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The Pond

In this pond of placid water,
Half a hundred years ago,
So they say, a farmer’s daughter,
Jilted by her farmer beau,

Waded out among the rushes,
Scattering the blue dragon-flies;
That dried stick the ripple washes
Marks the spot, I should surmise.

Think, so near the public highway,
Well frequented even then!
Can you not conceive the sly way,—
Hearing wheels or seeing men

Passing on the road above,—
With a gesture feigned and silly,
Ere she drowned herself for love,
She would reach to pluck a lily?

Edna St. Vincent Millay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunflowers and Math

“Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff.”     (carl sagan)

“The morning glories and the sunflowers turn naturally toward the light, but we have to be taught, it seems.”

Science: Sunflower spirals obey laws of mathematics. Why Do Spirals Exist Everywhere in Nature?

 

Why do the number of spirals in a sunflower match up with the integers 34,55, 89 and 144; numbers found in the famous Fibonacci Sequence? The sunflower seed pattern used by the National Museum of Mathematics contains many spirals. If you count the spirals in a consistent manner, you will always find a Fibonacci number (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, …).  Found in many flowers, most notably the sunflower. Counting the spirals visible towards the outer edge of the logo we find 34 clockwise and 21 counter-clockwise spirals. The numbers 21 and 34 are sequential entries in a famous number sequence called the Fibonacci sequence. This is no coincidence.

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Mistaken identity?

Cicada Killer Wasps Being Mistaken for Asian Giant Hornets

Don’t worry. Humans aren’t on the menu.

the cicada killer and wood wasps are solitary and thus do not aggressively protect their nesting sites by attacking in large numbers. However, cicada killers may cause alarm due to the males’ territorial behavior of dive-bombing or buzzing people and animals that walk into their territory.

“Although cicada killers are solitary, you can often find numerous individuals in areas with sandy soils where females dig nests in the ground,“These nests appear as dime to quarter sized holes. As females come and go, provisioning their nest with cicadas they paralyze with a sting and carry back to their nests.”

Look close at the slow motion video. Look for the small insect about to be lunch.