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Post by papilio28570 on Apr 8, 2019 21:49:43 GMT -8
I imagine that probably everyone here has a specimen or two on display in their homes. What sort of artificial light can best be used to illuminate specimens that will not cause the colors to fade? I'm wondering if anyone has experience with these new LED lights.
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Post by papilio28570 on Apr 5, 2019 7:31:53 GMT -8
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Post by papilio28570 on Apr 5, 2019 7:29:02 GMT -8
"It is art. Most art has no scientific value. As beauty (and value) is in the eye of the beholder, if someone wants to spend their money, go ahead. Replica art exists in most hobbies and has an educational value as well. A teacher could (and many do) show a replica of a species ".....
I recall in high school biology class in 1964 that the teacher passed around the class plastic replicas of human genitalia. Of course the real thing would have been preferred.
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Post by papilio28570 on Mar 21, 2019 20:16:51 GMT -8
That day has already arrived in many areas. I grew up in rural New jersey in the 50s and 60s. Lots of farms, woodlands, fields and quiet. Went back last August 2016 for my 50th Class Reunion. That whole region was unrecognizable. Endless strip malls and subdivisions. Couldn't even tell anymore where one town ended and the next began. All my boyhood butterfly places were gone. Meadows full of Fritillaries, swallowtails, Baltimore Checkerspot, many hairstreaks and so much more...all gone.
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Post by papilio28570 on Feb 26, 2019 23:25:01 GMT -8
I believe disparity is a genetic component of human evolution. We humans are extremely competitive and always find ways to divide ourselves into "us against them" tribes. We divide by religion, race, politics, economics, geography, language, ethics, sexuality and more and then these categories are further divided into sub-groups and so forth. Look at the silly division within the butterfly enthusiast group...collectors versus photographers versus amateurs versus professionals.
The disparity in the USA is no more different than in other countries, but we here focus on the divisions within our own borders. So it looms larger, more severe in our perspective. Each tribe sees their right and the other's wrong.
Without resorting to violence and more often historically after great violence a framework of law was established in order to coexist. Call it treaty, constitution, contract etc., none of which are set in concrete over the long term. Competitiveness always leads to skirting around the edges of these agreements to gain advantage by redefining words, reinterpreting original intent, pushing the envelope, litigating perceived unfairness.
This defines the human problem to me in the very broad sense and for the sake of brevity.
To respond to your question regarding an inevitable catastrophe, I believe civil war in the USA is out of the question. The country as it currently exists is too far technologically advanced to ever allow mobility of any sort of a large armed force. Too many satellites looking down, infrared night vision drones hovering, cameras capturing most roadways. A large army of citizens is easily detected and can be quickly isolated and dispersed. A guerilla war campaign may get some legs but it would not be on a national scale to seriously jeopardize the stability of the government; that is, if the government was the focus of guerillas. If instead a large scale conflict was between different groups of citizens, it would be handled by law enforcement backed up by the National Guard if needed...similar to the riots here in the 1960s.
True catastrophe could arise from conflict between countries and it would likely be about money.
Under the fractional reserve banking system, most people will fail financially were it not for the banks continual inflation of the money supply which allows borrowers to keep borrowing to forestall failure. This continual inflation of the money supply is why it now takes one dollar ($1) to purchase what four cents ($.04) would purchase in 1913 the year the Federal Reserve was created. This reserve system of banking is going on all over the world at different rates of inflation but all first world countries are in extreme debt. Examples: France; 97% of GDP, UK; 88% GDP, Germany; 64% GDP, Russia; 13.5%, USA; 104% and so on. At some point countries will begin to refuse payment for exports in another's currency because it is deemed worthless. Right now most world trade is conducted with US dollars as the basis of international exchange. There appears to be no way to stop the growth of US debt which just passed $22 trillion. The bubble will burst at some point in the future plunging the world into chaos and human genetically wired "us against them" mindset will prevail.
Just my thoughts....
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Post by papilio28570 on Feb 26, 2019 20:09:46 GMT -8
My personal collection consists of one male and one female of each species and/or subspecies that I encounter and this held true even when I traveled to foreign countries. If the butterfly / moth is locally common, I may take one or two more specimens. If you collect a pair of Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta, how many more representative specimens do you need to collect in the whole of North America? In accordance with my personal collecting ethics, the answer is none. I am not trained in entomology and never thought of myself as other than a butterfly collector as a hobby. Of course, over a period of many years, a hobbyist collector such as myself will encounter unusual behavior or a real rarity. These things I have reported to professionals in the discipline to do with what they will. What information I provided that made it into publication as a footnote or personal reference or as a dot on a range map was often misquoted which indicated to me that professionals do not take amateurs / hobbyists seriously.
I do rear local specimens on an infrequent basis. I keep some reared adults to use in my butterfly dome Ebay business, but the majority of specimens are released into the wild. My little half acre yard hosts 27 different species of butterflies owing to the variety of host plants that I introduced into my landscape over the past 35 years. I seldom take any specimens and then only to obtain eggs. I simply love to have butterflies dancing all over my yard and flower gardens nearly all year long.
