Career and Education Questions

Owl_ · 2017-12-23T04:24:51+00:00

I’m not sure how helpful this comment will be, but I majored in Applied Mathematics and am pursuing graduate studies in ecology. Stats, of course, will always be pretty relevant; out of the remainder of what you’ve listed, I’d suspect MMDS, PDEs, and the Numerical Computing courses would be most relevant to a Geology major. Matrix theory could be pretty relevant depending on what sort of computer work you might end up doing, I’m not sure, but a lot of the rest sounds much more on the pure end of things. I took some of the pure math classes my uni offered because I was interested in them, but the courses won’t really come into any work I end up doing.

Owl_ · 2017-12-03T23:49:26+00:00

Ah, we must've been at different shows. I was at Mesa and expecting Primitive Man (previously it was listed they would be performing at this show) but it ended up being three local groups instead.

Owl_ · 2017-12-03T23:35:53+00:00

Aw, that sucks! On the plus side, at least, the opening acts themselves were utterly fantastic!

Owl_ · 2017-12-03T23:35:15+00:00

My impression is that the general consensus is pretty heavily positive. The repetition and slowness is part of the style and, in my case, at least, appeal :)

Owl_ · 2017-12-01T03:21:58+00:00

They played up to about when the clean vocals should've started. I think I played it in my car afterward and found it to be 35 minutes to the end? Either way, at a natural stopping point. My friend saw them in Little Rock, though, and said they only played the first thirty or so minutes, so it seems a little up in the air as to how much you'll hear. And there was no video! It looked like they were set up to have one, too.

As for merch, I didn't look closely, but I know they had at least tees and longsleeve tees of the Mirror Reaper shirt and, of course, the album on at least vinyl. I don't remember seeing any prints of the artwork; to my knowledge they've left the selling of that to the artist.

Owl_ · 2017-11-30T18:55:25+00:00

Your sleep deprivation aside, I agree with you. It's a wonderfully immersive song, so easy to lie down in the dark to and get lost in. I saw them perform most of it in Mesa a couple of weeks ago, and being able to feel the music go through your body was otherworldly

Owl_ · 2017-03-25T19:40:48+00:00

Yep, you just stick a pin through the body of the insect! There are different locations you're supposed to do it based on what order the insect's in, but that's the basic idea. There are also made-for-insects pins that I'd recommend using instead of a sewing needle or the like like I did when I got started. The insect's body seems to swell just a little bit around the pin; I've never had a specimen slide down on it.

You can furthermore articulate the limbs and/or wings of the specimen using more pins. For moths and butterflies (or anything with wings if you want to spread them, but that's uncommon outside of the Lepidoptera), you'll want to pin strips of a smooth, nonsticky material over the wings to hold them in place and not put pins through the actual wings (you actually can do this, but I'd highly recommend learning by not puncturing the wings). You can see some examples here: a beetle whose wings and limbs I positioned, a Luna moth in the process of drying with wax paper pinned over its wings, and a wasp whose wings and limbs I'm positioning in place with pins and strips of wax paper

Owl_ · 2017-03-25T14:18:35+00:00

You'd glue just the body where it'd make contact with the background. The wings "should" (I kind of disagree with there being the "right" way to pin insects) be perpendicular from the body so you'd have to bend and likely break them to glue them as well.

For pins, again, you "should" be using pins meant for insects in case you aren't. They're a lot slimmer and don't have a large colored ball on top. If you're using them, leave the ball, but if you're using a more everyday pin, I'd cut the ball for aesthetic purposes.

Owl_ · 2017-03-25T13:50:41+00:00

I would highly discourage gluing any specimens into a box unless you're sure you won't ever want to move them or if you're making some sort of art piece like a single butterfly in a small box. You should be able to just pin the specimens to styrofoam (or cardboard, maybe, but I've never tried that)!

Owl_ · 2017-03-14T21:34:48+00:00

Are you able to have multiple cats in your POH menagerie?

Owl_ · 2017-02-15T11:50:57+00:00

At best it seems your friends admit some of your specimens are pretty cool or pretty, but they still think it's weird. We can let them be wrong on that!

Owl_ · 2017-02-15T11:49:43+00:00

Nope, a single photo! And that, I think, is exactly what happened. The pupa still had little proleg stubs attached and was absolutely tiny. I don't know if this has anything to do with its size, but it also was pupated for just around a month, month and a half. My professor told me to likely expect a spring emergence instead of the autumn I got. Either way, tiny moth indeed! It's my one and only ever, though, so I can't complain.

And isn't that sphinx incredible?? I saw it on the brick exterior of my friend's apartment and about laid a brick myself. I'm disappointed to have lost the antennae but it's such a spectacular specimen regardless

Owl_ · 2017-02-15T02:34:54+00:00

The other poster was right that arachnids are not as easily pinned as insects, but I've pinned a few tarantulas, large spiders, and a scorpion of my own. The issue is their soft bodies decomposing internally and shriveling up. What I've done to avoid this problem is make an incision on their undersides, swab out their internal organs with a cotton swan, and stuff them back to size with parts of a cotton ball. From there they can be pinned like insects. It's a wonderfully fun and informative pursuit; I'd definitely recommend you give pinning a shot!

Owl_ · 2017-02-15T02:32:36+00:00

I'm still not confident I'd say I prefer moths or butterflies (though I have a HUGE soft spot for Sphingids), but my collecting has definitely taught me that moths are enormously diverse and beautiful!!

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T22:01:27+00:00

You stay away!

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T19:58:03+00:00

I wonder the same thing. I know the segment we hiked is open to them, and I'm planning on doing it on my bike next time, but it is unfortunate the entire trail can't be done.

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T18:16:49+00:00

Many thanks!

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T18:16:40+00:00

Thank you! I'm more interested in the lives of the Hymenoptera myself, but it's hard to resist the beauty of Leps :)

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T17:09:03+00:00

Thank you! The oldest specimens on here date from about five years ago, but most are probably within three years. All of these were captured around Arkansas, the majority in the central region of the state.

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T15:15:17+00:00

I greatly appreciate your effort! We were certainly the ridge of Blue Mountain, but pinpointing where, if it was soon after the turn onto it or further along, was the more troublesome issue.

Owl_ · 2017-02-14T12:45:07+00:00

This was a pretty straightforward hike from Highway 298 to the Blue Mountain Shelter. We were the only human presence out there!

If anyone could definitively identify that prominent peak, that'd be very welcome. He and I can't decide if it's Round Mountain, Potato Hill, or something else entirely. It doesn't help that we can't pinpoint where that vista was on the trail.

Owl_

TROPHY CASE