The frightening consequences of electroshock therapy
I'm a middle aged government attorney living in a rural section of the northeast U.S. I'm unmarried and come from a very large family. When not preoccupied with family and my job, I read enormous amounts, toy with evolutionary theory, and scratch various parts on my body.
This journal is filled with an enormous number of half-truths and outright lies, including this sentence.
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Oaks v. Maples
It was interesting to learn the other day that the entire island of Great Britain is devoid of large maple trees. Here in the states, maples dominate the inland forest, but in Britain, it is oaks that are the climax of forest succession. The only native maples in England are smaller trees called Hedge Maples. There are oaks in the U.S. but they only dominate where soils are sandy and well drained, like near the coast. American oaks and American maples are roughly the same height and have the same tensile strength.
Oaks have certain connotations in English culture. "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow". "Sturdy as an oak". Oaks are powerful, massive, symbols of strength. Worshipped by druids. Nothing like that for maples, because of course they weren't as prominent a part of nature. If the English language had formed in the American northeast, perhaps that would have been different.
Maples are at the top of the succession chain here in the U.S. because of their ability to grow in very little light, and because of their ability to block light themselves. You see, the way a maple grows, the pattern of its branches, is such that the leaves capture more of the incoming sunlight than most other trees. So blocking all the sunlight creates an environment most conducive to the growing of other maples.
The difference in branching patterns between oaks and maple is quite distinct. Maple branches stick out from the sides of the trunk like arms uplifted at the shoulders. They are curvy, giving a maple a sort of egg shaped appearance. Oaks on the other hand, have branches that jut straight out. When their branches turn, they do so at sharp angles. Oaks are known for the breadth of their foliage. They don't block out as much sunlight as a maple, but they spread over a larger area.
In the fall, when a maple turns color and drops its leaves, it does so enmass. Every leaf on the whole tree turns at about the same time and drops off. Different parts of an oak tree change at different times, and then not all the leaves actually drop off. I suspect that this might give a maple an advantage when the snow falls, because an early fall heavy snowfall can knock down trees with leaves on them, as happened last year.
I've also noticed that maple leaves have a thinner texture than oak leaves. Perhaps that thinness is another advantage, less investment of energy going into a part of the tree that will just fall off anyway.
Here are a couple of scanned leaves. Both are very pretty in the fall.
Most of the leaves are down here. The temperatures have dropped into the 30s and 40s. I even had snow on my car a few days ago. It's pretty in an elegiac way - the cold rains and the moldy smell of leaves, fractal grey branches pointing upwards into fluffy grey clouds.
Oaks have certain connotations in English culture. "Mighty oaks from little acorns grow". "Sturdy as an oak". Oaks are powerful, massive, symbols of strength. Worshipped by druids. Nothing like that for maples, because of course they weren't as prominent a part of nature. If the English language had formed in the American northeast, perhaps that would have been different.
Maples are at the top of the succession chain here in the U.S. because of their ability to grow in very little light, and because of their ability to block light themselves. You see, the way a maple grows, the pattern of its branches, is such that the leaves capture more of the incoming sunlight than most other trees. So blocking all the sunlight creates an environment most conducive to the growing of other maples.
The difference in branching patterns between oaks and maple is quite distinct. Maple branches stick out from the sides of the trunk like arms uplifted at the shoulders. They are curvy, giving a maple a sort of egg shaped appearance. Oaks on the other hand, have branches that jut straight out. When their branches turn, they do so at sharp angles. Oaks are known for the breadth of their foliage. They don't block out as much sunlight as a maple, but they spread over a larger area.
In the fall, when a maple turns color and drops its leaves, it does so enmass. Every leaf on the whole tree turns at about the same time and drops off. Different parts of an oak tree change at different times, and then not all the leaves actually drop off. I suspect that this might give a maple an advantage when the snow falls, because an early fall heavy snowfall can knock down trees with leaves on them, as happened last year.
I've also noticed that maple leaves have a thinner texture than oak leaves. Perhaps that thinness is another advantage, less investment of energy going into a part of the tree that will just fall off anyway.
Here are a couple of scanned leaves. Both are very pretty in the fall.
Most of the leaves are down here. The temperatures have dropped into the 30s and 40s. I even had snow on my car a few days ago. It's pretty in an elegiac way - the cold rains and the moldy smell of leaves, fractal grey branches pointing upwards into fluffy grey clouds.
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