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No Nuts
I’m sick of the markets. If you want some erudite comments on the latest eco crap or some deep thoughts on when the EU will tank, go elsewhere today. I've got nothing erudite to say. So something different this A.M.
I live about an hour north of NYC. Not far from one of the big reservoirs. There is a lot of protected watershed property. Much more woods than people. I have all sorts of critters around. It’s not unusual for me to see a half-dozen deer on the lawn in the morning. There are flocks of wild turkeys. There are dozens of both black and white squirrels. Chipmunks everywhere. All these animals are dying.
I’ve been aware of something going on for about a month. This is not the first time that a mass death of animals has happened. Some years ago we had a rabies epidemic. It quickly moved from one animal group to another. It damn near wiped out the raccoons, skunks and possums. As the kill of these animals progressed varmints came in to clean up the dead. In just a few years the coyote population exploded. But nature had its way (as it always does). As they coyotes ate the diseased carrion they too became sick and died. The cycle ended when the animals all died.
For a year or so it was safe to put garbage out at night because the coons and skunks were gone. When the small animals died the big ones who ate them moved on. The coyotes left and folks started letting the cat out at night again.
The coyotes are back this year. I’ve heard them at night as they form packs to kill weak animals. They howl a horrible noise to scare their prey into confusion and fear. This time it’s different. Different animal groups are affected. It’s not rabies that’s the problem. The animals at risk don’t eat meat.
I didn’t think much of this until I happened to have a conversation with the fellow from Ecuador who was cleaning up my leaves. He says to me:
"No frutos secos esta anos."
I walked away thinking to myself, “No nuts?”
It took me a bit, but I finally got it. There are almost no acorns this year. No big healthy ones at all. The ones that you might find are the size of a pea. They contain no food, they’re just husks. And that's why the animals are stressed and the coyotes are back.
If you Google, “Missing acorns” you will see that there are chat rooms from garden types who have made note of the acorn issue. It seems to be contained in the North East this year (there is no actual data.) While looking around on the topic I found this interesting (and a bit eerie) article from 2008 in the Washington Post.
The same thing happened around the D.C. area 3 years ago. From the article:
The idea seemed too crazy to Rod Simmons, a measured, careful field botanist. Naturalists in Arlington County couldn't find any acorns. None. No hickory nuts, either. "We're talking zero. Not a single acorn. It's really bizarre."
A naturalist in Maryland found no acorns on an Audubon nature walk there. Ditto for Fairfax, Falls Church, Charles County, even as far away as Pennsylvania. There are no acorns falling from the majestic oaks in Arlington National Cemetery.
Starving, skinny squirrels eating garbage, inhaling bird feed, greedily demolishing pumpkins. Squirrels boldly scampering into the road. This year, experts said, many animals will starve.
Some of the scientists made light of the 2008 development:
"What's there to worry about?" said Alan Whittemire, a botanist at the U.S. Arboretum. "If you're a squirrel, it's a big worry. But it's no problem for the oak tree.”
Sure enough the next year acorns came back to Virginia. But obviously three years later the same thing is happening in a different region. Back in 08 the thinking was “Why worry”. But the thinking was also, “If this happens again we have something to worry about.”
"But if this were to continue another two, three, four years, you might have to ask yourself what's going on, whether it is an indication of something bigger."
Well, it’s happened again. We shall if there is anything to this. I suspect this might get broader attention in the media. It’s too weird not to get noticed. Anyone else missing their acorns this year?
Now you can go back to the stupid markets.
.
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Bruce,
look up 'mast year' on wikipedia. This is a phenomenon that has been around forever. God's design, Mother nature, evolutionary process, choose your explanation. (I'll stick with God's design ).
Why isn't the process of evolution "God's design"? Seems rather obvious that the harse reality of evolution as described by the best and brightest scientist could be entirely "God's design". To be a "God" implies all knowing and all powerful, the ability to do anything, no limits. I think you make the incorrect assumption that God is somehow on your side. I am not refering to any intelligent design bullshit, simply that the laws of physics and and Nature were put in place and the experiment is allowed to proceed in so much as those laws (established by a creator are allowed to proceed. I think you better stop and reconsider the possibility that God is more like the Nature around you and makes no promises regarding your survival or salvation.
