Moving the goalposts
 

Each time we feel we have an understanding of what animals are, of their nature and capacities, the goalposts get moved. The more we learn about them the less we find we knew. Old assumptions have to be let go. Animals we'd once dismissed as brute, have been shown to possess greater subtlety than we'd ever thought possible; from empathetic yawning dogs, to trainable goldfish.

So, in line with the ever-changing goalposts I give you the pain of the crab:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7966807.stm

It certainly raises interesting questions about the humanity of our killing/cooking methods with crustaceans.

Once they're dead, their (painful) memories are gone. Just make the process as quick as possible.

Thats interesting. I'll think of that at the next All-You-Can-Eat crab nite.

Takes the fun out of the next lobster boil.

No, it doesn't.

Does the lobster remember ... when he was tricked into a metal trap, rudely yanked out of his homeland into the open air, had his marvelous claws bound shut, thrown into a hold for days upon days with nothing but other lobsters, transferred to trucks, and finally thrown into a tank a 100,000th of the size of his previous domain, where people could stare at him deciding whether to eat him?

The boilpot would be the easy way out, at that point.

And crab legs! But it's ok, I don't want the head part that holds the memories, just the leggy parts they ripped off.

Does the boy remember... when he was tricked in to a fabric covered cubicle, rudely yanked out of his native open air, had his running bare feet covered and shackled, thrown into a rat-race with nothing but other running rats, transported daily in cars like cans, and finally thrown into a "virtual world" a 100,000th the size and richness of his previous domain, where managers stare at his reports deciding whether to feed him to the streets?

The boilpot would be the easy way out, at that point.

Jesus Christ, BigV.

The boy becomes a man.
The lobster becomes lunch.
Works for me.

ahhhhh.... the circle of life.