I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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ChrisGreaves
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I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, because I think that a vermologist and vermology are not recognized as proper titles.
The climate in Bonavista is similar to that of Lancashire, atop The Pennines (think north of Manchester)
Bonavista_20210419_104213.JPG
This is a worm discovered Monday morning. It is not the largest (length, diameter) worm I have seen in my yard, but it is representative.
Bonavista_20210417_184934.JPG
Two days ago I explored my backyard (if I mowed it, it would be my back lawn) and discovered what looked like worm holes in the matted grass.
Bonavista_20210417_184940.JPG
The holes are very well-defined, and a cynic, or a skeptic even, might think that the campus staff had secretly driven their spiky-machine across the wasteland.
(next post because of the 3-image limit)
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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ChrisGreaves wrote:
19 Apr 2021, 17:20
I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...
Bonavista_20210417_184950.JPG
Some of the holes are very well formed; you’d think that the worms had stashed a set of power-tools below ground over winter.
Bonavista_20210417_185003.JPG

In many cases the holes are not cylindrical, but are close to diamond-shaped as if the worms had pushed their way between the dead strands of last-year’s grass.

Now something else I don’t do is to rake the leaves in Fall/Autumn. I believe that earthworms drag dead leaves down in to the pantry and munch the winter away sitting beside the fire, slippers, book and so on.
We are only a week away from the latest snow, and now all our snow has melted, thanks to the incessant rain over fourteen days and nights.
Are these numerous holes really the result of worms coming to the surface so soon after the temperature rises above freezing?
I know that my yard is well populated with worms; after all, for two years now I have been composting sawdust, bark, and grass clippings by the truck load.
If each hole represents a worm, I stand to get a good crop of Zucchini this year, assuming I am foolish enough to plant some.

And if these holes are not created/caused by worms, what made them?


Thanks
Chris
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by HansV »

OMG, a wormhole... :flee:
A wormhole (or Einstein–Rosen bridge or Einstein–Rosen wormhole) is a speculative structure linking disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations.

A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate points in spacetime (i.e., different locations, or different points in time, or both).
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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HansV wrote:
19 Apr 2021, 17:38
OMG, a wormhole... :flee:
A wormhole (or Einstein–Rosen bridge or Einstein–Rosen wormhole) is a speculative structure linking disparate points in spacetime, ... a tunnel with two ends ...
Nice try, Hans, but no cigar.
If you examine the photos closely you will see that these "wormholes" have only ONE END from my point of view, to wit, the end that is apparent in the grass. These tunnels have only one end, as far as I can see, and that is one would be my lawn, were it a lawn.

Now it can be argued that there may be an end up to eight feet below the surface, but I am at a loss to see how this might be proved.

Equally unlikely is a means to determine that the tunnels are U-shaped, so that instead of 2,300 holes in my lawn I could be said to have 1,150 U-shaped tunnels and that does not allow for collisions of tunnels by which some symbol other than "U" would be needed to describe that situation.
And yes, the prospect of a Worm causing a W-shaped tunnel has not escaped my mind until I started typed this sentence.

As for disparate points in space-time, I can but keep two eyes on them and see iof over a period the holes disappear.

I take my meagre encouragement from the fact that one of us, at least, believes that these are, indeed, worm-holes and hence, presumably, are caused by worms.
Cheers
Chrias
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by BobH »

Shouldn't there be castings if those are holes made by earth worms?
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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BobH wrote:
19 Apr 2021, 20:33
Shouldn't there be castings if those are holes made by earth worms?
Yes, Bob, you are correct, and that to me was a bit of a puzzle(1).
I have been vermicomposting since the early 90s, so I am familiar with castings from "Red Wrigglers", but now I am out of apartment rental and back into back-yard farmer mode, and on top of that I make the time to walk the back forty as often as possible. I didn't make that time when I had a house in 1993/94.

I suppose that one possibility is that the earthworms open the Front Door and start spring-cleaning as soon as the snow goes. It's what I do, and I have a better bigger brain than a worm!
I suppose too that during the winter, earth worms slow down in terms of eating and digestion, so perhaps they have very little to excrete until their metabolism revs up.

I will keep an eye open for the next week or so to see if each hole receives a little "dose".

Charles Darwin observed rocks sinking into the ground over a period of forty years and theorized that the earth worms were ingesting soil particles from under the rocks, then excreting the soil on the surface, so that over forty years the rocks were sunk into the ground.
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Chris
(1) NOT that you were correct :evilgrin: , but at the absence of castings!
C
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by LisaGreen »

Hello all,

Not worms I know.. but talking of castings..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwHGCMwZwJU

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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by HansV »

Let's hope aliens won't do that to get an idea of the London Underground or Parisian Métro system...
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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LisaGreen wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 08:11
Not worms I know.. but talking of castings..