I think we'd be better off asking if we are on God's side, because he asks us to choose Him. Deism is not Judeo-Christian. God didn't set it all in motion as a great experiment. Rather, he is involved in every cell division in the universe, so that life would not happen without him. Evolution is no harsh reality, it's a fairy tale that has brainwashed millions of people with "millions and millions of years ago".
So who the sensitive one now? You may feel comfortable having people build your bridges on whatever their spirititual leader says (many flavors to pick from), but I would rather that my engineers actually inderstand the laws of physics and Nature so that the bridge does not collapse under the weigh of traffic or any other physical forces that work on it. Another sheep being lead to slaughter, fine with me.
Yeah, but what do the laws of bridgebuilding have to do with evolution? I happen to think that it's the introduction of Empiricism/Rationalism into every area of life that causes the breakdown. Such is the case in economics: its called Keynesianism. It just so happens that we need to get over bridges immediately without dying.
"what do the laws of bridgebuilding have to do with evolution"
Because the atoms in the DNA of all living things, like the atoms in the bridge, are subject to the same natural laws. Print all you want, it won't make the resources you need to run the eCONomy or feed 7 billion people any more abundant. Your hypocracy and ignorance is outstanding as there is a very real cost for creating capital that is not used for productive work (not gambling by paper-pushing fucknuts to sustain bonus payments). This is why ZIRP is a death sentence for any fiat. Let me guess, getting a degree in finance or economics right now. Come out of the ivory tower and play in the real world dude, margins fucking matter. Good luck and let me know when you have built a company from nothing and have remained in business for 20+ years, then I'll be impressed.
Because the atoms in the DNA of all living things, like the atoms in the bridge, are subject to the same natural laws.
You're a materialist. You are discounting the spiritual, which gives life to the material and makes the difference between animate and inanimate. What is life? Not the buildingblocks, but the actual stuff?
I'd rather remain anonymous, but suffice it to say, I am not in economics, but art & theology and yes, I have had my own business for quite a while.
You are a twit for thinking that you know anything about my spirituality. Again you display your ignorance. I am very spiritual and very much in touch with the spirit world, quite frankly it is the only way I can currently explain the ability of my grandfather and I to witch for water.
But I digress, my point was that when actually delivering a product that people depend on, facts matter, not how spiritual the engineer was. Hell, if your business is small, you should be even more angry than I am about the Fed's manipulation and rape of the dollar and taxpayer.
Anyone can "witch" for water- you get two straight metal rods (coat hangers are ideal), bend an end to fit in the palm, rest your thumb on the longer piece that extends from the grip of your hand, same with the other rod in the other hand, and place them parallel in front of you, and they cross as you slowly walk forward whenever a pipe, water or electric cable crossed over. Not at all spiritual
Oh I'll bet you are spiriitual. But why no mention of God? You know those "spirits" whom you use to witch for water and get special knowledge from hate God. That is why God told Israel not to have anything to do with "familiar spirits" and whoever did was to be stoned. That was under a different economy. Today you have grace to believe what you want.
Who said I wasn't angry about the FED? I'm surprised you favor a free market.
Thanks again for confirming that such ignorance still exists.
The Big Angry Guy in the sky was created to punish non conformists. Jesus just about got caring for your fellow man up and going until the Catholic Church did the reverse takeover thing. You know, the thing about your either in our tribe or we kill you for your own sake.
I loved the test for witches. If you floated you were a witch, if you sunk to the bottom, you weren't.
And don't get me started about Allah. Mohammed shamelessly copied the worst of the Old and New Testament.m Tribalism at its worst.
Any religion that denies their mothers is dogshit to me.
DUDE !
You witch for water? That freaking FASCINATES me! The guy who found our water here in North Georgia used bent clothes hangers, and he let me try. It worked for me, too, so no big magical event, there... Science we have always "not understood" somehow achieves the rank of "Majik," at least until somebody figures out what is really going on.
Dowsing is amazing. I really wish I knew how it works. Do you even have any leads?
Have a theory about personal magnetic fields and the polar nature of the water molecule, but no real way to test it.
