The attitude of ordinary people to entomologists

- This kid from the Internet salon got me again... - already brought his friend, the same tramp, who still could not believe him that the "Adult uncle" "looks at cockroaches" ... In the end, the first one wanted to ask me if there were any GERMS in his new "pants" that he bought at the market yesterday!!!
- I immediately remembered-translation of the Russian word "people" into French...

Oh, and one more thing. There aren't enough butterflies at all this year. Another neighbor at the dacha a week ago, when he found out that I was in Nepal, said to me: "There are not enough butterflies flying this year, you probably caught them all last year, and that's probably why you went to Nepal, because there are not enough here."
Butterflies are not enough for him. Well, at least, observant.

Yes, I also heard that I catch all insects, "I violate the ecology")))
And here's another case: a strange friend with long hair came to our department and began to find out something about seeds. So I told him it was for the botany department. He looked like he was about to leave when his eyes fell on a box of butterflies. And this nice man began to tell us how bad we are, how we stab butterflies with pins. And that the day will come when everyone will be happy, no one will kill anyone and "the lion will lie next to the antelope and eat grass." To my objections that the lion is not allowed to eat grass at all, and that the grass is also alive, and that if everyone eats it, there will be no lack of grass, he continued his sermon in the same spirit. Well, I rub him on the counter about evolution, about ecology, about the fact that all living things need to be studied and demonstrate a box with all sorts of small things zhuchina (in my opinion, bembidions were there). So this "preacher" looked with such hostility and gave out "what kind of fleas are these? why study them, they should be beaten."
In general, I was left from this communication in some awesome. As a person all this fits in my head, I did not understand.

Yes, I also heard that I catch all insects, "I violate the ecology")))
And here's another case: a strange friend with long hair came to our department and began to find out something about seeds. So I told him it was for the botany department. He looked like he was about to leave when his eyes fell on a box of butterflies. And this nice man began to tell us how bad we are, how we stab butterflies with pins. And that the day will come when everyone will be happy, no one will kill anyone and "the lion will lie next to the antelope and eat grass." To my objections that the lion is not allowed to eat grass at all, and that the grass is also alive, and that if everyone eats it, there will be no lack of grass, he continued his sermon in the same spirit. Well, I rub him on the counter about evolution, about ecology, about the fact that all living things need to be studied and demonstrate a box with all sorts of small things zhuchina (in my opinion, bembidions were there). So this "preacher" looked with such hostility and gave out "what kind of fleas are these? why study them, they should be beaten."
In general, I was left from this communication in some awesome. As a person all this fits in his head, I still did not understand.

to AlexEvs: so-so-so, more details, please, What seeds did that person need, what grass seeds?

Probably interested in Indian cannabis or Mexican peyote cactus. About such colorful personalities who are eager to feed the lions with hay, which they probably eat themselves, or rather inhale-there is a good website of Pavel Volkov "Evolution without Borders" http://sivatherium.h12.ru. There he also has a good collection of biological blunders, including on insects. Well, a good selection of literature on the theory of evolution and not only. I always read with pleasure.

Frost:
Another religious drug addict who believes that "heaven on earth" will come
they promise eternity
but eternity never comes

The good christonark must have been looking for Hawaiian rose seeds.. Look for cannabis or peyote, and even in seeds, in the open, at the institute... well, that would be too stupid..
By the way, does anyone have San Pedro? ^_^

San Pedro is not present, you can try something nito domestic-. Once, when I was a student, the Department of botany was visited by followers of some popular cult at that time, either the White Brotherhood, or Complete Swinishness (I do not distinguish between them). They used grains from the ears of ergot-infested cereals (the toxins cause hallucinations) for their rituals. Of course, they were politely escorted to the threshold, but the incident was imprinted in my memory.

