Thursday Open Thread 10-26-2017

Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 5:19am

Morning, been thinking about insects. The Guardian article Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers is disturbing. Our modern life of pavement, concrete, herbicides and pesticides takes its toll on insects. Most gardening books contain a chapter on how to kill or control insects (plant pests) and buy beneficial. Very few mention providing habitat.

As an example of herbicide only effect, this strip along the fence line has been sprayed twice a year with Round-up (herbicide) for the last 5 years by the neighbor. It is easy to see the damage to potential insect habitat. The pasture on the right side is heavily fertilized in the spring and mid-summer and primarily a single grass species. As I decreased the fertilizing on mine the frog and insect population started increasing, plus the plant life diversified. Think of all the spraying on commercial and suburban properties.

soe herbicide.JPG
A small animal simply walking regularly across dryland alters the vegetation and soil compactness. Increase population and recreation in an area and it is slowly loved to death. Or as foreign policy carpet bomb an area.
soe trail.JPG
Unknown insect eggs? Show up in protected areas. Not sure what they are.
soe insect.jpg.JPG
Spider eggs in the wood shed.
soe spider.JPG

Farm Report
Remember the old cow. Friday she surprised me with a calf.
soe fall calf.jpg

Mixture of evergreens and fall leaves.
SOE PAINE FALL.JPG

Afternoon sun on Smith Rocks. While writing this diary discovered multiple websites devoted to the park and a new management plan is development. It is difficult to keep up with all the local, state, national and world events while trying to live life.
soe smith fall.jpg

Mom, the new calf (girl) and the one born in March (boy) this year.
soe compare.jpg

Diary introducing Marcher earlier this year included this picture.
calf.jpg

Yes, I name them all. It is easier to keep track of them and train to a few commands. This year Marcher (3-10), To-fer (4-2) and Octivia (10-22). They really do not care what I call them as long as I am consistent. The baby bottle lambs were taught to come when their ear tag number - 16, 69 or ladies will bring in the flock.

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resilience
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Submitted by NCTim on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 7:38am
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Cavalier attitudes towards chemicals has always befuddled me (lead projectiles too). My spouse died of ALS, and I pay attention.

1) Exposure to pesticides may increase the risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a new study has found.

2) MONDAY, May 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to pesticides and other chemicals may increase the risk for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a fatal neurological disease, researchers say.
Three toxins in particular were associated with greater risk for the progressive condition, often called Lou Gehrig's disease because it killed the legendary baseball player with that name.
"We are identifying these toxic, persistent, environmental pollutants in higher amounts in ALS patients compared to those who do not have ALS," said study co-author Dr. Stephen Goutman. He is assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan and director of its ALS Clinic.

3) Exposure to pesticides and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a population-based case-control study.

We don't need no fracking regulations! Why does Scott Pruitt need so much security? Is it because people know he is engaged in diminishing the public health for profit?

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 8:06am

@NCTim
In Santa Rosa, EPA crews start fire cleanup in Coffey Park by surveying, testing

Like astronauts exploring an alien world, members of an Environmental Protection Agency survey team walked fire-ravaged Coffey Park on Wednesday afternoon searching for traces of foul air.

Working in pairs and wearing white Tyvek suits and other protective gear from head to toe, four EPA teams carried equipment to detect radiation, mercury vapor and organic gases, making their way through the ash, rubble and blackened trees that used to be a thriving Santa Rosa neighborhood.
...
State Sen. Clinton tool Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, called it “the largest cleanup in Golden State history” at a press conference Monday in Santa Rosa.
...
Controversy over the forms and the debris-removal process centers around the blanket decision to remove foundations, based on the assumption they have been weakened by fire, and concern over the possible cost of the program widely publicized as free to homeowners.

Critics say the cleanup will be overly expensive because it will include foundations, and assert that homeowners may lose some insurance proceeds because the form requires homeowners to assign to the county all insurance payments earmarked for debris removal.

good luck

Edited to add: California tightens rules on popular pesticide for farmers

Farmers use chlorpyrifos (klor-PHIR-e-fos) to kill pests that attack a wide variety of crops like grapes, almonds and cotton grown in California, the nation's agricultural leader, as well as across the country.

State officials are taking steps to put it on a list of chemicals known to be harmful to humans and to also increase the distance from schools and homes in which farmers can apply.

The moves run contrary to a decision by Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to end his agency's effort to ban the pesticide sold by Dow Chemical after federal scientists concluded it can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants

Ella Fitzgerald - Accentuate The Positive

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Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 10:01am
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@NCTim
From the first link
“We found that people with A.L.S. were five times more likely to have been exposed to pesticides, but we don’t want people to conclude that pesticides cause A.L.S.”
second link
This new study doesn't prove pesticides cause ALS, but it does build on an association suggested in previous research,
third link
A few epidemiologic studies have suggested an association of agricultural work and pesticides exposure with a severe degenerative disease of the motor neurons, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), though conflicting results have also been provided....Such association persisted after inclusion in the statistical analysis of potential confounders. Despite the limited statistical stability of the risk estimates, these results appear to indicate that occupational exposure to pesticides is a risk factor for ALS, suggesting the need to further investigate this issue.

