DS said:
It's obviously a spiral pattern produced by the lacewing female spinning her body counter clock wise while depositing eggs from the ovipositor.
Actually I see it as going clockwise in a mollusk or Milky Way fashion. Have another look.
Henry J · 11 October 2016
If it starts in the middle and goes outward, it looks clockwise to me. If it starts on the outside and goes inward it's counter. I'd expect the insect would start in the middle. When it finishes, it's on the outside, so at that point it would leaf.
DS · 11 October 2016
Marilyn said:
DS said:
It's obviously a spiral pattern produced by the lacewing female spinning her body counter clock wise while depositing eggs from the ovipositor.
Actually I see it as going clockwise in a mollusk or Milky Way fashion. Have another look.
Depends on where you start. Have another look.
Marilyn · 11 October 2016
DS said:
Marilyn said:
DS said:
It's obviously a spiral pattern produced by the lacewing female spinning her body counter clock wise while depositing eggs from the ovipositor.
Actually I see it as going clockwise in a mollusk or Milky Way fashion. Have another look.
Depends on where you start. Have another look.
Unless you have seen a lacewing laying the eggs counterclockwise, I would have thought she would start in the middle proceed clockwise so as not to walk on the previously laid egg. To me the shadows on the left side of the leaf pointing out seem to prove this.
Just Bob · 11 October 2016
Clockwise and counterclockwise depend, of course, on which direction you view them from. It always bugs me when I hear that the Earth rotates counterclockwise. Look down on it from above Antarctica... it's clockwise! Even clock hands don't move clockwise if viewed from the clockwork's point of view.
Now from that bug's point of view -- I'm assuming she hung upside down on the underside of the leaf -- it looks to me that she must have been turning clockwise, widening the spiral as she went. But from our 'normal' point of view, above the leaf, the same movement would have been counterclockwise.
And while I'm venting... why do European countries, who have sensibly dispensed with the AM and PM nonsense and designate times in relation to the 24-hr. day, still use 12-hr. clocks? On a train platform, for instance, you might see an analog clock showing 2:34, right beside a digital readout showing 14:34.
Henry Skinner · 12 October 2016
Just Bob said:
And while I'm venting... why do European countries, who have sensibly dispensed with the AM and PM nonsense and designate times in relation to the 24-hr. day, still use 12-hr. clocks? On a train platform, for instance, you might see an analog clock showing 2:34, right beside a digital readout showing 14:34.
As I happen to be a European, I'll give it a go.
The short answer is: habit. We're used to analog clocks having the traditional 12 hours with 12 o'clock at the top. Other analog models are produced, like 24-hour clocks. Some have 24 on top, other arrangements are also used. Some don't even use moving hands, but rather moving numbers. They're not popular, particularly in public. The problem is: when looking from a distance, what time does the clock indicate when the large hand is on top and little hand pointing smack right? Tradition solves that.
Besides, digital clocks ordinarilly use the 24-hour system, but most Europeans use the twelve-hour system when speaking. So when his digital clock shows 15:00, a Dutchman reading it says it's 'drie uur' rather than 'vijftien uur'.
That said: public clocks are disappearing from Dutch streets (but not stations) bit by bit. I suppose that's because most cars have one and most people have cell phones. They won't disappear, most church towers have one, but the ones put up by the municipality have all but gone.
Mark Sturtevant · 13 October 2016
I agree the eggs would be laid in a clockwise spiral, starting in the center. The female would not start on the outside and finish in the center, else it would be 'painted in a corner'. Neat that it did that, and I am going to look for this feature next time I see one of these.
Henry J · 13 October 2016
I wonder if clockwise vs counter-clockwise is a tendency, or is it as likely to be one or the other?
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 13 October 2016
Henry J said:
I wonder if clockwise vs counter-clockwise is a tendency, or is it as likely to be one or the other?
I was referring to the bug that laid those eggs, not what humans might do.
But what about sundials in the southern hemisphere?
John Harshman · 13 October 2016
Don't have anything to say about sundials, but when I was in the southern hemisphere I happened to notice that the moon was upside down.
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 13 October 2016
Henry J said:
I was referring to the bug that laid those eggs, not what humans might do.
But what about sundials in the southern hemisphere?
Counterclockwise, because they face south (that is, the shadow is to the south), not north like in the northern hemisphere. These are horizontal sundials, of course, but the directions are reversed with vertical ones as well, unsurprisingly.
Glen Davidson
TomS · 13 October 2016
John Harshman said:
Don't have anything to say about sundials, but when I was in the southern hemisphere I happened to notice that the moon was upside down.
How would a flat-Earth theorist explain that?
gnome de net · 13 October 2016
John Harshman said:
Don't have anything to say about sundials, but when I was in the southern hemisphere I happened to notice that the moon was upside down.
When I was in the southern hemisphere I couldn't help noticing the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.
John Harshman · 14 October 2016
gnome de net said:
When I was in the southern hemisphere I couldn't help noticing the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.
How did you know which was west and which was east?
Henry J · 14 October 2016
Australia is east, S. America is west. ;)
gnome de net · 14 October 2016
John Harshman said:
gnome de net said:
When I was in the southern hemisphere I couldn't help noticing the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.
How did you know which was west and which was east?
With my shadow behind me in the northern hemisphere, the sun "travels" from left/east to right/west. With my shadow behind me Down Under, the sun's path was from right/west to left/east. My visit was too brief to overcome this disorienting reversal of a basic fact of life.
