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Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

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Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#11

Post by _Microft »

RobertoG wrote: post #3

>>"I am sure that many of the erudite readers of this little book know On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin inside and out. " I can't parse that sentence. Does it make sense? (English is not my first language)

Not a native speaker either but it seems like an acceptable sentence. Here is a slightly reworked version that might be easier to understand. The brackets mark where I added something or left something out:

"I am sure that many [...] readers of this [...] book know [the book] 'On the Origin of Species' (by Charles Darwin) inside and out."

Edit: "to know something inside and out" means to be very familiar with something.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#12

Post by ajuc »

buran77 wrote: post #2

> For the next 250 years, despite the best efforts of the English to free themselves from this commercial yoke, the secret of that prodigious dye remained unknown to all but a select fortunate few of Spanish producers. But no production secret can stay that way forever, and so in the closing years of the eighteenth century, British spies succeeded in spiriting away the tightly kept formula: in order to obtain the lon…

I find it highly unlikely they couldn't solve this mystery for 250 years given that a similar insect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_cochineal was used for producing very similar dye in Central and Eastern Europe for centuries already at that point, and was one of the main exports of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (till the imported dye won over because of higher yields = cheaper price).

To this point the month June in Polish ("czerwiec") and the color red ("czerwony") are derived from the word "czerw" which means "worm".

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#13

Post by jan_Inkepa »

rvieira wrote: post #9
RobertoG wrote: post #3

>>"I am sure that many of the erudite readers of this little book know On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin inside and out. " I can't parse that sentence. Does it make sense? (English is not my first language)

I mean ... I get what he's saying but no, it's not well written and it's tautological. Since erudite literally means having a deep knowledge: "I am sure many experts on X know X inside out"

Erudite may be referring to generally well-read. Anyway, the sentence reads ok to me fwiw.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#14

Post by [deleted] »

sammalloy wrote: post #8

> There is a famous story along these lines told for the first time by the German biologists Ernst Haeckel and Carl Vogt. As the story goes, the fortunes of England would seem to depend on cats. By nourishing themselves on mice, cats increase the chances of survival of bumblebees, which, in turn, pollinate shamrocks, which then nourish the beef cows that provide the meat to nourish British sailors, thus permitting th…

[deleted]

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#15

Post by vanderZwan »

sammalloy wrote: post #8

> There is a famous story along these lines told for the first time by the German biologists Ernst Haeckel and Carl Vogt. As the story goes, the fortunes of England would seem to depend on cats. By nourishing themselves on mice, cats increase the chances of survival of bumblebees, which, in turn, pollinate shamrocks, which then nourish the beef cows that provide the meat to nourish British sailors, thus permitting th…

Kinda makes Milton Friedman's Lesson of the Pencil feel even more oversimplified than it already is

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#16

Post by ivanbakel »

ajuc wrote: post #12
buran77 wrote: post #2

> For the next 250 years, despite the best efforts of the English to free themselves from this commercial yoke, the secret of that prodigious dye remained unknown to all but a select fortunate few of Spanish producers. But no production secret can stay that way forever, and so in the closing years of the eighteenth century, British spies succeeded in spiriting away the tightly kept formula: in order to obtain the lon…

I find it highly unlikely they couldn't solve this mystery for 250 years given that a similar insect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_cochineal was used for producing very similar dye in Central and Eastern Europe for centuries already at that point, and was one of the main exports of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (till the imported dye won over because of higher yields = cheaper price). To this point the mont…

The two insects don't seem to be that closely related, and red dye comes from a variety of sources. Besides, even if the English suspected that there was some kind of Mexican cochineal, the mystery of how to farm it would still be a problem.

>till the imported dye won over because of higher yields = cheaper price

I'd be interested to know if this is true, or if the imported dye was more valuable for being a brighter colour. Do you have a source? Wikipedia is not specific about the reason for the decline in demand of Polish cochineal.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#17

Post by rvieira »

jan_Inkepa wrote: post #13
rvieira wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean ... I get what he's saying but no, it's not well written and it's tautological. Since erudite literally means having a deep knowledge: "I am sure many experts on X know X inside out"

Erudite may be referring to generally well-read. Anyway, the sentence reads ok to me fwiw.

I'd agree, except it reads to me as "many of the erudite readers _of this_ little book", it seems to imply erudites of Darwin's book.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#18

Post by pvaldes »

The prosaic reality is that bumblebees don't have any particular feelings about cats. Not more that they would feel about other carnivores. Using the same argument we could easily link being rich in England with the presence of rats in their house (that also eat lots of mice); or other similar nonsense.

(But, yep. I agree that this old histories full of literary licenses feel warm inside and are entertaining as long as we take in mind that literature is not the same as science).

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#19

Post by ashtonbaker »

rvieira wrote: post #17
jan_Inkepa wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erudite may be referring to generally well-read. Anyway, the sentence reads ok to me fwiw.

I'd agree, except it reads to me as "many of the erudite readers _of this_ little book", it seems to imply erudites of Darwin's book.

"this little book" refers to "The Nation of Plants" - from which this piece is an excerpt. It's probably more obvious when you're holding the book, as opposed to reading an excerpt on the internet.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#20

Post by rvieira »

ashtonbaker wrote: post #19
rvieira wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd agree, except it reads to me as "many of the erudite readers _of this_ little book", it seems to imply erudites of Darwin's book.

"this little book" refers to "The Nation of Plants" - from which this piece is an excerpt. It's probably more obvious when you're holding the book, as opposed to reading an excerpt on the internet.

Well, in that case I stand corrected :) It makes sense.
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