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Author Topic:   Back Home from my 2021 Cross-country Road Trip
Theodoric
Member
Posts: 9076
From: Northwest, WI, USA
Joined: 08-15-2005
Member Rating: 3.7


Message 16 of 23 (911040)
06-03-2023 11:14 PM
Reply to: Message 15 by Tanypteryx
06-03-2023 2:05 PM


Re: Getting ready for road trip 2023
Ladysmith is only a couple of hours from here. If interested would love to meet up. If interested let me know the dates.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. -Christopher Hitchens

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

If your viewpoint has merits and facts to back it up why would you have to lie?


This message is a reply to:
 Message 15 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-03-2023 2:05 PM Tanypteryx has not replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(3)
Message 17 of 23 (911343)
06-27-2023 1:18 PM


Home from my 2023 road trip
I got home yesterday afternoon. It was a fun trip, but I had to cancel the Chicago leg of the trip because my friend there became gravely ill. I saw and photographed more than a dozen species of dragonflies that I had not seen in the field before and I was able to collect eggs from 5 species that I have not reared out before. Photo-documenting the embryo development and after the eggs hatch the development of the nymphs will keep me busy this fall and winter.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!
What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that it has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --Percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

Replies to this message:
 Message 18 by AZPaul3, posted 06-27-2023 2:22 PM Tanypteryx has replied
 Message 20 by Phat, posted 06-28-2023 9:30 AM Tanypteryx has replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 18 of 23 (911344)
06-27-2023 2:22 PM
Reply to: Message 17 by Tanypteryx
06-27-2023 1:18 PM


Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
... after the eggs hatch the development of the nymphs will keep me busy this fall and winter.
So when do they dry out enough you can crush'em and smoke'em?
Wait ... wrong hobby. Nevermind.
Living the life, Tany. Congrats.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 17 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-27-2023 1:18 PM Tanypteryx has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 19 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-27-2023 2:56 PM AZPaul3 has not replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(1)
Message 19 of 23 (911345)
06-27-2023 2:56 PM
Reply to: Message 18 by AZPaul3
06-27-2023 2:22 PM


Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
Living the life, Tany. Congrats.
Thanks, or die trying!
The trip 2 years ago was just as one of the Covid variants was really ramping up, so we masked in public and camped and avoided close contact with strangers. On this trip I stayed in motels, but made my own meals from groceries while on the road. We ate in restaurants once I got there (1st time for me since the pandemic began), but still kept our distance from other people.
One thing that was very noticeable 2 years ago were American flags hanging everywhere at the ends of people's driveways and on flagpoles mounted on the beds of pickups and many other places, along with Confederate and Trump flags. There were very few in comparison on this trip. Lots of "Don't Tread on Me" flags 2 years ago, but I didn't see any on this trip.
In most of Oregon the freeway speed limit is 65 mph and 55 for trucks. It is disconcerting to be cruising at 80 mph and having an eighteen wheeler pass you!

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!
What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that it has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --Percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

This message is a reply to:
 Message 18 by AZPaul3, posted 06-27-2023 2:22 PM AZPaul3 has not replied

  
Phat
Member
Posts: 18262
From: Denver,Colorado USA
Joined: 12-30-2003
Member Rating: 1.1


Message 20 of 23 (911353)
06-28-2023 9:30 AM
Reply to: Message 17 by Tanypteryx
06-27-2023 1:18 PM


Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
Tanypteryx writes:
I saw and photographed more than a dozen species of dragonflies that I had not seen in the field before and I was able to collect eggs from 5 species that I have not reared out before. Photo-documenting the embryo development and after the eggs hatch the development of the nymphs will keep me busy this fall and winter.
Impressive! I know that you enjoy what you do. Is that a job or a hobby?

This message is a reply to:
 Message 17 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-27-2023 1:18 PM Tanypteryx has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 21 by Phat, posted 06-28-2023 9:56 AM Phat has seen this message but not replied
 Message 22 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-28-2023 9:58 AM Phat has seen this message but not replied

  
Phat
Member
Posts: 18262
From: Denver,Colorado USA
Joined: 12-30-2003
Member Rating: 1.1


(1)
Message 21 of 23 (911354)
06-28-2023 9:56 AM
Reply to: Message 20 by Phat
06-28-2023 9:30 AM


Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
Curious about your livelihood, I perused the internet to find information.
This article concerned me. New assessment finds dragonflies and damselflies in trouble worldwide
Mongabay:

  • A global assessment of more than 6,000 dragonfly and damselfly species shows that 16% are at risk of extinction.
  • The main threats to these insects are the human destruction of their wetland habitats, water pollution, and climate change.
  • There are more dragonfly and damselfly species than there are mammals, yet they remain so understudied that the assessment failed to come up with enough data to determine a conservation status for more than 1,700 species.
  • Researchers say better protecting the world’s wetlands would not only save the thousands of dragonflies and damselflies, but innumerable other species too, and provide us with better water quality and more carbon sequestration.
    Wetlands are ecological powerhouses: they store carbon, protect us from floods, and supply clean water and food.
    “Most dragonfly and damselfly species live in pristine tropical forests, which have been destroyed to a large extent over the last few years,” says Viola Clausnitzer, co-chair of the IUCN’s Dragonfly Specialist Group, a global network of scientists and conservationists. “The destruction is still going on for settlements, large-scale and small-scale farming, wood harvesting and logging.”

  • How does the population look this year?

    This message is a reply to:
     Message 20 by Phat, posted 06-28-2023 9:30 AM Phat has seen this message but not replied

    Replies to this message:
     Message 23 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-28-2023 10:46 AM Phat has not replied

      
    Tanypteryx
    Member
    Posts: 4344
    From: Oregon, USA
    Joined: 08-27-2006
    Member Rating: 5.9


    (3)
    Message 22 of 23 (911355)
    06-28-2023 9:58 AM
    Reply to: Message 20 by Phat
    06-28-2023 9:30 AM


    Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
    Phat in Message 20 writes:
    Is that a job or a hobby?
    Well, I'm a retired entomologist and now I get to study and photograph the subjects I am interested in. I sell my photos and use them to illustrate my research papers and I also do illustration photos for other odonatists (entomologists who study dragonflies and damselflies) for pay. Most of the scientists I know were intensely interested in their subject before they got their formal education and a career and continued studying their subject on their own time and after they retire.
    It's who we are. Our education only ends when we die. It's a life, rather than a job or hobby.

    Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!
    What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
    One important characteristic of a theory is that it has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
    If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --Percy
    The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

    This message is a reply to:
     Message 20 by Phat, posted 06-28-2023 9:30 AM Phat has seen this message but not replied

      
    Tanypteryx
    Member
    Posts: 4344
    From: Oregon, USA
    Joined: 08-27-2006
    Member Rating: 5.9


    (2)
    Message 23 of 23 (911356)
    06-28-2023 10:46 AM
    Reply to: Message 21 by Phat
    06-28-2023 9:56 AM


    Re: Home from my 2023 road trip
    Phat in Message 21 writes:
    IUCN’s Dragonfly Specialist Group, a global network of scientists and conservationists.
    My best friend, who I just visited in Wisconsin, is also a member IUCN’s Dragonfly Specialist Group. Habitat destruction in the tropics has been dramatic from year to year, in the places we have visited, and many species seem to have disappeared.
    In North America, all the same threats are impacting our odonates. Over the last 50 years where I live, more than a dozen prime aquatic habitats have been completely destroyed, filled in and built upon. There are only 3 of the sites I have been studying all that time that are left and 2 of those have lost most species due to invasive aquatic plants that have covered most of the open water. The species count is about 15 percent of that at their peak.
    Generalist species that can breed in many different aquatic habitats are still thriving but habitat specialists are disappearing. In Oregon, Washington, and California, east of the Cascades and Sierras, extended drought has dried up many habitats and exterpated many species. Recolonization would take many years without droughts.
    Phat in Message 20 writes:
    How does the population look this year?
    That question is not answerable, we have to look at data from much longer periods, decades and centuries, and the picture is not good. I have talked about the insect apocalypse here before, but globally we are on the brink of the collapse of multiple ecosystems that humanity and our agriculture depends on. At the same time pest insects and invasive species are on the rise, directly threatening our agricultural systems that produce the food that 8 billion+ people depend on. This disaster is going to get us before global warming.
    I just drove 5000 miles to Wisconsin and back and could have done it without cleaning my windshield...50 years ago I could not have driven 100 miles without cleaning it!

    Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!
    What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
    One important characteristic of a theory is that it has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
    If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --Percy
    The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

    This message is a reply to:
     Message 21 by Phat, posted 06-28-2023 9:56 AM Phat has not replied

      
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