[ExI] Double-Earth (Was: kepler study says 8.8e9 earthlike planets)

[spike]

From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2013 11:15 AM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] Double-Earth (Was: kepler study says 8.8e9 earthlike
planets)

 

On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 7:23 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>>.Perhaps the remarkable thing here is that with all the ice on this
planet, there are no known (to me) life forms that use it in its solid
phase.

 

>.I can think of one species - homo sapiens - but even then it's mainly used
as an external tool (e.g. to build shelters out of, or to remove heat from
some part of the body), not evolved biological processes.  (Though it is
sometimes solid when ingested, internal heat renders it liquid before
absorption.)

 

 

Ja, igloos.  Humans use snow as a shelter.  Polar bears make dens in the
snow; good chance there are others.

 

 

>>.One would think there would be a snow eater somewhere.

 

>.Would not life in such a region, have enough sunlight that the snow would
often be melted?  Or if there was not that much sunlight, might it be too
little sunlight to sustain life?  (Assuming plant life, in areas with
year-round snow.)

 

Mosquitoes use sun cups, which are small water puddles in the snow.  The
snow falls, the sun forms divots which fill with water, anywhere from an
actual cup of water to a few gallons, the mosquitoes bite your ass, go lay
eggs in those sun cups by the jillions.

 

We know there is a group of humans which skim fly larvae from the surface of
a salt water body such as Mono Lake and devour them.

 

http://online.sfsu.edu/bholzman/courses/Fall01%20projects/alkalifly.htm

 

>From the article:

How did the Mono Lake alkali-fly get its name? 

      Ephydra hydropyrus hians is the full name and was discovered by a
scientist named Say in 1830.  Say discovered the fly in an area called Mono
Basin in California.  The area just east of Yosemite was home to Kuzedika or
Mono Lake Paiutes.  The Paiutes called the pupae "kutsavi," and during the
summer would harvest it and use is as a main source of food.  Trade between
other tribes in the area become popular and neighboring Yokuts called the
Paiutes "Monoche" and their food "mono".

 

The fly-devouring people would be a scraper-gatherer society, ja?  So if
they can live off of fly larvae, it seems like we could create some kind of
machine that would track along in a snow-field with image-recognition, put a
tube into the sun cups, suck up the water and mosquito larvae, throw the
water away and keep the larvae for fish food if nothing else.  I would like
the poetic justice of devouring the mosquitoes before they can devour us,
but I don't know that mosquito larvae would catch on as the next hipster
thing to devour after the sushi is finished off.  

Hey, mosquito-fed sushi might sell.

spike

 

 

 

 

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