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Post by papilio28570 on Feb 1, 2019 22:47:34 GMT -8
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Good luck and you have my support as buyer and seller.
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 26, 2019 23:11:14 GMT -8
I am blown away by the lack of pin holes in the wings. I never mastered the technique of setting the wings without using insect pins. Old school technique I learned from reading W.J. Holland as a young boy just starting butterfly collecting.
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 20, 2019 1:22:47 GMT -8
Seriously, your work is amazing.
Your creations show a lot of expression on their faces. I believe that if you could add a cutesy caption or sentence to relate what the moth is thinking or feeling that you may be able to syndicate your artwork to several newspapers or magazines. I trust you have much more artwork in your collection and if so, I would shop around for an agent to represent you to the world. I would start with the local community college/university art or photography instructors to get some leads and/or advice. Local art guild would be next on list...become a member of the guild as well to stay plugged in. They may likely host an event in your honor as a new member to show off your work to other guild members...and you'll be able to participate in local art shows put on by the guild.
You have real talent and I think you could make some serious money and a career of this...but it has to be your dream and you have to really want to put the effort into chasing it down. Might happen right away or might take a few years or even longer, but many artists ply their craft for years before they make it big. You have the potential to become big.
Speaking of big....what size are your paintings?
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 18, 2019 0:49:17 GMT -8
The problem is that news organizations are no longer trustworthy. Left-wing media ignores or under reports immigration data that does not support their point of view and exaggerates statistics that they favor. The right-wing media is absolutely guilty of the same biased fake news. The internet is peppered with similar bias so you can find anything you need to support YOUR point of view. My post above was challenged for references which are provided below. These are the same references used by FactCheck to debunk the same data. Fact Check is a known left wing biased source of information as is Snopes, so who is to be believed? Reading through the references though does support the notion of an enormous financial burden being borne by US tax payers from direct welfare benefits, to prison costs, to school funding to medical care and so forth.
I do not support illegal immigration one bit but I do support legal immigration and there is a system in place which provides a path to legal status and eventual citizenship if desired. The USA accepts a million or so legal immigrants each year which is more than the rest of the world combined. (Wikipedia). Why don't these millions of "oppressed" immigrants around the world stay and fight for their rights and freedoms in their own countries? Am I to believe they will fight to defend mine once they are here?
I have many friends from Lebanon, Iraq, Guyana, Korean, Vietnamese, South Africa, Cuba, England, and even Russia who all came here LEGALLY and I have even helped a few to get their adult children here via chain migration. These are all hard working people and most own their own business and a couple have become millionaires...even employing American workers. Oops forgot to include two Germans that make a living as professional poker players.
Very few of the illegals pay taxes and those that do only pay into Social Security under fake names and security numbers. They falsify their W-2 with claims of many children so no income tax is taken out. That claim is based on experience as well as the experience of my friends in the trades. I have many medical doctor friends as well and those that are in family practice claim the majority of their Hispanic clients use government provided health care and some pay cash for minor injuries (stitches, etc) but none carry insurance.
When I ran for Congress, my plan was to institute a system whereby an immigrant registers for a background check and is issued an ID card that is similar to a credit card so that when they cross the border they simply swipe their card through a reader and the Government now knows they are now in the country. When returning home, they swipe again and are removed. If they work above table and pay taxes they are entitled to use our services..schools etc. If they work under the table, they are not eligible for any US benefits. Seemed like a simple solution but didn't get any traction because it still didn't eliminate the problem of anchor babies and didn't secure the border against terrorists and drugs.
E-verify sounds great, but your crops would rot in the fields, you would have to wait for years to have your house built due to skilled labor shortage, restaurants would not have enough staff to cook and clean. It would affect every industry. Americans would revolt if they suddenly had to pay the price for what it would cost to employ Americans to do labor intensive jobs. The American school system tries to funnel every kid into college so that now you have to go to community college to learn wood working, auto mechanics, welding, etc. These and more were taught in High School when my generation was coming along. Young Americans now lack these skills and most are reluctant to take a job in which your hands get dirty.
One or two of the participants in this thread resort to name-calling when referring to President Trump instead of using his proper name. I detested President Obama because of his policies, but never stooped to denigrate his name. I would appreciate the same respect be shown toward the current President of the United States.
References for my post mentioned above:
Steven A. Camarota, “Back Where We Started: An Examination of Trends in Immigrant Welfare Use Since Welfare Reform,” Center for Immigration Studies, March 2003.
Camarota, Steven A., “The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget,” Center for Immigration Studies, August 2004.
Immigration and Welfare,” Federation for American Immigration Reform, Oct 2002.
A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border,” prepared by the Majority Staff of House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Investigations, Nov 2006.
Goyle, Rajeev, “Deporting the Undocumented: A Cost Assessment,” Center for American Progress. 26 July 2005.
Sending Money Home: Leveraging the Development Impact of Remittances,” Inter-American Development Bank. 18 Oct 2006.