well, yes, ergot ... "rituals"... after all dsl is prepared from it

Returning to the topic of ordinary people. I remembered another trip - to the Dzungarian Alatau, the border of Kazakhstan and China, I went with colleagues from the Institute of Zoology of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. We decided to drive higher, spend the night at an abandoned outpost and go fishing there. We found out that we needed a special permit and went to the commander of the border guards. In the waiting room sat a well-fed murlo in the uniform of an ensign (it looked like a great hybrid of Shmatko and Danilych+Kolobkov from the TV series "Soldiers")-. Long and tedious muryzhila us, who are they, why they came, etc., in the end gave the go-ahead that we should contact Captain Mirgalimov. The mood dropped sharply, well, we think, if the cap is the same as the ensign, the outpost was covered. It turned out that they were very wrong. We went to the captain, he briefly asked questions, said that he knew a colleague who often comes to those parts, wrote out all the documents, called the outpost himself and let him go with a wish of good luck. then we went without any problems. I hope that this cap, if not a lieutenant colonel, then a major has already been given exactly-.

Such a story, my science teacher told me. On an August evening, he walked with his son along the street, collecting katokal from the doors of entrances. Rides past such a "real brother" on the merc, stops and asks - " what are you guys doing here, like, doing?". Well, the researcher was not at a loss and answered: "we are studying the phenological aspect of lepidopterological research." A man with a face that expressed complete understanding of the process and its meaning silently got into a wheelbarrow and drove away. There were no questions.

to AlexEvs: so-so-so, more details, please, What seeds did that person need, what grass seeds?

But I didn't find out, unfortunately, what specific seeds he needed)))
Maybe cereals with the same ergot)
By the way, what kind of dsl is made from sporynia? ADSL or maybe HDSL?

ALSD

to AlexEvs: so-so-so, more details, please, What seeds did that person need, what grass seeds?

"You're burning up!"!! - and you're also called" Frost"!!! ( in the cabin, everyone jumped as much as I neighed!!!)

Maybe a person needed Ipomoea? Her seeds also seem to contain some derivatives of lysergic acid...

My grandfather called today. When you heard from me. That I was going to a meeting with an entomologist, asked: "What else are you doing?"
and then he added: "let's do something serious already, study or make music. This is not science at all, unless there is some serious work, degrees! "

- I remember us, in the winter in Sicily, essentially illegal slaves, out of 13 of which 12 were Moldovans (half of the women), - forced between the orazheriyami razgr* * * with pitchforks a bunch of rotting plant remains, - from which creeping creatures crawled in all directions!!!...
- All as sharanulis with a squeal!!! - And I, like a Hero, - one climbed into the thick of it and began to catch them, "saving" the workers!!!...
- In short, everyone immediately respected me!!! - - Until they found out that I had already sold some of the creatures to a pet store in the evening, and sold some of them to German tourists! - Here are already my "colleagues" and neighbors in the barracks-just a toad strangled! "And they didn't even hide it!

This post was edited by Andreas - 08/23/2008 04: 13

"Ha! - Once a friend and I were tied up by cops in Khost (Sochi) in October, mistaking guest workers for illegal immigrants, hoping to profit from us... And no one believed us in our entomological being.
- In short, they take us to the cell , and there is a blue ribbon of the order sitting on the wall!!!
"I climb up on his shoulders and try to reach the butterfly... Then a cop comes in and thinks we're trying to throw something out the window... After 10 minutes, the entire police department was rolling on the floor ... (and we were quickly released, taking from me 10 recipes for removing cockroaches, so as not to feel like complete suckers...

- I went once last year during a terrible drought that lasted 3 months (and it was specifically in August) to the bridge over the railway near the Lermontovskaya station , to take a video camera of clouds of butterflies that flew from everywhere to the tall cornflowers, tatarnik and grassy elderberries growing under the bridge in the area of the stream - clouds of butterflies. - The dining room was really unique!
I'm standing, so I'm filming..., - here Shepherd dogs jump on me from three sides and knock me to the ground. (the camera only got very dirty, but it didn't break). People in camouflage jumped up, tied me up, put a bag on my head and dragged me somewhere...
Lying on the floor in a certain room, I heard reprimands to someone from someone with a likely promotion in the nearest future for catching the "Grandson of Bin Laden"...
Then there was an interrogation with jabs and blows to the kidneys with boots. No one believed me. (They remembered a movie in which an agent posing as an entomologist encrypted a map of a military base on an island where he was allowed to catch them as an entomologist on the wings of butterflies he had sketched.)
When the big boss arrived, and with the help of his many years of experience and very high professionalism, he still realized that I was an entomologist, and not a terrorist... "he told me that at my age I should have a car like him, a beautiful wife and two children, and not catch butterflies...

