Saturday survived

[altivo]

Skipped the guild meeting, did all the rest. The only thing I'd hoped to do but did not get to was making a pie. I took advantage of the power of the Crock Pot(tm) to make dinner ahead, got all the barn chores done, went grocery shopping AND Valentine's Day shopping and still was able to participate in Alex Vance's experimental writing clinic over Ustream and Skype this evening.

As I had pretty much expected, streaming the Ustream video and running Skype at the same time was overwhelming to our limited bandwidth, but dropping the video and staying connected to Skype worked quite well. It was simply a radio panel instead of a television panel. And since the video was only Alex (no offense, but in that context he was just a "talking head") it all worked quite well as an audio-only chat.

The astute reader will note that this means I installed Skype and got it working. In fact, I installed it both on my desktop machine and on the netbook, and it appears to work on both. I borrowed Gary's USB headset for the actual event, though my sound-card based headset on the desktop PC would probably have worked just as well. I just didn't want to disentangle that one in order to use it on the netbook.

During the discussion of my own one-page excerpt, the question of the vegetarian wolf was raised, as it so often is when Argos is mentioned. Argos stands for a basic motif that I repeat again and again in my writing and for that matter in RP: the civilized individual who overrides instincts in order to better himself or the condition of those around him. Just as a human can choose to be a vegetarian for either aesthetic or ethical reasons, I see no reason that another rational species cannot choose to do the same. Granted, it may be more difficult for some (such as the felines) than for others (bears or canines) due to genetic makeup, but anyone who has seriously investigated or practiced real life vegetarianism understands that this is perfectly possible, and not even difficult if one allows animal foods that don't necessarily involve direct killing (as for instance dairy products or eggs.)

Comments

[schnee]

Yeah, a vegetarian wolf seems quite reasonable, at least if we're talking about the kind that possesses human-like, self-reflective intelligence. :)

In fact, it seems to be possible for "regular" canines, too; I read an article on vegetarianism etc. in the SPIEGEL a while ago, and it mentioned (in passing) some people who were not only vegans but also had their dogs on a vegan diet. Granted, I am wholly unconvinced that this either a) is a good idea or b) won't lead to problems for the dogs in the long run, but for the time being, it seems possible, at least.

[altivo]

A vegetarian or otherwise restricted diet for canids is fairly easy to create and offer. Most will accept it fairly well. My dogs love grains, vegetables, and legumes, and eat them eagerly. Protein and other constituents would need to be approached in an appropriate way, but it can certainly be done. Ursids and canids are opportunistic eaters and can subsist well on a wide variety of diets. Just as with humans, some adaptation of the digestive tract is required, and during the adjustment period there may be undesirable symptoms such as flatulence or runny stools.

Felines are considered to be obligatory carnivores, and adjusting them to a meatless diet is more difficult but not impossible. If a feline anthropomorph chose to be a vegetarian, they could certainly manage it.

The issue in literature is a symbolic one in any case, just as the choice of a vegetarian diet can be symbolic in real life. Literature addresses not just the possible, but the conceivable. ;D

[schnee]

*noddles* True. :)

(As for the dogs in question, it really was a vegan diet rather than just a vegetarian one, BTW.)

[altivo]

A vegan diet requires rather more complicated balancing than one that includes dairy or eggs, but it is quite workable from a nutrition standpoint. A dog's dietary requirements are not really that far from those of a human except in terms of proportion and amount.

Herbivores, on the other paw, are amazing. My horses can gain weight on a diet of nothing but dry hay and water. Cows, sheep, and goats can manage on even poorer input.