Schurman-Kauflin, Dr. Deborah, “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants in the United States,” Violent Crimes Institute, 2006.
Martin, Jack, “Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red,” Federation for American Immigration Reform. June 2005.
Fix, Michael and Passel, Jeffrey, “U.S. Immigration—Trends and Implications for Schools,” Immigration Studies Program, The Urban Institute, 2003.
“Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990-2000,” Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, January 2003.
“Table 169, Current Expenditure Per Pupil in Fall Enrollment in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, by State: 1969-70 to 1999-00,” Digest of Education Statistics 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 16, 2019 20:15:06 GMT -8
1. $14 billion to $22 billion dollars are spent each year on welfare to illegal aliens (that's Billion with a 'B')
2. $7.5 billion dollars are spent each year on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
3. $12 billion dollars are spent each year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they still cannot speak a word of English. $27 billion dollars are spent each year for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
5. $3 Million Dollars 'PER DAY' is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. That's $1.2 Billion a year.
6. 28% percent of all federal prison inmates are illegal aliens.
7. $190 billion dollars are spent each year on illegal aliens for welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
8. 200 billion dollars per year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
9. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.
10. During the year 2005, there were 8 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from other terrorist countries. Over 10,000 of those were middle-eastern terrorists. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin, crack, guns, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border.
11. The National Policy Institute, estimates that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion, or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.
12. In 2006, illegal aliens sent home $65 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin, to their families and friends.
13 The dark side of illegal immigration: Nearly one million sex crimes are committed by illegal immigrants in the United States!
Total cost - a whopping $538.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 14, 2019 19:05:43 GMT -8
These are phenomenal drawings! What a talent you have! You wrote that you did these a very long time ago. Do you still do artwork and if so, do you sell your artwork or is it for personal consumption. I think there is a market for your talent. Very gifted artist you are...
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Post by papilio28570 on Jan 14, 2019 18:53:16 GMT -8
How does one respond to rumor, falsehoods, conjecture, innuendo, hate, ignorance, political bias and more? You don't!
James Carville had coined "It's the economy, Stupid!" as a campaign strategy for Bill Clinton who went on to make George Bush a one term president.
Trump will win re-election in a landslide unless the US economy goes south.
I favor the wall. Ask Israel if one works. You don't think there is a problem at the US southern border? The following is from a fact-check article regarding President Trump's speech: (Begin quote)
"“Tonight I am speaking to you because there is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.”
By any available measure, there is no new security crisis at the border.
Apprehensions of people trying to cross the southern border peaked most recently at 1.6 million in 2000 and have been in decline since, falling to just under 400,000 in fiscal 2018. The decline is partly because of technology upgrades; tougher penalties in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; a decline in migration rates from Mexico; and a sharp increase in the number of Border Patrol officers. The fiscal 2018 number was up from just over 300,000 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border for fiscal 2017, the lowest level in more than 45 years." (End quote)
Do the math...if 300,000 in one year is the lowest in 45 years, then well over 13,500,000 were apprehended. According to Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, a collaboration among a few universities to track migration, the probability of apprehension for an undocumented immigrant crossing the border has never risen above a 40 percent chance since 1965. In 2016 (the most recent year with data) it was about 20 percent.
Do the math again...if 300,000/year (the lowest in 45 years) represents 40% apprehension rate of illegals at the southern border, then those that did not get caught equates to a low figure of 20,250,000 over the same 45 years period. That alone is almost 7% of the US population and some authors put it closer to 12%
So, yes, there is a very major problem on the US southern border. Want to discuss the crime statistics resulting from illegals in the US? According to Snopes.com, between August 1955 and April 2010, 25,064 undocumented immigrants had been arrested for homicide. An average 557 killings a year of US citizens by illegals is what is immoral if allowed to continue. I won't even get into rapes and sexual assaults.
Build the wall.
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Post by papilio28570 on Dec 20, 2018 20:46:37 GMT -8
Here in North Carolina and also in New Jersey I only encountered Luna Moths in the vicinity of Sweetgum. Any larvae I found were on Sweetgum as well as Imperial Moths and Royal Walnut Moths. I have tried rearing Royal Walnut Moths on walnut but the cats reject it. My only success has been with Sweetgum.
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Post by papilio28570 on Dec 20, 2018 20:37:49 GMT -8
Tree lines that grow as volunteers along stretches of fencing are often productive for cocoon hunters. Farmers often leave narrow tree lines between fields and roadways to act as windbreaks. Moths traveling across these open areas encounter these tree lines and usually fly along the line rather than over the top since females are usually looking for host plants upon which to deposit eggs. Also walking along power line cuts next to the woodland edges are productive if there are no farmlands around. Usually, young trees (under 10 to 12 feet tall) are more productive....also, it is warmer closer to the ground and less wind. Most cocoons I have found are within 2 to 6 feet above ground level. Sure, there will be the occasional Polyphemus cocoon much higher up but birds will usually find them before you do and the cocoon will likely be emptied.
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