Yes, this is another of the stereotypes, another of the "childhood diseases" of the average person - to consider entomology as child's play.

Rothschild was a big slob - instead of doing business, earning money, and feeding his family, all he did was collect butterflies, but he also forced others, that's a scoundrel!!!!

Well, Rothschild didn't just collect butterflies. I quote: "Rothschild started with the basics. In entomology, he was as persistent and purposeful as in financial matters. At first, he collected one and, as if to strengthen his poor health, made long trips to different countries-for fleas. In 1903, he traveled to Egypt and Sudan. At the grandiose pyramids near the Egyptian city of Giza, a previously unknown species of flea was discovered, which he named after the Pharaoh Cheops after him. So the plague flea got its majestic name Xenopsylla cheopis Rothschild. In an article on the new species, Rothschild suggested that it might be a plague carrier. He had no idea how accurately he had hit the target — the top ten! The members of the Indian anti-plague commission decided to clarify this issue and, to their great surprise, found that the flea of Indian rats, which they mistakenly believed to be human, bears a complete resemblance to the flea found in Egypt.
Later, Rothschild involved employees in the collection, established contacts with many institutions, and before you know it, a collection of world-wide significance was assembled. When he gave the collection to the British Museum in 1913, there were already 1,100 different flea species and subspecies. Rothschild did not forget about it in his will: the fund of 10 thousand pounds was intended for the curators of the collection and for further replenishment of it. Currently, it contains more than 52 thousand microscopic preparations, which contain 1,600 of the 1,830 flea species recorded in all parts of the world.
A huge number of scientific papers were written on the material of this collection. A full assessment of the collection is given in the volumes that appear sequentially in the large series "Catalog of Fleas in the British Museum". Six thick volumes have already been published, and the seventh is being prepared for publication. One of the co — authors of this work is Miriam Rothschild, the successor of the work started by her grandfather.
The collection is considered a recognized global comparative standard. This unique and invaluable collection serves science and helps the practice of medicine." Milan Daniel, "Secret Paths of the Bearers of Death".
I wonder if any of today's oligarchs are capable of this? For some reason, it doesn't seem to be.
"

Of course, no one is capable of this, however, the fact that the well-known Sergey Mavrodi is a collector of butterflies

I wonder if it is possible to impale a flea on pin number 3????

You can't pin a flea on pin number 3 yet. Perhaps it will be possible when the camel passes through the eye of the needle.
Returning to the townsfolk - I remembered another picture from my years of working at the Research Institute. We sit with a female colleague, drink tea, and at the same time discuss her project on the Hessian fly. Suddenly the door opens, a grenadier-sized lady enters, plumps a phial on the table, and proclaims in an operatic bass voice:: "Excuse me for interrupting, I'm Aunt Lyuba, I need to see some worms here. I wore it both to the SES and to the plant protection station, no one can say anything." The "worms" turned out to be millipedes, I don't remember the exact type now. At Aunt Lyuba's, they bred in large numbers on the plot, ate up the garden, a couple of chickens died of poisoning, apparently they pecked them. Well, we gave recommendations, poured the drug into a bottle, invited her to drink tea with us. During the conversation, the topic of salary came up. We tell her that now (2004) we have 17,000 tenge for a senior researcher, candidate of sciences (approximately 3,700 rubles). Aunt Lyuba's eyes become the size of a satellite dish, then she reaches into her purse, pulls out money, and hands it to us with the words: "This is for your advice. And in general, you need to be supported, otherwise soon there will be no specialists left. again, some kind of creature will start up, who will I go to then":).
Philistine as a sponsor for poor scientists. Then she called several more times, thanking me for everything.

