Thursday, April 15, 2021

Mowing grass, ticks and untestable hypotheses

Even though the possibility of snow is forecast for this morning, we are now in the part of the year when mowing becomes a major task. If you throw in the orchards we are mowing about an acre.

I seriously considered purchasing a lawn tractor or zero-turn this year but decided to keep using the push-mower until some body-part gives out. You know what they say, use it or lose it. Fortunately, Mrs ERJ is extremely fit and looks like she will be good for decades to come.

It gives me great satisfaction when I can save money and keep Mrs ERJ healthy!

Ticks

One advantage of mowing in cold weather is we are less likely to pick up ticks. As recently as ten years ago ticks were uncommon but now they are a frequent occurrence. A million years ago I read an article by a vet in Idaho who suggested that the traditional, northern-European "small holding" was a reasonable facsimile of a closed ecosystem and she suggested that house cats are an integral component of the ecosystem.


 

I am not a "cat person" but if feeding a couple of barn cats is what it takes to knock back the rodent population then I would consider it. Rodents and other small mammals are one of the critical links in the tick's life-cycle.

Un-testable hypotheses

It irks me to see un-testable hypotheses presented as "Science".

Tables like this are presented as de facto proof that LGBT are economically discriminated against in the work-place. Proponents argue that even though LGBT are significantly more educated, they are paid far less. Values circled in red are for base population, Lesbian and Gays. The percentages listed below the value without a "%" are the percentage of All U.S. adults.

 

I stumbled across a whiny screed struggling to present the LGBT population as "economically terrorized". It presented a host of "statistics" supporting that contention. Those statistics involved household income which glosses over the fact that heterosexuals are far more likely to form two-adult (and potentially two income) households than LGBTs. Three times more heterosexuals, as a percentage of the base population, are in two-adult households than are LGBTs. Furthermore, heterosexuals are between two-and-seven times more likely to have children under age eighteen in that household. As much as I love children, I must admit that they reduce discretionary income.

Then it went on to moan about LGBT people being forced to self-segregating into certain professions. The "interesting" premise given for why they chose certain professions was "because LGBT people are better at reading social situations"

The author claimed that the need to "stay in the closet" forces LGBT people to become very skilled at making instant decisions about who to trust yada, yada, yada.

It would be interesting to see if LGBT people are swindled by con-men less often than heterosexuals. It would be interesting to see if LGBT interviewers really are more gifted at catching people telling lies. There is undoubtedly some body of data out there that documents some reasonable "test" of that hypothesis but I have not stubbed my toe on it. Yet.

My gut feel is that this self-professed ability to see into another person's head and divine their motives, intentions and 'quality' is usually a manifestation of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Incidentally, the professions where LGBT people are over-represented are Social Workers, Psychologists, Professors, Politicians and Human Resources. Another cluster of jobs involve those with high degrees of autonomy like truck driving.

An alternate hypothesis is that LGBT people are drawn to professions where they can influence other people's lives.

15 comments:

  1. Interesting numbers. I'd be curious to see their source. There are quite a few high profile (and wealthy) LGBT people in highly visible industries. Are they representative, or are they the outliers/
    It would also help to see individual income instead of just household income.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of the "hard data" comes from the US Census bureau's American Community Survey section. They offer precanned reports like this one https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2021/acs/acsbr-005.pdf

      They also offer the raw data but it takes some time to figure out how the database is structured.

      The income graphic came from Pew Research.

      The "more socially perceptive" is based on speculation by this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erving_Goffman

      Delete
  2. working on reducing ticks. Product called Thermocell Tick Tubes is what I am using now. They say it takes two years. I am a quarter of the way into it. The tubes are camo colored and stuffed with cotton that is treated with a chemical that inhibits the reproductive cycle of ticks. The cotton is handy nesting material for rodents which is where the cycle starts. I'll note that this year's box says "kills them" rather than eliminates them so they may have changed formula. Worried about using them at scout camp as the boys might use the contents for fire starter. Sulphur supplements taken daily seem to repel ticks and other insects. She tastes good apparently so if she skips a day on a camp out she is red with bites the next day.

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  3. "She" meaning my youngest daughter.

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  4. Homos make great piano players, judging by the likes of Elton John and Liberace. And probably a few more that I am not aware of. So they got that. And tap dancers. Don't forget tap dancers. And Supreme Court chief justices. So they got that going for them.

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    Replies
    1. I was remiss not to mention figure skaters and hairdressers. Sorry.

      Delete
  5. For rodents that spread ticks I get Tom Cat Bait Chunx that come in 1 gallon pails and spread them in my garage, shop, woodshed and barns. They are very effective and have stopped rodent damage inside and greatly reduced ticks in the yard area. When the mice eat it they go outside to die so there is no rotten mice stink. When the snow melts there are a lot of dead mice lying around outside the buildings. And I've never had a cat or dog eat it. Good stuff to have around. ---ken

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My brother lives north of Ishpeming and it wasn't that many years ago that ticks in the northwest U.P. were unheard of. But that was then...
      I blame the tick northward migration on tourists from Chicago.

      Delete
    2. I think you are right Third Coast. I lived there too for awhile on the Dead River Basin 45 years ago and never saw a tick there. Then I moved over by Big Bay where there were more Chicago tourists and got bit by ticks all the time and ended up with Lyme Disease. You nailed it! Proof enough--Settled Science. ---ken

      Delete
  6. Totally off topic, but I ran across this oldest pear tree in North America story on the interwebz and figured you might have something to say about its genetics. I found it totally amazing that a pear tree could survive this many years.
    https://www.goodfruit.com/endicottpear/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It takes a lot of attributes to live that long. One thing that happened is that the Endicott pear threw suckers from its roots after one of the hurricanes.

      There is a lesson there: Be able to punch up from your foundation.

      Delete
  7. You can get barn cats, but you also need a barn possum. Ticks are like hard candy to possums.

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  8. Regarding income and various lifestyles, as soon as you identify as a 'victim class' you automatically become a pariah and are treated then not based on your ability but on the risks you pose to the organization. Additionally, some management people do not want to encourage more 'activism' in their organization and will intentionally not promote those who identify in any way that makes their unique status more important than they abilities.

    Moral to the story is keep your private life to yourself, do your job well and support the organization that employs you over your agenda when you are at work. Don't rub people's noses in your choices and personal feelings and you might be amazed that by your respecting people's opinions and beliefs you might actually succeed farther than you would otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pendulum swings.

      Victimology offers short term benefits. More and more people are thinking short to very-short time horizons.

      Clearly, anything that cannot be sustained will not be sustained. The question is "When?" and "How brittle will the failure be?"

      Thanks for commenting. I enjoy your blog and look forward to when you will have time to write more.

      Delete
  9. Great comment,Glenda. Actually, the exception proves the rule. I worked with a gay homo at one job. He was open about it, BUT DID. NOT MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT or shove it in your face like every other homo that I have met does. He was very smart- he spoke 5 languages and could have gone to the top. But the last time I heard, he had left the company, don't know how or why.

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