On 9/28/2014 1:51 AM, Ian Whitchurch wrote:
> I see it as very Vilani that tradition requires you to do the
> sensible things, even if you dont know why they are the sensible
> things.

Many traditions are like that.  Kosher laws and the Shinto prohibitions
against handling blood, crap, etc are essentially early hygiene manuals.

Of course, problems arise when stuff that has nothing to do with that
creeps in - false positives, judgments that this thing is "more holy"
than another, etc - and gets recorded with equal weight as the rest; or
when technology comes along that renders some or all of the code moot
(e.g., refrigeration, which allows one to safely keep and eat a ton of
things that would make a Bronze Age shepherd in Palestine terribly sick
after a week) but people still insist on following those rules because
It's How We've Always Lived.

--
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Kelly St. Clair
kellys@efn.org