Of course, no one is capable of this, however, the fact is that the well-known Sergey Mavrodi is a collector of butterflies

Oh still sitting there, isn't he? Or is it already out?

It seems to be sitting.

It seems to be sitting.

He was released a long time ago and now they are trying to recover the damage caused to him. But he is no longer facing prison.

- Recently, unexpectedly, I was asked by an old ecologist friend of mine, who leads a science club of the same name, to speak to a children's audience and tell them about butterflies (earlier I gave them 50 foam straighteners, entomological pins and a booklet-a guide to collecting and collecting). I hadn't prepared myself early, but somehow I got on my horse and got carried away. Of course, it didn't work out to interest everyone. - There were stupid remarks and laughs in my address (I stutter); - But a couple of 10-year-old girls showed this!!! genuine interest, asking logical questions to the point - that I ended up completely switching to them. Now, after 2 months, their parents, with whom I had to meet, call me on the phone and ask for advice on this topic. And a week ago, I even went with them by car to the Borgustan ridge for pseudohazara alpina and agradiatus tsiskavkazikus - (so like this pigeon on the map).
- I don't know what will come out of these 10-year - old entomologists, - but presenting myself in their place (since I didn't have a senior mentor in my time, except for an old grandfather) - I feel damn good! And I am also glad that I used the opportunity to "infect" new people (namely children); - and not for nothing is it! It was worth it!

Another story, already from my student years. We once went with a friend, Lesha Pilipenko (now he has changed his specialty and generally disappeared somewhere) to collect insects in a forest belt on a collective farm field near the city. We stand, strip off the lagging bark from old poplars, there were interesting beetles from the family of Little Babies, Hololepta plana, well, along the way, we grab other animals. Suddenly, a cop appears, and with the words "What do you have here" begins to rummage through his pockets. He pulls out a matchbox with beetles from Lechis," Aha, keep anasha in the box, " and opens it. Bugs and other objects, of course, happily broke free, sticking to his entire arm. The stunned cop begins to perform the shaman's dance at kamlaniya, shaking off the entomofauna to the ground. Lehis with a wild roar from the height of his two-meter height falls on all fours, almost knocking down the cop, and begins to grab the fleeing insects. I cover the cop with a three-story mat without a blanket for mom and dad, shout that he has disrupted an important state forest pathology study, and wave the red crustof the test card. Stunned by the bug's attack and obvious disrespect, the cop turns around and quickly walks away with the words "I ran into a pancake, crazy psychos". Lechis and I quickly pick up the scattered insects, then sit down on the ground and start laughing wildly, as if in fact the anashi were stoned.

This post was edited by Bukashechnik - 08/28/2008 10: 43

This summer, at the biological station: an interesting butterfly flew into the men's room - I took a camera and came to take pictures. Here comes a local diver. Me, making excuses: "Here is such a misfortune: the most interesting butterflies fly here!" "Nah! The best butterflies are in the women's toilet! "

During our student years (1976-1981), we constantly collected moths in field practice in toilets built on the territory of the university biostation right in the forest. They were equipped with quite powerful lamps such as spotlights, so that at night students and teachers would not lose their direction and wander through the forest. The whitewashed brick buildings of the toilets worked as traps, and the butterflies in them at that time were visible-invisible, especially for some reason in the women's quarters. My classmate and friend Sergey Ivanov early in the morning (at 4 o'clock) went to the toilet to remove the butterflies that had flown in. He checks the men's room, cautiously enters the women's room and finds a young teacher who taught us a botany practice there in a pose characteristic of the place and situation. "Seryozha, what are you doing here?!" she asks. "I catch butterflies," my friend replied, slightly embarrassed.