Well, somewhere in there is a Law of Physics. Don't stop believin'.
Cheers.
Shit, but you atheists are sensitive...
@ mtomato2,
Hah! Very good. One of those greens is mine.
A green from The Bearing is worth ten from anyone else.
Who is sensitive? Have all the faith in God you want, I simply don't recommend trading on it or running a company (particularly an engineering firm) on it.
I checked. I'm pretty sure that neither Sharky nor I said anything about asking God about trading or engineering.
You started a completely unnecessary argument from pure ether. I'm just wondering why.
And by the way, what's all this about Chinese pollinators? Are you serious about that? I hope I'm not showing my ignorance by biting. I guess it seems plausible, if not a bit frightening.
Also, Stiler's on his own about the millions of years thing. Something about the speed of light, and visible stars and all that...
you usea camel hair brush for pollinating, badger hair for painting
a simple google search;
http://www.apinews.com/en/news/item/12780-china-hand-pollination
but lots more if you do a literature search on the subject at your public library, assuming of course they haven't closed due to a lack of funding.
Wow! I can get a job after all--as a bee!
Ours is still open, but nobody here knows how to use it...
Ain't that the truth. Just trying to make an inclusive statement and indicate my own belief set and they go all Ninja-blogger on me.
Believe what you want, your choice, no skin off my nose. But try and be a little less sensitive, and maybe a smidge of tolerance could help. Might I suggest the therapeutic value of "The Angry Man" by Phyllis McGinley.
Not necessarily an atheist, but I have the same standard of proof for anything.
When you can move mountains and raise the dead, I will be impressed. Until then, I will laugh at your superstitious ass.
You have the written word and that is enough. Someone's coming who will raise the dead and you'll be deceived.
1) For any truly rational person, no, it is NOT enough. Adolf Hitler, Lyndon LaRouche, Mao Tsetung and Pol Pot all had the "written word" too --- are you telling me that their screeds are not enough to automatically earn your faith? If you are a Christian but not a Mormon, for example, why do you accept the Bible but not the Book of Mormon? I mean, all one has to go on in accepting either, or both, is faith (i.e., blind belief in the absence of evidence, i.e., insanity).
2) We have in fact an overabundance of the written word -- most of it mutually contradictory, and all of it more or less equally unsupported by hard, verifiable evidence. How do you suggest that I logically chose just ONE holy book out of the many available? And what can be said of the 99.9% of those who hold religious views who did NOT make any real choice, but merely blindly continued holding the religious views into which they were already raised?
I'm not sure about that, akak. First of all, I don't know any people--including myself--that I could honestly describe as "truly rational".
Don't we make most of our decisions based primarily on emotions, and then cobble together a reasonable-sounding logical rationale for the choice? And if our decisions are fundamentally driven by feelings rather than clear-headed dry logic, does it make sense to call ourselves truly rational? Emotion is one thing, reason is another. While they are not mutually exclusive (meaning that a choice made on feelings may by coincidence also be the most rational choice), it's not meaningful to say "I'm a truly rational person who makes many decisions on pure emotion."
Second, I think people make real choices whether they are conscious or not. The person who identifies himself as Catholic primarily because his parents raised him in the Catholic church has always had a choice to continue in or reject the Catholic faith. He often sticks with it because the nuns terrified him into lifelong Catholicism (Jake & Elwood Blues) or his parents would be so disappointed, etc. But he still makes a choice. And a lot of them just choose to drift away from it.
You can talk about blindly holding onto the Christian faith, or the Democrat faith, or the belief in basic human goodness. But it's not really blind. We just choose to ignore the evidence that non-confirms.
So there's always a choice, I think. But it's not necessarily what you call a logical choice. The choice to believe in a God, any god, is not a logical choice. Neither is the choice to disbelieve. But, as Bruce might acknowledge, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.
I think most of us are bored out of our skulls with this argument.
You either believe or you don't. There is no Proof.
Indeed, in some traditional Christian Protestantism:
Faith is a gift, a pure gift, for those of us who have it.
And God loves nature and the animals, who will also find healing and peace in a world beyond this one.
You know the mind of God eh? Impressive... most impressive.
