all 46 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 47 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Recent hands-on experiments determined human feces cannot be made into frozen knives to dismember dogs” is the absolute most that a single sentence can be. The peak has been crested, literature can only stagnate from here.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This comes from a story Wade Davis told about an old Inuit hunter guy who killed a dog with a poop knife, skinned it, made a sled from its carcass and a harness from its hide and used another dog to ride into the sunset as a fuck you to his family who were trying to force him to retire.

    The story has been thought to be bullshit by a lot of people. Wade Davis is a great writer though.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    Wade got it from Peter Freuchen

    Edit: Holy shit Wade Davis, from Wikipedia

    In 1983, Davis first advanced his hypothesis that tetrodotoxin (TTX) poisoning could explain the existence of Haitian zombies.[10] This idea has been controversial and his 1985 follow-up book (The Serpent and the Rainbow) elaborating upon this claim has been criticized as containing scientific inaccuracies.[11] One is the suggestion Haitian witchdoctors can keep "zombies" in a state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years.[12] As part of his Haitian investigations, Davis commissioned the exhumation of a recently buried child.[13][14] (Dead human tissue is supposed to be a part of the "zombie powder" used by witchdoctors to produce zombies.) This has been criticized as a breach of ethics.[12][15]

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Ya. When you're reading psychedelic philosopher guys it's best to keep in mind that they might be completely full of shit and total whack-jobs. Much like a good acid trip, believe half of what you hear and none of what you see.

    Terrance McKenna is another one.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    For sale, baby shoes, poop knives can't dismember dogs.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    What are you, a researcher, or a quitter?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago

    I remember the 2018 Society for American Archaeology conference, everyone saw this paper title in the schedule and tried to go to the talk. Probably the most asked question that weekend besides "time for a beer?" was "did you see the poop knife talk?"

  • source
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Why is it always poop knives?

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    A semen sword would be too taxing?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    Was this a common myth or something? There’s got to be a reason to test it

  • source
  • hideshow 12 child comments
  • [–] 36 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    The paper's introduction actually does explain it:

    In his book, Shadows in the Sun, Davis (1998: 20) recounts what is now arguably one of the most popular ethnographic accounts of all time:
    “There is a well known account of an old Inuit man who refused to move into a settlement. Over the objections of his family, he made plans to stay on the ice. To stop him, they took away all of his tools. So in the midst of a winter gale, he stepped out of their igloo, defecated, and honed the feces into a frozen blade, which he sharpened with a spray of saliva. With the knife he killed a dog. Using its rib cage as a sled and its hide to harness another dog, he disappeared into the darkness.”

    There's also the story of Danish explorer Peter Freuchen, who claims to have used his own frozen shit to make a chisel to dig himself out of some ice. The paper takes the time to say that it is strictly about knives, though, not chisels

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    No way, explorers lying about their experiences? :O

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The "well known account" part sort of makes it clear it didn't happen to the explorer.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    From the ancient origins link above:

    While the author Wade Davis admits the story could be “apocryphal”, he cited the autobiography of Peter Freuchen who claimed to have shaped his own feces into a frozen chisel to make his escape.

    So he claimed he did it himself as well as saying he knew how to do it because of the "well known account". But also, anthropologists made shit up about the cultures they studied all the time, which is what I was actually referring to.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Did they experiment with composition of the poop? I expect it matters what you ate. I can see it not working if they were on a high fibre diet. They should try again after eating some sharp cheddar.

    Sorry, I had to.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    So this is from 2019 - hasn’t technology moved on ?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    It wasn't able to create puncture wounds, only pooper cuts.

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    Well there goes that movie idea tosses script

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    This is true. You must use a petrified coprolite.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Is this Lemmys version of the poop knife?

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    Whereas I have been waiting to see that title to a paper for decades.

    It's about fucking time.

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    The real question is do they work as dildos? Or is everything I believe about an Alaskan pipeline just a myth??

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Scientific progress in action.

  • source
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Were they solid loafs they made into knives or was it liquid?

  • source
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I can't stop laughing lmao

  • source
  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    untrue. A guy cut off his arm with a knife of his own shit in the arctic.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment