I often wonder if the medical fraternity, particularly that part of it that works in the developing countries, considers its wider responsibilities when it comes to the long term effects it has on over population and long term suffering.

Perhaps they, like the economic lobby, have medical tunnel vision.

Yabby,

Sorry, you fail today's history test.

http://www.suite101.com/content/book-review-pathfinders-the-golden-age-of-arabic-science-a341758

I'm not suggesting that the West indulge in a guilt trip over the fact that the Islamic world preserved much ancient knowledge - that's just the way it was.

Btw, while you and the other tribal bozos were sitting smoking in the hut, us women would be gossiping and laughing about your manhood and the fact that your buns weren't what they used to be....sad, but true.

Poirot, if you do a bit more homework, you will find that a number
if Islamic libraries too, were burned down by their fundamentalists.

Whilst you would be concerned about buns, let me point out that
without a modern bra, those breasts might be rather droopy too :)

Yabby,

It's not a blame game...just because humans have a penchant for burning libraries/written knowledge. It doesn't alter the fact that the Islamic world at that particular juncture in history was a repository and custodian of much ancient knowledge....nothing to argue about.

RE: drooping breasts - you're looking at things through a trussed-up Western eye. I'm sure the fellas over there prefer things to be "natural".

Poirot, on both sides, ie Christianity and Islam, progress was made
by thinking people in understanding the world. On both sides, it
was usually the religious who tried to destroy that information,
if it contradicted their particular interpretation of the holy
book of the day. Yes, smart people lived in the Islamic world
and smart people lived in the Christian world, how information was
stored and for how long, really came down to how fanatical the
religious amongst them were.

As for droopy breasts, I'll stick to the evolutionary interpretation.
Perky breasts represent youth and fertility, I've yet to see men
anywhere knock em back. I bet even your partner checks out the younger
models around, when he thinks that you arn't looking. Its just good
old instinct at work.

I hope you guys don't mind but I read an interesting article on this
topic in The New York Times some time back anyway you'll get the gist of it:

"Since when do we respond by burning things that upset us? For millenia actually. Christians were burned for years and they didn't enjoy it. There was Joan of Arc. There were even people who thought the Harry Potter books were the "devils text."

"Books are supposed to be the repository of history and cultural memory and the ink on their pages will last for generations. But light a match - there goes the library of Alexandria. I've always hoped that book burning would be one of these things we'd leave behind once we became more enlightened. Like once they installed indoor plumbing in your home. I think that book burning is always a sign that something has gone awry in our civilization."

The author goes on to make the point that its impossible to boil any religion down to a single sentence. He was referring to Pastor Jones and others who wanted to burn the Koran in the US. To say, "Christianity is purely a religion of peace," is as great a fallacy as to say "Islam is founded on hatred."

The point was a terrific one.

As for saggy breasts? There's the joke about a female journalist seeking the cause of mad cow disease, interviewing a farmer in the UK. The farmer asked the reporter, "Do you know that a bull mounts a cow once a year?" The reporter obviously embarrassed answered,
"Well, what's that got to do with mad cow disease?" The farmer patiently replied, "And madam, do you know that we milk a cow twice a day?" The reporter getting angry says, "What's your point?"

The farmer sighed and said, "I'm getting to the point. Just imagine if I was playing with your tits twice a day...and only screwing you once a year, wouldn't you get mad?" The story wasn't published.