Bruce,
look up 'mast year' on wikipedia. This is a phenomenon that has been around forever. God's design, Mother nature, evolutionary process, choose your explanation. (I'll stick with God's design ).
Plenty of acorns down here in FL, come and take all you want. I am covered in Live Oaks and walking on the concrete surfaces around here is like being on roller skates now!
I saw LOTS of acorns when we were in Georgia over the holiday weekend.
I was in Union Square Park this weekend and I noticed a couple of squirrels gathering some decent sized acorns. I also noticed alot more homeless people and cops than the norm.....
the squirrls there are fed by the local residents.
http://covert.mypressonline.com
Directly in front of my house is a giant oak. It stood there before our house was built. The tree is around 200 to 300 years old. It's huge. This year and last year the tree had huge amounts of acorn. More than in other years. This is Southwest Germany I am talking of. Just adding to your perspective, because ya know - world connected and so forth. This autumn was unusually dry though - last year we had much more snow than usually.
There is also a personal story to this.
A few years ago I got a new neighbour. He owns a fancy restaurant and he has good relations to the mayor of my town. They often come to his restaurant after they made the budget for the year and drink themselves into a coma. In his first year my neighbour demanded that I should cut down the oak. The branches of the tree don't even go to his ground - it just annoyed him. He couldn't even come up with a good reason.
There are a few things you don't do. See, I normally don't lose my cool so fast. But that was just too much. I said to him that I would rather die than to cut down that tree and that I will move heaven and earth and put up a fight with him on that.
He tried. And he lost. It cost him a little fortune. German law is very strict about this. And I think you could dare to trace this back to our Germanic roots - the tree, the wood is something that is still a sacred place. Even our capital Berlin has more than 420.000 trees in it [1].
That oak produces so much acorn - every autumn there are squirrels, the eurasian jay[picture] and roes[picture] around to eat them. It's just beautiful. It's also pain with all the leaves in late autumn - but then I remind myself how often I loved to watch it over the years and that it provides shade in hot summers.
But I am serious on that one. I have no problem when people enjoy it - dance around it - naked - whatever. Sit under it and read a good book - grab your lute and play a song to commemorate the old gods - fine with me - kids playing around it - all cool. But if you try to destroy it - I'll call Treebeard personally . Now the tree is even protected by German law.
---
I think many of you will know what I mean. Come on - we all have a tree that we love ;).
Side note: My grandfather mentioned that after (2nd) war they even made coffee with acorn [2] - my father said it tasted terrible, but they had no coffee beans to make coffee. So maybe with the latest news, I should start to collect some acorn...
I have read many WWII stories about "ersatz coffee", often made from acorns. With the Allied blockade of Germany in both wars, coffee from real coffee beans was quite a treat, same with chocolate. In the American Civil War which included a multi-year blockade of Southern ports, the Southern troops would often trade tobacco (grown in the Southern states) for coffee (grown in South America and carried by the ships of the Northern states.) I haven't run into stories of "acorn coffee" drinking in the Confederate States as of yet.
Te confederates drank chicory coffee. Don't know precisely whaat that is made up of, but it is found in a lot of the stuff I have read, most especially the entire Time/Life series.
http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/coffee.htm
Chicory grows wild in the onetime Confederate states and is often used to help coffee beans brew more pots per pound as well as being valued for its own taste. When New Orleans was cut off from South American and Asian coffee, the proportion of chicory added was increased and this tradition continues to the present. I read your article at the University of Texas-Tyler website and noticed many of the coffee substitutes included acorns. http://www.communitycoffee.com/category/Our-Traditional-Coffee/Coffee-and-Chicory
My Dad's family is from Louisiana. I actually bought him some chicory coffee this year (New Orleans Blend).
http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/category.asp?categoryCode=16
Just wanted to share the link if any coffee people out there were feeling adventurous.
Regards,
Cooter
Further upstate along Lake Ontario our butternut tree put out the usual amount of butternuts this year.
Live the other side of Lake Ontario (Toronto) in an area heavily wooded with mature oak trees - this year has been a bumper year for acorns. Usually the cycle is one bad year then 1 good year and has been for as long as I can remember. Natures way of controlling animal populations?