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Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

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Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#111

Post by saidnooneever »

kombookcha wrote: post #99
stinos wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age? I do, and I've seen it in others, but from the limited data points I've seen there's no causal relationship with age. I.e. what I've seen is people largely oblivious of nature/ecosystems/flora/fauna sudenly becoming very invested in it, for various reasons, but this doesn't happen at or only beyond a certain age. For me it was around…

I think it's one of those things that for whichever reason you happen to get switched on to, and once you're attentive to it, you'll constantly be noticing and learning more - once that positive feedback loop of rewarded attention is going, you're off to the races. It's deeply rewarding to find the world around becoming deeper and more intricately connected. And you get to see more of it every day!

if you guys like this kinda stuff i can recommend the latest dump of buckminster fuller institute on his life work (series of transcribed lectures). The guy is fascinated by similar things and has potentially a lot of interesting insights about this if you are unfamiliar.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#112

Post by trentor »

ggm wrote: post #82
trentor wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am lost they have training videos, they have a reading list, they have tutorials... everything you need to get started. How else would you acquire skills? There is no upload function yet.

I think there is a common belief if you make a lot of information available, acquiring skills is "easy". It's certainly easier than without, but the thing is, drawing the owl just takes a fucking long time to learn. There are no shortage of online tutes to learn how to draw, the genre is ancient. Plants mimic each other for advantage facing herbivores. Isn't that fantastic!. Learning Latin is the least burden here, t…

There is just not shortcut to acquire a skill worth having. I don't understand your argument.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#113

Post by brunohaid »

Aboutplants wrote: post #110
brunohaid wrote: post #84

Launching a thing soon to make it more accessible, without sacrificing scientific depth, eg: https://www.meso.cloud/plants/tracheophyta/magnoliopsida/gen... Aggregates 780k plants and fungi from many canonical sources (IPNI, Wikidata, GBIF, iNaturalist etc) and tries to present the data in an intuitive and engaging way, lets you search by common names in 300+ languages etc. Feedback from especially botany nerds very…

Very nice! Really incredible amount of sources you’re pulling from. I actually vibecoded a personal app just last week to handle my personal collection of rare succulents and cactus I grow, primarily from seed. I wanted to create something for my young daughter that showed the mature plant along with information about its habitat, growing conditions, how to cultivate (I grow indoors due to my climate), etc. I’m actua…

Much appreciated!

Still thinking about how to fold in eFloras and the expanded CoL XR data, and add the immediate habitat/surroundings beyond the climate/geo/pics we already have in a compelling way. If you have any examples of someone who does that really well (sites, apps, books etc) that she likes that'd be great.

Taking the scenic route with devices, really want to nail comparing sensor readings with species' natural habitats and make that intuitive. What are your favorites so far in terms of vendors/items?

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#114

Post by DivingForGold »

Hort. Science degree from A&M in '80, employers offered to pay me $800 a month a water their greenhouses. Indeed, Botany was one of the more boring courses required. Scrapped by after the university as a landscaper-irrigator, then discovered too many years later the uber wealthy living on certain Texas Lakes would pay enormous sums to have me dive to service-install their pumps to feed raw water to their landscapes. Customers would call me in exasperation explaining they just got a water bill for like $900 to $1,000. Raw lake water was available at about $150 to $175 per 325,000 gallons with a permit. A lady I knew convinced me that horticulture, and especially botany, are "labors of love", not particularly a way to become financially successful.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#115

Post by KaiserPro »

znpy wrote: post #93

> at the time, he [Linneaus] was probably mostly thinking of “white European cultures” How boring this is, makes me want to close the page immediately. The guy, Linneaus, lived in the 1700s and “white European cultures” were all there was to him. Us wasn’t even a whole nation yet and there wasn’t much scientific cooperation with other civilisations. Also, at the time latin was the lingua franca for the scientific wor…

If you read a bit further, they author then explains why they put that in:

> The fucker [Linneaus] created a beautiful system, and it works. And that’s why we still use it. I say this because a few unthinking “performative leftist” nitwits as of late have decided to attack the science of taxonomy itself).

I think its in there to head of compliants from people who would otherwise say that latin scientific names are bad. The author goes on to illustrate why thats bad

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#117

Post by Levitz »

Lutger wrote: post #77
gherkinnn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily the author continues with > I say this because a few unthinking “performative leftist” nitwits as of late have decided to attack the science of taxonomy itself).

Why? What is he referencing? I can't find anything as controversial as this with an online search.

By now, such things are so prevalent that I don't think it would even make the news anywhere.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#118

Post by lo_zamoyski »

What an obnoxious post.

Pro-tip: knock off the vulgarity and avoid making ignorant remarks that pander to presently fashionable sentiments. It doesn't "spice up" your text or make it more "fun" or "real", unless you mean "really bad". It makes it obnoxious, likely phony (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here), and base.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#119

Post by stinos »

giov4 wrote: post #73
stinos wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

does anybody relate to this grown interest to plants and bird distinction with age? I do, and I've seen it in others, but from the limited data points I've seen there's no causal relationship with age. I.e. what I've seen is people largely oblivious of nature/ecosystems/flora/fauna sudenly becoming very invested in it, for various reasons, but this doesn't happen at or only beyond a certain age. For me it was around…

cool! thanks for sharing, that's my usual fallback reason too. meaning that i feel it was a change also triggered by other factors and life conditions, or even a reaction to those, but at the same time I realize that my brain started receiving and analyzing and appreciating those signal, not me completely voluntary. one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work rela…

one thing that comes always to my mind is the possible reason of reaction to shitty work and work related stress that makes us crave for nature and nature contact

I'm sure that's a thing for some people. And there's research to back that up IIRC. Even seemingly silly things like the smell of a wet forest being beneficial.

One aspect which stood out for me is 'awareness'. I find it deeply fascinating how many people, as I used to be one, can just stroll through everyday locations without even knowing the names of the most common plants let alone think about their connection to the surroundings. Once I started to realize how unaware I was of this I started forzing myself to be more aware and it's fascinating how much there can be going on in like even 1 square meter of nature. And of which I only know a fraction.

And for me this is really meditative - even though it's somewhat counterintuitive. Meditation is usually about clearing the mind, but for me being in nature and filling my mind with thoughts about the whole interconnection of individuals in ecosystems can bring peace and relaxation. Well, as long as I do not think about how we're collectively destroying a lot of it.

Re: Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't

#120

Post by sophacles »

smugglerFlynn wrote: post #54

> It is my firm belief that any of the authors listed below (unless they’re dicks) would not want anyone to be prohibited from reading their work Hot take - any book authors who want to chime in and share what you guys feel about a statement like that?

Neither I, nor any author I know has published something with the intention of it going unread. Publishing something just to ne upset that it's being read seems rather dickish to me... The very act of publishing is a declaration of desire for others to read it.
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