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Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in awe of the tenacity of life. Over a decade ago, a snowy owl made its way to the island of Oahu on its own. Sadly, it had to be killed because it arrived near Honolulu’s international airport and could not captured by animal control. An autopsy revealed that this owl had expended so much energy crossing the pacific that it almost certainly would have died of exhaustion within a few hours of its arrival. But, it…

It may have been someones pet

That has been ruled out based on the results of the autopsy. Furthermore, Hawaii has severe restrictions on the import of exotic animals as pets and it is unlikely someone would have smuggled one in just to end up releasing it in urban Honolulu.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#92
post #7

I live in a city in northeastern Brazil where the prevailing winds blow from the sea to the land. From March to May, the air is filled with butterflies, creating a striking natural spectacle. Curiously, these butterflies mostly fly against the wind, heading towards the sea and seemingly aiming for Africa, despite no nearby islands. It's an annual phenomenon that remains a mystery to me... a butterfly on an endless jo…

For some butterflies the migration takes a few generations

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#93

I’ve never personally seen a butterfly glide past a second or two. Are they capable of long distance gliding? The alternative that they’re flapping their wings continuously for weeks on end seems almost unbelievable.

You should read about the monarch butterfly and what its lifecycle entails

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I had this vision in a strong ayahuasca trip... I met "Mother Nature", but it wasn't the feminine caring image you'd think of. It was an unstoppable force of life that did not had any caring of right or wrong. It only wanted to create more life. It had more a feeling of millions of beings crawling over each other, like a beehive or ants nests. Just devouring everything with "life". Like a "Squiggle Maximizer" wi…

> but made me seriously reconsider the "sacredness" of life When I think of life mattering, I think of the individual, not life in general. I think nature is quite cruel and there's very little about nature to suggest that the life of an individual matters at all, but to that individual, their life is the most important thing they have. It's like the argument people make to vegans: if we stop eating cows, they'll go…

[dead]

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#95
I'm fascinated by the idea that a group of butterflies made it across the Atlantic without stopping. It's not hard to imagine a butterfly that's been blown off course by a hurricane ending up on a distant shore. Maybe these butterflies are like the cockroaches of the insect world - they can survive anywhere.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abject nihilism is fucking lame, and I don't care whatever chemically-induced experiences you or anyone else has had or whatever value you think you found within them or whatever the fuck, but I'm frankly tired of pretending otherwise.

That’s a nihilist statement though. :p I was just outing my experience, no need to get that riled up.

These ideas are inherently harmful to spread to other people so flippantly—think of the possible nth-order effects for five fucking seconds, and you'll see what I mean.

(Or, don't because nothing fucking matters anyway, right, mannnn?)

We need to learn to respond to such nonsense swiftly, or we're completely and totally fucked as a civilization, as a species, in this information age of instantaneous transmission of thoughts and ideas.

Your ideas with regards to this matter are horrible, and you should feel horrible for proselytizing them.

(But, of course, you won't, because nothing fucking matters anyway, right, mannnn?)

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I had this vision in a strong ayahuasca trip... I met "Mother Nature", but it wasn't the feminine caring image you'd think of. It was an unstoppable force of life that did not had any caring of right or wrong. It only wanted to create more life. It had more a feeling of millions of beings crawling over each other, like a beehive or ants nests. Just devouring everything with "life". Like a "Squiggle Maximizer" wi…

> but made me seriously reconsider the "sacredness" of life When I think of life mattering, I think of the individual, not life in general. I think nature is quite cruel and there's very little about nature to suggest that the life of an individual matters at all, but to that individual, their life is the most important thing they have. It's like the argument people make to vegans: if we stop eating cows, they'll go…

I agree. I did not mean to say: “all life is meaningless “, but more that the green/ecological imagery of ‘mother nature’ that cares for you and needs caring was changed for me. Life itself can be a terrifying force. That the individual feels suffering is an effective but brutal feature of Life trying to maximise itself. We are all born in this system, and we should obviously try to minimise this suffering.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a nihilist statement though. :p I was just outing my experience, no need to get that riled up.

These ideas are inherently harmful to spread to other people so flippantly—think of the possible nth-order effects for five fucking seconds, and you'll see what I mean. (Or, don't because nothing fucking matters anyway, right, mannnn?) We need to learn to respond to such nonsense swiftly, or we're completely and totally fucked as a civilization, as a species, in this information age of instantaneous transmission of t…

„This is what I experienced“ is not the same as „this is what I believe in“.

Me telling you „I once was told by a nazi that all Jews need to be punished for their sins“ does not make me a nazi.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a nihilist statement though. :p I was just outing my experience, no need to get that riled up.

These ideas are inherently harmful to spread to other people so flippantly—think of the possible nth-order effects for five fucking seconds, and you'll see what I mean. (Or, don't because nothing fucking matters anyway, right, mannnn?) We need to learn to respond to such nonsense swiftly, or we're completely and totally fucked as a civilization, as a species, in this information age of instantaneous transmission of t…

>> think of the possible nth-order effects for five fucking seconds, and you'll see what I mean.

In five seconds I can hardly even get into 2nd order thinking.

How many Ns deep can you go in 5 seconds?

Do you have a halting routine built in so that you can attend to other tasks?

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#100
post #83
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised that one can feel okay with completely dismissing scientific observations on the basis of "feels like".

They explicitly say "this method is not perfect and still hinges primarily on educated guesswork". So why are they dismissing a completely possible explanation? At least they should mention that's it's a possibility

You mean like how the actual paper linked in the article identified that as a common form of transportation?
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