This article carefully explains why pesticide exposure on the golf course will not increase a persons risk for Parkinson's.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
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Submitted by NCTim on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 7:40am
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Funk it!

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 7:45am

Thanks and congratulations on the new surprise! Good one, a real asset. Gave me an ear worm that coincides with the OT comment I was going to post. Pow! Right between the eyes ...
Joe Walsh - Life Of Illusion

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The Uncanny valley isn't anymore, didn't think I'd be around to see it go, time seems to be accelerating.

In aesthetics, the uncanny valley is a hypothesized relationship between the degree of an object's resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object. The concept of the uncanny valley suggests that humanoid objects which appear almost, but not exactly, like real human beings elicit uncanny, or strangely familiar, feelings of eeriness and revulsion in observers. Valley denotes a dip in the human observer's affinity for the replica, a relation that otherwise increases with the replica's human likeness.

Examples can be found in robotics, 3D computer animations, and lifelike dolls among others. With the increasing prevalence of virtual reality, augmented reality, and photorealistic computer animation, the 'valley' has been cited in the popular press in reaction to the verisimilitude of the creation as it approaches indistinguishability from reality. The uncanny valley hypothesis predicts that an entity appearing almost human risks eliciting cold, eerie feelings in viewers.

Saudi Arabia becomes first country to grant citizen ship to a robot

Smartphones were held aloft as Sophia, a robot designed by Hong Kong company Hanson Robotics, gave a presentation that demonstrated her capacity for human expression.

Sophia made global headlines when she was granted Saudi citizenship, making the kingdom the first country in the world to offer its citizenship to a robot.

“I want to live and work with humans so I need to express the emotions to understand humans and build trust with people,” she said in an exchange with moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin.

I'd rather have a cow, man.

good luck

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Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 12:40pm
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@eyo
Robot granted citizenship in October 2017 and proclaimed in September 2017 women allowed to drive beginning June 2018 (some restrictions apply).

But in a small news conference at the Saudi embassy in Washington, an exuberant Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi ambassador, said women would be able to obtain driver’s licenses without having to ask permission of their husbands, fathers or any male guardian — despite so-called “guardianship” laws that give men power over their female relatives.

Have a good one.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
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Submitted by Lookout on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 8:12am
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Good looking calf. Your mama cow must be a good one (old or not).

I'm concerned about the German insect study too. The EU is trying to decide if they will renew the glyphosate (Round-up) label for another few years. Farmers are saying yes...environmentalist say no. As of yesterday they have not made the call
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/jennifer-sass/european-parliament-takes-aim...

There is no doubt this chemical (actually its an amino acid) is over used as Monsanto bred round-up resistance into so many crops. Now farmers plant the resistant crops and spray over the top to kill weeds. So we get a double whammy of GMO plus round-up.

Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops. “Our exposure to these chemicals has increased significantly over the years but most people are unaware that they are consuming them through their diet.” Of study participants with detectable amounts of these chemicals, the mean level of glyphosate increased from 0.203 µg/L in 1993-1996 to 0.449 µg/L in 2014-2016

https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2017-10-24-exposure-to-glyph...

I've been using a mixture of vinegar and salt as a knock down herbicide. Mix 1 gallon of vinegar with 1 cup salt. If you don't want a permanent kill leave out the salt and just spray vinegar. http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/pastpest/200714f.html

In the garden, we mulch with straw. It suppresses the weeds and makes them easy to pull if they make it through the straw. Additionally you get increased moisture and nutrient holding capacity.

Dug all the sweet potatoes up yesterday. We put them in the solar hot water room to cure for 2-3 weeks. Sweet potatoes are unusual in that their starch becomes sugars, whereas most crops (like sweet corn) have sugars that become starch. https://morningchores.com/curing-sweet-potatoes/

The Center for Science in the Public Interest ranked the nutritional value of sweet potatoes as highest among several other foods https://web.archive.org/web/20140104141857/http://www.cspinet.org/nah/10...

Well, here's hoping you are all healthy and happy!

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 9:14am
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@Lookout

I have some growing in a round bale. Don't know if I got them planted early enough to actually have anything to harvest. Certainly did not know they needed to be "cured" or stored a certain way. Thank you!

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 12:29pm
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@Lookout @Lookout
adherence to plants with certain types of outer layers (like the waxy ones).

