program.
BTW I haven’t heard any such apology from Gov. Romney. Or do you have a link to one 🙂
What should Romney apologize for?
For not being a Democrat.
Titus,
For breaking the law?
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/13/romneys-dog-on-car-roof-story-makes-him-unfit-to-be-president/#ixzz1v9D7rElW
[[[Was the dog distressed? Was it illegal under Massachusetts law as cruelty? There is some evidence that both are true.]]]
After all, someone with a Harvard Law degree should be expected to know they law, shouldn’t they?
Lanny Davis is full of it. He didn’t demonstrate that the ride was unsafe.
(At least Seamus turned out better than Mary Jo Kopechne.)
What law was broken?
Jenna raises a good point:
“Any dog lover who condemns his or her precious pooch to travel in the confines of an airline’s baggage compartment with no water, food, heat or air conditioning is in no position to criticize the Romney family’s choice of travel arrangements for Seamus. At least he wasn’t at risk to slowly suffocate to death from loss of air pressure in his kennel atop the family auto.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/296536/carney-says-its-iromneyi-whos-doghouse-daniel-foster#comment-bar
Thomas,
I guess the law is not your strong point… 🙂
If Romney broke the law, some state trooper woudl have stopped him.
Or are Yankee smokies less than vigilant?
I think we should get the UN to call for humans to give Europe back to the Neanderthals…
There were Neanderthals in Israel too… I’m sure the UN would rather start with that!
We’ve already given the UN to the Neanderthals.
Did anyone else notice that the article was illustrated with a photo of a dog and a homo sapiens with a shotgun? No wonder the Neanderthals lost. All they had were spears.
The Neanderthals had spears? I thought spears were advanced tech, especially making the spear points. Weren’t those dudes restricted to clubs?
Neanderthal had spears, there is some question as to whether they were throwing spears or thrusting spears.
The spear-thrower, or atlatl, seems to have been an invention of Homo Sapiens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower
The Neanderthal spear was certainly used as a thrusting weapon. They may also have thrown it (they were very muscular and powerfully built), but a spear thrown by itself would not have had the speed, range, and force as a spear thrown with the aid of an atlatl.
Agreed. Also, I think I’d read that the Neanderthal spear points were more time-consuming to knap than the Cro-Magnon ones, as well as requiring more flint. So maybe they’d be less likely to be tied to a stick and thrown away.
I don’t think there’s any unambiguous evidence of Neanderthal arrow heads or dart heads, but there is some evidence that Neanderthal ate birds. That might imply some sort of projectile weapon.
Daver,
Yes, here is a good article on their weapons tech.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28663444/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/neanderthals-lacked-projectile-weapons/
Being able to use a stand off weapon is always nice, especially after the dogs points out of their hiding place, just as they did for Saddam Hussein, his sons and Bin Ladin.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3562677/Fearless-four-legged-war-hero.html
Yes, dogs really do give you an edge in a war…
Incidentally another of Robert Heinlein’s predictions has come true as the K-9’s in Starship Troopers also beamed pictures when used as scouts.
It certainly seems reasonable that Neanderthal musculature would prevent them from being any good at throwing over a distance. Maybe that would lead to some sort of intellectual blindspot that would prevent them from inventing the bow and arrow or slings. There is some evidence that they ate small animals and birds, so they likely had some sort of projectile weapon (although there’s no way to rule out trapping)
I was trying to think of dogs in Heinlein stories, but managed to forget about those in Starship Troopers. It seems like there should be more, but I’m blanking on them.
Cats could be a source of energy on long-duration space voyages, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z8yW5cyXXRc
(hat tip American Digest)