Re: Coming Down From The Pedestal

[johndageek]

This node reminds me of a story about an old cowboy (whom I tend to identify with, through no-one’s fault but my own.)

The cowboy rode into town after having herded several hundred head of cattle through a huge number of miles of seriously unfriendly rattlesnake ridden territory. As he dismounted, dust settling from his trail worn attire a city slicker (displeased about the cowboy’s appearance) hollered “Hey, Who is your superior?”.

The cowboy spit, and drew the back of his hand over his mouth before staring into the city slickers eyes and drawling “I go no superiors . . . and damned few equals.”, before walking into the bar.

[Anonymous Monk]

The cowboy rode into town after having herded several hundred head of cattle through a huge number of miles of seriously unfriendly rattlesnake ridden territory.

Pardon my ignorance, but why are the rattlesnakes relavent during a cattle drive? What rattlesnake in it's right mind sticks around when a few hundred tons of earth shaking cattle start lumbering their way towards it? If I were a rattlesnake, I'd slither the hell away from all the noise, vibrations, and commotion, which would be wise, since being stepped on by just one of the hundreds of cattle would kill me, and probably only have enough venom in my little fangs to kill one of them in return.

A cowboy with a bunch of cattle in front of it is only going to be bothered by snakes if terribly unlucky, and ends up disturbing the rattlesnake's hiding place.

My sympathy lies with the poor rattlesnake, really. He can't sleep with all the noise and bellowing, and he has to hide from the nasty cows or get squished, or eaten by a cowboy out looking for a meal and a new snakeskin belt...

[Anonymous Monk]

You must be the city slicker.

One rattlesnake can cause a stampede. In certain parts of the country there are places where large concentrations of rattlesnakes are present. Plenty enough to cause a large number of cattle to stampede/scatter -- making the cowboy's job much more difficult and deserving of praise if well done.

It is of course true that a cow usually wins a confrontation with a snake by (mostly accidently) stepping on it.

But you forget two important factors: 1) Cows have ears 2) Rattlesnakes are named after their rattles for a reason.

If you ever surprise a rattlesnake you'll find that their rattle is (assuming the snake is old enough to have a decent size) very very loud and quite good at making mamals with ears run the other way.