John Harshman · 14 October 2016
gnome de net said:
John Harshman said:
gnome de net said:
When I was in the southern hemisphere I couldn't help noticing the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.
How did you know which was west and which was east?
With my shadow behind me in the northern hemisphere, the sun "travels" from left/east to right/west. With my shadow behind me Down Under, the sun's path was from right/west to left/east. My visit was too brief to overcome this disorienting reversal of a basic fact of life.
I see your problem. That isn't what "west" and "east" mean. What you really mean is that the sun is upside down, just like the moon. I guess east and west are upside down too. Well, somebody is upside down, at least.
Henry J · 14 October 2016
So basically, facing the equator, and then looking left or right?
Marilyn · 15 October 2016
I seems they will lay their eggs in either clockwise or counterclockwise and perhaps there's a chance they might do both.
gnome de net · 15 October 2016
John Harshman said:
gnome de net said:
John Harshman said:
gnome de net said:
When I was in the southern hemisphere I couldn't help noticing the sun rising in the west and setting in the east.
How did you know which was west and which was east?
With my shadow behind me in the northern hemisphere, the sun "travels" from left/east to right/west. With my shadow behind me Down Under, the sun's path was from right/west to left/east. My visit was too brief to overcome this disorienting reversal of a basic fact of life.
I see your problem. That isn't what "west" and "east" mean. What you really mean is that the sun is upside down, just like the moon. I guess east and west are upside down too. Well, somebody is upside down, at least.
Henry J said:
So basically, facing the equator, and then looking left or right?
My problem was simply one of perception due to a changed frame of reference. South of the equator, the sun appeared to be rising from the horizon where it had always set when I was north of the equator; what I perceived as "west" was, of course, still east.
PaulBC · 18 October 2016
Just last week, I was trying to come up with the most pleasing arrangement of 13 candles on a birthday cake. After trial and error, I settled on 1 in the middle, and concentric rings of 5 and 7. I should have asked a lacewing.
Marilyn · 21 October 2016
I wonder if this might be the case for the lacewing, apart from she has already found a mate. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37722975
27 Comments
Marilyn · 11 October 2016
It's obviously a location map of where they're from and where they're going once they arrive.
DS · 11 October 2016
It's obviously a spiral pattern produced by the lacewing female spinning her body counter clock wise while depositing eggs from the ovipositor.
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 11 October 2016
It's a Design!
Therefore, there is a Designer.
ID's work is done here.
Glen Davidson
Henry Skinner · 11 October 2016
It's obviously a flock of Pokémon.
Marilyn · 11 October 2016
Henry J · 11 October 2016
If it starts in the middle and goes outward, it looks clockwise to me. If it starts on the outside and goes inward it's counter. I'd expect the insect would start in the middle. When it finishes, it's on the outside, so at that point it would leaf.
DS · 11 October 2016
Marilyn · 11 October 2016
Just Bob · 11 October 2016
Clockwise and counterclockwise depend, of course, on which direction you view them from. It always bugs me when I hear that the Earth rotates counterclockwise. Look down on it from above Antarctica... it's clockwise! Even clock hands don't move clockwise if viewed from the clockwork's point of view.
Now from that bug's point of view -- I'm assuming she hung upside down on the underside of the leaf -- it looks to me that she must have been turning clockwise, widening the spiral as she went. But from our 'normal' point of view, above the leaf, the same movement would have been counterclockwise.
And while I'm venting... why do European countries, who have sensibly dispensed with the AM and PM nonsense and designate times in relation to the 24-hr. day, still use 12-hr. clocks? On a train platform, for instance, you might see an analog clock showing 2:34, right beside a digital readout showing 14:34.
Henry Skinner · 12 October 2016
Mark Sturtevant · 13 October 2016
I agree the eggs would be laid in a clockwise spiral, starting in the center. The female would not start on the outside and finish in the center, else it would be 'painted in a corner'.
Neat that it did that, and I am going to look for this feature next time I see one of these.
Henry J · 13 October 2016
I wonder if clockwise vs counter-clockwise is a tendency, or is it as likely to be one or the other?
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 13 October 2016
Henry J · 13 October 2016
I was referring to the bug that laid those eggs, not what humans might do.
But what about sundials in the southern hemisphere?
John Harshman · 13 October 2016
Don't have anything to say about sundials, but when I was in the southern hemisphere I happened to notice that the moon was upside down.
https://me.yahoo.com/a/JxVN0eQFqtmgoY7wC1cZM44ET_iAanxHQmLgYgX_Zhn8#57cad · 13 October 2016
TomS · 13 October 2016
gnome de net · 13 October 2016
John Harshman · 14 October 2016
Henry J · 14 October 2016
Australia is east, S. America is west. ;)
gnome de net · 14 October 2016
John Harshman · 14 October 2016
Henry J · 14 October 2016
So basically, facing the equator, and then looking left or right?
Marilyn · 15 October 2016
I seems they will lay their eggs in either clockwise or counterclockwise and perhaps there's a chance they might do both.
gnome de net · 15 October 2016
PaulBC · 18 October 2016
Just last week, I was trying to come up with the most pleasing arrangement of 13 candles on a birthday cake. After trial and error, I settled on 1 in the middle, and concentric rings of 5 and 7. I should have asked a lacewing.
Marilyn · 21 October 2016
I wonder if this might be the case for the lacewing, apart from she has already found a mate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37722975