The inclusion of salt can, over a long enough time, increase the salinity of the soil, which isn't good.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 12:51pm
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@Lookout
Regular potatoes cure after their tops have been killed either by frost(my method) or a chemical defoliant (commercial).

Is your soil warm enough for a natural curing environment or is it always done after digging?

Lots of info in your comment - thanks

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 9:42am
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I appreciate this essay and the comments about herbicides, etc. SOE - will you milk this cow?

I have contemplated writing an essay titled "The Soil is Already Dead" because I suspect that is the condition of the soil at my home farm in Iowa. It has been 25 years now since my organic dairy farmer dad was managing it.

Our renters are really wonderful folks. But they are farming the way anyone must in order to make it. They are crop farmers who own or rent thousands of acres.

The consequence is that for 25 years the soil has been bombarded with herbicides and pesticides and never has had rest periods. Certainly it has no life. Also, how much top soil have we lost? If I could talk my brothers into it, I would like to start restoring it a few acres at a time, working out from the home place. Living 1000 miles away is a problem with that idea though.

I wouldn't be surprised if that soil is now not much better than Texas soil, where nothing grows without the fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.

On a positive note . . . these are the veggies I picked in yesterday. Plan to either freeze or ferment them all.

102617veggies.jpg

Purchased carrots to include in the fermenting. Last week I fermented thinly sliced cucuzza and onion with tea leaves(to make them crunchy), garlic powder, dill weed, and salt. I use 1 tablespoon salt per cup water for the brine. They came out wonderful. Sort of mild.

Think I will cook and mash then freeze the eggplant to include in future casseroles.

It is hard to say just how many chemicals we are ingesting every day. All of those perfect looking veggies at the supermarket . . . well . . . they certainly are not natural.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 1:21pm
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@mhagle
She is a beef cow (hereford) and does not produce the volume of milk as her 1/2 shorthorn daughter. As a test for cream ratio we milked the angus X cow this spring. Got a cup of milk for the effort and a cow that expected a trip through the chute and grain every time we brought the other one in for milking.

Nice daily harvest.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
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Submitted by eyo on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 4:16am

@mhagle thanks, I like this story from politico of all places, 'cause it is about making dirt. All dirt is local.

Can American soil be brought back to life?

While looking for a new job, Cobb stopped into a local office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pick up some paperwork. That day, the staff was doing a training session on soil health. He stayed to watch and was struck by a demonstration showing a side-by-side comparison of healthy and unhealthy soils.

A clump of soil from a heavily tilled and cropped field was dropped into a wire mesh basket at the top of a glass cylinder filled with water. At the same time, a clump of soil from a pasture that grew a variety of plants and grasses and hadn’t been disturbed for years was dropped into another wire mesh basket in an identical glass cylinder. The tilled soil–similar to the dry, brown soil on Cobb’s farm—dissolved in water like dust. The soil from the pasture stayed together in a clump, keeping its structure and soaking up the water like a sponge. Cobb realized he wasn't just seeing an agricultural scientist show off a chunk of soil: He was seeing a potential new philosophy of farming.

“By the end of that day I knew that I was supposed to stay on the farm and be part of that paradigm shift,” Cobb said. “It was that quick.”

Don't forget about the air.
The great nutrient collapse

Loladze used his math training to help measure and explain the algae-zooplankton dynamic. He and his colleagues devised a model that captured the relationship between a food source and a grazer that depends on the food. They published that first paper in 2000. But Loladze was also captivated by a much larger question raised by the experiment: Just how far this problem might extend.

“What struck me is that its application is wider,” Loladze recalled in an interview. Could the same problem affect grass and cows? What about rice and people? “It was kind of a watershed moment for me when I started thinking about human nutrition,” he said.

In the outside world, the problem isn’t that plants are suddenly getting more light: It’s that for years, they’ve been getting more carbon dioxide. Plants rely on both light and carbon dioxide to grow. If shining more light results in faster-growing, less nutritious algae—junk-food algae whose ratio of sugar to nutrients was out of whack—then it seemed logical to assume that ramping up carbon dioxide might do the same. And it could also be playing out in plants all over the planet. What might that mean for the plants that people eat?

There's a whole Agenda 2020 thing going on over there, articles galore: https://www.politico.com/agenda/issue/agenda-2020-health

I can get awesome yogurt at the market now, but not very often, it is $9.99 a pint. They capture the manure gas with a methane digester and clean the barns with that heated water. It's a good deal I think, the Greek Style yogurt is unbelievably good. Happy cows.

good luck

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Submitted by eyo on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 9:43am

Stabler to Branch is how I remember the NFL. Cliff Branch was fast, that guy could fly. In retirement he was a "Raider hoarder" I can't even begin to quote what burned in this article:

The museum is gone. So is Branch. He’s not rebuilding. He’s going to Vegas. He has a home in his native Houston. In both a physical and emotional sense, Branch is moving on.