... and even then, not really castings, as I know them. More like excavated construction site material made of sand and saliva which, FWIW is what happened, they say, when Toronto's subway was built - the cast-offs, to coin a phrase, went to build the Leslie Street Spit.
Termites too extude this mixture, I believe.
Untitled.png
That said, the concrete mold of the underground city reminded me a bit of Toronto's P.A.T.H. , and about as mis-directed, too.
The idea of pouring ten tons of concrete into the underground would make sense only at the City-Hall end of the tunnels.

To be perfectly honest I was scared that you were going to post a photo of me cast as Bumble in Oliver! (1963), and am so relieved that you didn't that I am posting an image of how Helen Hunt makes castings in Mount Jewett during the Swedish Festival (I have a Swede tooth).

Mount Jewett is close to my favorite railway viaduct which has recently been rebuilt.

Rain again, so back to VBA, me.
Cheers
Chris
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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HansV wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 08:27
Let's hope aliens won't do that to get an idea of the London Underground or Parisian Métro system...
My Aunt, Olga, rode on the London Underground (linguistically I suppose that should be "rode above the "), but as far as I know, never used the Paris Metro.
Snap Quiz: of the two systems, which has the greater number of "stacked" lines?
You may include the lines RER in your response.

Cheers
Chris
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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I don't know the answer to your quiz, but I wouldn't be surprised if Châtelet–Les Halles in Paris holds the record, with 5 métro lines and 3 RER lines.
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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HansV wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 11:56
I don't know the answer to your quiz, but I wouldn't be surprised if Châtelet–Les Halles in Paris holds the record, with 5 métro lines and 3 RER lines.
So your upper-bound is eight, but to the best of my, er, wossit, two of the RER lines share island platforms, so that would set your upper-bound back to seven.
Good thinking!

Ah! Would that I could be back in Paris where the sun shines every day, and you can spot The Eiffel Tower from every street-corner.
Spoiler
PARIS_HPIM7915.JPG
Cheers
Chris
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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S0322.png
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 12:18
S0322.png
And snow. Half an hour ago the rain stopped (HOORAY!) and the snow returned (BOOO!). :snow: So no more yard work this year. Still and all I enjoyed both hours I spent out there. :mad:

My mind goes back to the RER platforms where one RER train was still snaking out of the station while the next train was snaking in. A far cry from Toronto's schedule on the Lakeshore line of a train every thirty minutes, except for the cancelled trains, and those changed on-the-fly to non-stop express

That said, the image of RER trains "snaking" is appropriate to the thread, no?
I have investigated flights to Paris from St John's International Airport. YYT to YYZ is a 2-hour flight, and YYZ to CDG is, I think, 7 hours flight, so I think 5 hours and I'm there. :stop: :rtfm:

Not

Fly YYT to CDG via YYZ, so 2 hours to Toronto, an hour in the terminal at YYZ, 2 hours until I pass right over my house, ...
Untitled.png
:mad:
I'm glad I took so many photos when I was there!

I think it is time for me to dig into that idea of yours about travel-by-worm-holes. :sneaky:

Cheers
Chris
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Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 20 Apr 2021, 12:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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You could also say that the train was worming its way into the station...
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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If you have some time to spare: Laying Tracks
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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HansV wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 12:48
You could also say that the train was worming its way into the station...
So at each stop on the way home, the trains are de-wormed?
If you have some time to spare: Laying Tracks
I have about another week, I think, before I can go outside without this.
Cheers
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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Now that's an earworm!
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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

Post by jstevens »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
19 Apr 2021, 17:20
And if these holes are not created/caused by worms, what made them?
Chris,

Do you live near a golf course? It appears that a few wayward golfers (wearing spiked shoes) cut across your property looking for lost balls. :scratch:
Regards,
John

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Re: I seek advice or confirmation from a wormologist, ...

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jstevens wrote:
20 Apr 2021, 13:36
Do you live near a golf course? It appears that a few wayward golfers (wearing spiked shoes) cut across your property looking for lost balls. :scratch:
Good Thinking, John!
Untitled.png
My home is but 41Km from what Google claims is the nearest golf course, although today my guess is that it is a swamp right now.
Of course, "near" is relative, but I will assert that I could get there on foot sooner than I could fly from St John's to Paris, leaving aside the matter of how I am to travel from Bonavista to St John's.

However, he said, the politician in him weaseling out, I don't know any golfers in Bonavista at all. Most of our time here is spent shovelling snow, complaining that the cafe is closed again, or waiting for the rain to stop.

One of my earlier talking-tos with Young David was when I caught him trying to dump three brand-new golf balls and a set of one of his sister's deceased husband's(1) golf clubs off to the tip. I wouldn't have been able to swing a club after that until the bruising in my hands had gone down, and by then we had a light dusting (three feet) of snow across my back yard. I can't speak for anyone else, but you have to imagine how difficult it is to spot a new golf ball in a field of snow!

That said, Spiked Shoes would have left footprint-shaped prints across the sod, wouldn't they?

In looking at the map again, I am considering taking a swing next time we have one of those North-Easterlies sweep in; see if I can't make a hole-in-one from here.

Cheers
Chris
(1) David has a number of sisters who live on my part of Canon Bayley Road
C
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