It’s not that expensive to have your own labels made to replace those in your clothes so you have your own secret bespoke brand.

(it’s a remarkable how much this simple detail make me happy.)

Some arboreal worker ants of genus Cephalotes are famous for their ability to use their flat bodies to glide when they jump off a tree branch. They are able to glide back to the trunk of the tree so they can more quickly return to their nests in the rainforest canopy.

I wonder if there is any connection between the neural structures required for worker gliding and those for queens flying. Because isn’t flying really just falling with an excess of grace?

nostr:npub1wvg7e6v4c98txktxqc3d3enygtztnppp7zdhv2sjexqyywur2k7qtg6je6 feeding garbage to the garbage machine and shocked to find it spews garbage.

Damn I got this seersucker mostly for the camp value— but it turns out it really does make me feel less hot and miserable on a humid day! Saratoga here I come!

Shh! The tiny ants are sleeping! 🐜 💤

It’s such a privilege to share my home with living breathing royalty. I check on her in the morning since she’s least likely to be disturbed. They are nocturnal and she’s been up all night laying eggs and being fussed over by her daughters. At this time of day she’s sleeping deeply enough that she won’t stir of I remove the light cover. Sleeping Beauty!

I never settled on a name for her. She’s just “the queen” —

Is not their fault. Poor little fiends. They don’t know NYC isn’t Japan.

I know N. flavipes is invasive but they are still very pretty ants. This is what we get for importing so many plants. The garden trade is almost wholly responsible for nearly all of the invasive ants! Stop planting non native plants!

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You can't just say this and not mention the book!

They call him "America's Complainer"

Has anyone read any good math and science nonfiction books recently? (pop nonfiction please) Are there any really good ones out?

TYT hosts are baffled when a Trump rally crowed starts chanting "Genocide Joe." Trump has made it clear he doesn't see the Palestinians as people.

I'm *not* baffled by the chant. Trump has been promising anti-interventionism, know-nothing isolationism for years. There is a deep isolationist streak in the US.

To them *any* money spent on foreign aid or on wars, or aid to make wars is wasted. They also hate support for Ukraine, and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

https://youtu.be/NeBtmLm1NLk?si=Y0EBoi1GYEfHzWua

A few days ago I posted about how, while "debunking" can be nice, just showing how things work can be better. I mentioned showing geology to someone who thinks the earth can't be 4 billion years old. Here is a great video about how exactly we know that that there was once a sea that split North America in two. I love how Dr. Cook is careful to explain not only what he know but HOW he knows it in a way anyone can follow.

https://youtu.be/UCPnUAAOuDg?si=Fys8Xu4-xnvqXibW

Colony updates! I saw the biggest ant in my colonies, the huge queen of my Camponotus pennsylvanicus is alive and laying eggs. Meanwhile the cone ants (Dorymyrmex) are raising queen alates! look how huge they are. And the ruby minis (Camponotus discolor) have tons of eggs!

Study I'd like to see that won't ever get done:

Do adults who participate in "structured make - believe" things like roleplaying games, collaborative stories etc. believe in conspiracy theories more or less.

The thing I want to be true is that there is some innate need for imaginary play, and conspiracy theories are a maladaptive way to fill that need. But that's my bias speaking, it could really go either way.

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Inversions is kind of tangental to the overall "culture" series, but I remember enjoying it.

I wouldn't pick it as the one to start with, ideally. But all of the books stand along OK I think.

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Sounds like he's taken the same online course as my cat Pica it's called "Effective Training for Better Service: The Art of Human Education" or some such nonsense...

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This is bad. WOW. Is this satire... like an onion comic?

Crying hugging my knees rocking back and forth

“itwasjustadream…itwasjustadream…itwasjustadream…”

I had the worst nightmare. I woke up in a copy of the real world. All the websites, all the books all the papers— all the images were approximations of what they were meant to be. Sometimes it was bad enough it stood out as computer generated nonsense, but often I could only notice if I thought about it- looked for consistency— but in the dream it was spreading— the buildings had nonsense architecture, then it was the plants and animals just general ideas— and then

all the people—

even me!