“Be in sorrow in death,” Branch said. “I’ve said that all my life. Yes, material things are gone. But I’m still alive. I got my life. So the show must go on.”

Branch lived on Stonefield Lane for 26 years. He knew his neighbors and his neighbors knew him as a genuine guy. That also will be the photo album he will keep in his mind’s eye. Victoria isn’t going anywhere. Blink and he’ll see her. Blink, and he’ll see the trophies and jerseys and pictures. Memories don’t disappear, even if his home has.

“I was hoping to get a fresh start in Vegas,” Branch said.

After Tubbs fire, Raiders great Cliff Branch saying goodbye to Santa Rosa

Goodbye Cliff, thanks for the memories. Thanks a lot.

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Submitted by mhagle on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 9:57am
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@eyo

. . . of homes lost through hurricanes, floods, and fires this past year. Compared to the number of homes lost in previous years. These might be wake up numbers. While floods and hurricanes disproportionately affect the poor, fires hit everyone across the financial landscape it seems.

Grievous.

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 1:10pm
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@mhagle
initial dramatic photo opportunities for the MSM (mainstream media) have disappeared. The long drawn out exposure of Katrina effected Bush's popularity. Appears current political environment is trying to avoid the problem by controlling the narrative.

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Submitted by k9disc on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 12:46pm
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The scientists were able to rule out weather and changes to landscape in the reserves as causes, but data on pesticide levels has not been collected.

Sounds like some sound science to me.

Wonder why info on pesticide levels has not been collected...

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by eyo on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 2:29pm

Speaking of "controlling the narrative", the great thing about blog comments is making your own headline. That was mine, this is theirs: Two Cloverdale officers identified in fatal shooting of prowling suspect

A Cloverdale sergeant with 18 years of experience and a patrol officer with nine years on the police force were identified Tuesday as the uniformed officers who shot and killed a prowling suspect Saturday.

Acting Sgt. John Camara and Officer Jim Strattan fired the fatal shots after they entered a fenced-in backyard on the 100 block of Garden Circle Way to confront a reported prowler just before 2 a.m., Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons said.

Camara and Strattan were among five Cloverdale police to respond to the call from a resident that a man with a hammer was snooping around his elderly neighbors’ backyard, Lyons said.

I am trying to keep an open mind, perhaps Victor Gonzalez Gonzalez was 7 feet tall and 300 pounds on PCP or meth or something. I still don't think that was an appropriate or normal cop reaction. We'll see. The story is already off the front page, per usual.
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Cloverdale during and after firestorm
Pretty amazing report there. Ends well:

No water shut offs this month

In his weekly report, Cloverdale City Manager Paul Cayler stated, “due to the stress that we are all feeling by the Fire Storm Emergency, Finance Manager Susie Holmes and I decided that the city would not shut off water service this month for non-payment.” The city will process past due payment letters to customers behind on their water bills as a reminder, however city hall will not issue door hangers or shut off water this month. Normal operations will resume next month.

As if next month will be different? Yes.
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F*cking fires are almost out, finally. Temperature is back up in the 90s again, 100 on the deck, really hot and dry.
Sonoma County firefighters inch toward full containment

The Redwood Valley fire in Mendocino County and the Sulfur fire in Lake County are both 99 percent contained, with full containment imminent, Cal Fire said.

The Redwood Valley fire torched 36,523 acres, killing eight people and the Sulfur fire burned 2,207 acres on the shores of Clear Lake, according to Cal Fire.

In Sonoma County, three fires that burned 110,720 acres were at 93 percent containment collectively, Cal Fire reported Wednesday evening.

Individually, the Nuns fire stood at 93 percent containment, the Pocket fire at 92 percent and the Tubbs fire at 94 percent, Cal Fire said. The Atlas fire, which charred 51,624 acres and destroyed 481 structures in Napa and Solano counties, was 97 percent contained Wednesday evening, Cal Fire said.

good luck
maybe tomorrow

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Submitted by QMS on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 5:54pm
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just diagnosed with babesiosis, similar to malaria. Seems it was rare, but becoming more prevalent in the Midwest and Northeast (where I am). Comes from ticks (live in the sticks), more prevalent in dogs and cattle. A quinine / antibiotic regime is indicated for suppression of the little buggers. Sheesh. Was glad to be rid of Lyme with the last round.

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question everything

Submitted by studentofearth on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 7:44pm
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@QMS
you respond quickly to the treatment. Fortunately with the dry climate and cold winter have a lower risk of tick and mosquito borne infections.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
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Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 4:11am
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@QMS  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesiosis

Best wishes for complete and speedy recovery.

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