DERSU UZALA (was: What hope can be offered to AIDS patients?

[Guest guest]

Europeans diets could possibly have

>been better, since the Europeans quite clearly wrecked the soil while

>the natives tended to maintain it, or at least many of them did, in

>many areas where they hunted and left the woods rather than cutting

>them down. Yet 65% or more of the natives were killed off extremely

>quickly by infectious diseases brought by the Europeans, while the

>Europeans had immunity. Because the Europeans had specific immunity

>to those diseases.

This part of the discussion offers a perfect opportunity to mention DERSU

UZALA, my current favorite movie and all time favorite movie character. What

you said above reminded me about something in the movie. Dersu was from the

Goldi hunter/gatherer tribe of Siberia

(http://gate.cia.edu/cbergengren/arthistory/siberia/) and in a conversation

with the Russian military captain who had befriended him while out in the

wilderness doing surveys of the area, Dersu mentioned that wife and children

had died of smallpox, (much like many North American Indians). I assume his

tribe in general probably lacked immunity as did the Native Americans who

were also devistated t by smallpox. I don't know how Dersu survived the

smallpox, but then this was fiction (although the actor who plays Dersu is

so convincing that I forgot I was watching a work of fiction).

I can't recommend the movie highly enough. The picture quality is pretty

bad, and I almost didn't watch it after the first 5 minutes because of that,

but am so glad I hung in there and saw it through. Dersu was amazing -

probably the most memorable and endearing character I've seen on film.

Everyone should have a Dersu in their life! But there wasn't much in the

movie that related to food, other than the fact that Dersu's full-time job

was being a hunter. Although there was a great scene in a yurt when Dersu,

Capitan and a couple of soldiers were fed grilled fish by a native family.

BTW, recommended this movie to me and between us it gets an

enthusiastic four thumbs up!

Suze Fisher

Lapdog Design, Inc.

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg

Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader, Mid Coast Maine

http://www.westonaprice.org

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“The diet-heart idea (the idea that saturated fats and cholesterol cause

heart disease) is the greatest scientific deception of our times.” --

Mann, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt

University, Tennessee; heart disease researcher.

The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics

<http://www.thincs.org>

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