Here´s a recent article in Science News about brain cell death. It seems that about a minute after the blood supply to brain cells is cut off, an electrical charge buildup is released, resulting in "an eerie shudder of activity". This doesn´t address the difference between halal slaughter and the Western practice of using a knocker but it´s an interesting, if morbid, article at least.

The link is:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/332665/title/Wave_of_death_may_not_be_a_last_gasp

That may not work for everyone, as Science News requires subscription registration for some articles, so the full text is:


Almost a minute after a rat’s head is severed from its body, an eerie shudder of activity ripples through the animal’s brain. Some researchers think this post-decapitation wave marks the border between life and death. But the phenomenon can be explained by electrical changes that, in some cases, are reversible, researchers report online July 13 in PLoS ONE.

Whether a similar kind of brain wave happens in humans, and if so, whether it is inextricably tied to death could have important implications. An unambiguous marker could help doctors better decide when to diagnose brain death, knowledge that could give clarity to loved ones and boost earlier organ donation.

In a PLoS ONE paper published in January, neuroscientist Anton Coenen and colleagues at the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands described this wave of electrical activity in the rat brain occurring 50 seconds after decapitation. The Nijmegen team, which was exploring whether decapitation is a humane way to sacrifice lab animals, wrote that this brain activity seemed to be the ultimate border between life and death. They dubbed the phenomenon the “wave of death.”

But neurologist Michel van Putten of the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, wasn’t convinced. “We have no doubt the observation is real,” he says. “But the interpretation is completely speculative.”

In the new study, van Putten and colleagues devised a mathematical model of how a nerve cell would behave if its oxygen and energy supplies were suddenly cut off. The model consists of just a single cell with three kinds of channels that allow charged particles to flow in and out. The spaces outside and inside nerve cells have unequal electrical charges, a difference that allows neurons to fire the impulses they use to communicate.

After an abrupt halt of energy and oxygen supply, the channels stop functioning normally, causing a buildup of positive charge outside the cell. This buildup prompts a big discharge of electrical activity about a minute after starting the simulation — the wave of death.

Study coauthor and physicist Bas-Jan Zandt, also of the University of Twente, says that the simulation closely matches what is observed in the rat brain. Such cell behavior could be the start of a damaging process, he says, such as cell swelling, but there’s nothing about the actual wave that means the nerve cell is going to die.

“It doesn’t cause damage to the cell,” Zandt says. “In principle, it is a reversible process.”

The observed brain wave may represent an event on the way to death, but probably isn’t death itself, says clinical neurophysiologist Kevin Nelson of the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Coenen, coauthor of the earlier study, says he was happy to see the modeling experiment. “It nicely shows what we already expected,” he says of the study’s finding that the wave is due to a massive change in cell membrane charge. Yet he still thinks that this wave may be an irreversibly damaging process, and he and his team plan to test this.

alameda, there is no way to commercially raise meat animals without some suffering on the animals´ part. No bull calf, for instance, is going to enjoy being cut but it´s not practical to have a herd of bulls rather than steers, hence the bull calves get cut. There are similar practicalities for other procedures.

My friend, who I buy my beef from, is a small operator too, not quite a hobby farmer but certainly not a full time rancher. It´s nice to patronize people like this, but most people in the world will have to get their food from large corporations or do without. We should just encourage humane treatment by everyone.

I´d just like to thank Stumpy for his posts and add that, as someone who has also been around ranches and slaughterhouses, I can confirm that all his points are correct.

Last week, I helped a friend with branding and cutting his bull calves last week and can say that this causes much more distress than slaughtering either by halal procedures or by using a knocker. Ranching practices are not always kind to the animal, even though they are necessary. All the ranchers I know do their best to minimize their animals´ suffering.

I did a Google search and found an e-bay seller:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KURDISH-ALEVI-LAMENTS-2CD-2011-ZEMAREN-KURDEN-ELEWI_W0QQitemZ300557082750QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SILF:GB:102

The good news, such as it is, is that a magnitude 8.9 event can´t happen on faults like the one that threatens Istanbul. The North Anatolian fault is a strike-slip fault, where slabs of rocks slide sideways along a perpendicular edge between them. Think of two floor tiles lying next to each other and one sliding along their common edge while the other remains still. It turns out the biggest earthquake you can get with a system like that is perhaps M8. The San Andreas fault is a strike-slip fault and is remarkably similar to the North Anatolian fault. On the San Andreas, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was M7.7 to M7.9, depending on how you estimate it. That´s about the biggest that one could be near Istanbul, which would without doubt be a staggering tragedy because of the number of people affected.

The March 11 Japan quake was on a thrust fault where one slab of rock is sliding under another. Think of our floor tiles, with one on lying top of the other, and the bottom one sliding under the top one. There would be a lot more friction than in the strike-slip example and that friction is analagous to earthquake energy. Big thrust faults are found only at subduction zones, where one slab of oceanic crust is being forced underneath another slab. They can be M9+, with the Japan quake estimated at M8.9, last I heard.

By the way, terrestrial-caused quakes, on no matter what sort of fault system, can in theory only go up to about M10, because even the strongest rock, with absolutely no flaws, would not be able to store enough stress to cause a stronger event. A meteor impact could cause a bigger event, though. The Chicxulub impact that wiped out the dinosaurs would have caused an earthquake that has been estimated at 11+.

500 years is not very long for DNA extraction. A partial sequence of 40,000 year old Neanderthal DNA has been recovered:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100506141549.htm

Alcohol-free wine is fairly common in U.S. supermarkets and shops.  It´s not the same as grape juice since it has been fermented, which changes the chemistry and taste a lot as the sugar has been converted to alcohol, which is then removed.  I believe a vacuum process is used for the removal but I´m not sure of that.  You can get alcohol-free beer too.  Alcohol-free beer and wine don´t taste exactly the same as the true products but they´re similar.

Both the wine and beer are marketed to people who like the taste or want to blend into social situations but don´t want the effects of alcohol, whether because it´s against their religion, they´re planning on driving or operating other equipment or because they´re alcoholics.

I spent a day in Erzurum a couple of years ago, just looking around, and enjoyed the place.  There are a number of historic old buildings and the town was interesting for itself, being very much more Asian than European.

It certainly is conservative, with what seems like a cami on every block.  I encountered no  English speakers but people were friendly enough and I had no problems getting by with only rudimentary Turkish.  Nobody bothered me at all except for a few small children at  Üç Türbe, who demanded money to pose for pictures.  They were annoying but scattered quickly enough when I glared at them.  It´s not a warm place but it´s not Antactica either.  You want to dress conservatively there anyway, with long sleeves and pants legs, and a jacket might come in handy.

I liked Erzurum and would recommend a visit to it.

That´s condemning the poor thing to a rather horrible lingering death. It´s much kinder to kill it as quickly as possible.

Personally, I prefer to stick the point of a knife between the fish´s eyes and push it into the brain. The fish writhes for a few seconds, then goes limp. It´s not a pretty thing to do but there is no way to make killing a warm and fuzzy activity. A quick and, if possible, painless death is the best you can do.

Also thanks to Vineyards for the child´s poem. I find it charming.