Three seaside entomologists (then still young) were on the expedition. We lived in a small house somewhere. While eating in the kitchen, they saw that a rare butterfly flew into the room. They began to catch, forgetting everything in the world. When they were caught, they found out that they had overturned the table, pots, broken dishes, etc. And then the non-entomology student who cooked their food comes in. To the question, what was there? they answered honestly-they were catching a butterfly. Anyway, since then, she's decided that these people are crazy, and she married a hydrobiologist (this is the story this woman told me).

It happened quite recently. I went to the park with my son for a walk, I see there is such a cool birch stump, and it asks me to pick it up. I gave in to my instinct, it turned out not in vain - there were larvae and cocoons of Potosia marginicollis bronzes in the dust. Then two Karakalpak guest workers come up, ask for a light, put a lighter in their hands, and I continue to dig through the dust myself. They ask what they say agashka is doing. I want to get rid of them faster, I give out the usual version about the forest pathology examination, they say, I work on the instructions of the city akimat (administration). Then both of them sigh sadly and say: "You are still doing something in Kazakhstan, but we have lost all the specialists...". Then I became curious, I started to ask them. It turned out that both were former farmers who grew melons. In 2002, a mass reproduction of the Melon fly, Myiopardalis pardalina, took place in Karakalpakia, destroying 40% of the crop, and many farmers went bankrupt. This fly also entered Kazakhstan in 2005, and I wrote a report on it for our Ministry of Agriculture myself. It's good that we managed to process it in time. These two poor devils had to go to guest workers because of losses from a fly, and they are still struggling. Due to the lack of personnel, the forecast for the pest was not given to them in time, so they went broke. Plus, according to them, the termites also swarmed with terrible force, devoured the adobe houses to a state of disrepair. We talked a little more, then they left with the words "We won't bother you, you have a very necessary job". I was even a little ashamed that I cheated them

Yes, but I recently returned from the seaside. So there my neighbor from Komi over a glass of wine all figured out why we need such a science - entomology. Here we can't compete with the Colorado potato beetle, so why spend state money?..

my neighbor from Komi over a glass of wine all figured out why we need such a science - entomology. Here we can't compete with the Colorado potato beetle, so why spend state money?..

Yes, just the same Arkady Raikin remembered. Nothing should be useless! Tie a dynamo to the ballerina's leg (let the current flow to the remaining areas during the fuete!), a scientist walking back and forth while thinking about another problem - a lever from the pump to the leg (let the water pump!), etc.

Yes, just the same Arkady Raikin remembered. Nothing should be useless! Tie a dynamo to the ballerina's leg (let the current flow to the remaining areas during the fuete!), a scientist walking back and forth while thinking about another problem - a lever from the pump to the leg (let the water pump!), etc.

Yes, quite an understandable attitude. Just look at how people in villages and small towns live in survival mode. Hence the attitude to urban "idlers": "It would be better if you collected cows, not butterflies" - this is a man from the Astrakhan region, the owner, at that time, as many as 18 cows, but who does not have the opportunity to buy a briefcase for school for his daughter. But with these cows, he doesn't see the white light all year round...

Yes, quite an understandable attitude. Just look at how people in villages and small towns live in survival mode. Hence the attitude to urban "idlers": "It would be better if you collected cows, not butterflies" - this is a man from the Astrakhan region, the owner, at that time, as many as 18 cows, but who does not have the opportunity to buy a briefcase for school for his daughter. But with these cows, he doesn't see the white light all year round...

The cow is the entomologist's worst enemy!
Biotopes cattle trample.

The cow is the entomologist's worst enemy!
Cattle trample down biotopes.

Cow and other can be-the same supplier of valuable shit, where you can collect staffs and dung and water lovers

First of all. Sheep are much more harmful.

In our region, a cow is a useful animal for an entomologist. Without grazing, meadows quickly become overgrown with bushes or trees and meadow fauna disappears completely, and without manure, dung beetles disappear-now we have a big problem finding geotrup stercorarius, and some ontophages seem to have ordered a long life... And the bad animals are people...

And the bad animals are people...

Hence the conclusion: entomologists are not exactly human. They are the highest caste.