[FRIAM] Miller, miller moths everywhere...

Tue May 19 11:03:47 EDT 2020

Nick -

I *like* this kind of anecdotal/vernacular science.   I think Glen might
refer to these stories/ideas as "just so stories" because they seem to
be post-hoc fitting of simple yet in some sense apt models to anecdotal
data gathered ad-hoc but widely.    I think I understand (and agree)
with his (implied) judgment of them as being "real science" but they
smack of something more than "wishful thinking", maybe "whimsical
thinking"?  And a sort of proto-science.  Or a collective form of
knowledge/wisdom formation which lacks the formal rigor of modern
science.  Related to what Dave appeals to with us perhaps in Jung and
other ideas of collective consciousness.   A step away from believing
that the cosmos and everyday life are ordered by a (the)
angry/benevolent god(esses) toward believing something perhaps equally
absurd, that everything is ordered by mathematics.

My father was second-generation college educated... with a BS in biology
preparing him for an advanced degree in Forestry (soil and range
science), and his parents before him both held BS degrees in Geology.  
But they were all still rooted in a style of understanding the world
(minerals, plants and animals, and people) which was roughly
animistic... they all still lived physically close to the earth and
virtually all of their relatives were still living in the hills and
hollers of Appalachia.  This could easily explain why I "like" the
anecdotal/vernacular and distrust the *over* application of mathematics.

I've rattled on before about the *explanatory* power of models and the
hypotheses they embody vs *predictive* or *communicative* or
*descriptive* or even *inspirational*.   These are not orthogonal, but I
think still useful...  a "descriptive" model of the utlity/power of
scientific thinking/modeling?

- Steve

FWIW... re: Jon's report on their nutritive value, my young chickens (6
weeks today?) have been foraging in our courtyard for about a week
during the day.   At first they showed significant interest in the flies
that would occasion their feeder, but seemed to learn quickly that they
were not fast enough to catch them, and soon discovered the myriad
ground insects that they could find by pecking and scratching.   I was
sitting on a low wall next to a couple of them... they seem to like the
company of humans and will come close and do their foraging near me,
even though I rarely hand feed them.   I looked down and one was
swallowing a very large grey-brown object which I am now sure was a
miller.  The miller moth infestation/epidemic/peak at my house (near the
Rio Grande) seems to have lagged that of the one in Santa Fe and even
just up the Pojoaque Valley where people have been reporting the deluge
for weeks.   Ours just started a few days ago.

Speaking of anecdotal and just-so science stories.   I find it
fascinating to note that these birds, supposedly not THAT removed from
their wild ancestors are constructed from a single *large enough to eat
for breakfast* egg-cell in about 20 days and emerge almost fully able to
survive alone (though they benefit from the warmth and protection and
guidance of a mother hen, or some people with a heat-lamp and some
agri-industrially formulated food and our own curiosity).  And then, not
too much later, they begin to "shed an egg" nearly daily (if you keep
taking them away) which if fertilized, would repeat the construction,
growth process right in front of my eyes.   Aside from their daily
egg-gift, I look forward to their help in insect control in my
garden.... I can tolerate many pests in the garden but some years we get
grasshoppers and squash bugs, each who can decimate a crop.  

I've always enjoyed watching the Sphynx/Hummingbird moths around the
homestead, but did not know their larval form was the "dreaded" tomato
worm.   Last year, I was surprised to see that along with my tomatoes,
they had discovered the volunteer datura that come up here and there
around the property and two or three had ganged up on one plant and
stripped it bare of leaves.    I wondered at how their metabolism
handled the kind of alkaloids that humans (and cattle?) experience as
"loco weed".  The datura, with it's heavily cholorphylled and thick
stems seemed to survive just fine and put out a fresh bounty of
(smaller?) leaves and returned to it's course of producing flowers to be
pollinated by (also the sphynx?) and then a seedpod to lead to this
year's surprise sprouts?!

> Hi, Merle,
>
>  
>
> Are you sure it’s not 19 years?  The standard “take” on insect
> eruptions is (used to be?) that they occur on a cycle of prime numbers
> to make it harder for creatures with shorter cycles to “track” them.
>  See
> https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-cicadas-love-affair-with-prime-numbers
> for a pretty thin introduction to the idea.
>
>  
>
> N
>
>  
>
> Nicholas Thompson
>
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
>
> Clark University
>
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com>
>
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>
>  
>
>  
>
> *From:* Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Merle Lefkoff
> *Sent:* Monday, May 18, 2020 10:01 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Miller, miller moths everywhere...
>
>  
>
> My son in Boulder says they get the "infestation" right on the dot
> every 20 years.
>
>  
>
> They are also important pollinators.  
>
>  
>
> On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 9:57 PM Jon Zingale <jonzingale at gmail.com
> <mailto:jonzingale at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Wow, they are everywhere! According to wikipedia:
>
>      
>
>     Army cutworms are one of the richest foods for predators, such
>     as brown bears <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_bear>, in this
>     ecosystem, where up to 72 per cent of the moth's body weight is
>     fat, thus making it more calorie-rich than elk or deer.^[10]
>     <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_cutworm#cite_note-10>  This is
>     the highest known body fat percentage of any animal.^[11]
>     <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_cutworm#cite_note-11>  
>
>      
>
>     And according to the New Mexican:
>
>      
>
>     `... they do not carry disease, Formby said, and they’re not the
>     type of moth that will get into your clothes closet and start
>     shredding your new camel hair jacket.`
>
>      
>
>      
>
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>  
>
> -- 
>
> Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D.
> President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy
> emergentdiplomacy.org <http://emergentdiplomacy.org>
>
> Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
>
> merlelefkoff at gmail.com <mailto:merlelefoff at gmail.com>
> mobile:  (303) 859-5609
> skype:  merle.lelfkoff2
>
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