futurebird

futurebird, 1 hour ago (edited 1 hour ago) to random

The bald eagle could have easily gone extinct. But we did all sorts of "woke" things protecting it legally, ran conservation and study programs, banned DDT (that was good for other reasons too) and in 2007 they were removed from the endangered species list.

Likewise pine forests could be dead from acid rain.

The ozone could have a huge hole.

We CAN take care of nature when we want to. And the successes have been worth it.

I feel like we forget this, you know?

futurebird, 12 hours ago to random

I don't know how my ancestors survived.

apex predator who could easily subdue and eat me in a tree

my brain: Kitty Cat! Little kitty cat! Let me hug it!

futurebird, 1 hour ago to random

Sam Alito is so much worse than I ever suspected. Watching him speak, reading his writing you encounter a man who clearly thinks he's smarter than everyone.

For various reasons, we do not often encounter smug academically styled conservatives. But, he's the genuine article. He sincerely believes himself a brave iconoclast who will be seen as a hero someday.

His self-flattery could be a weakness. He is very wrong about how history will remember him.

futurebird, 1 day ago (edited 22 hours ago) to random

I often brag on tumblr about how "on the fediverse I never have to ask people for image descriptions, why is tumblr so terrible at this?" etc.

But, I've made the mistake of re-sharing a few images without descriptions recently! I was lulled into thinking it was not a problem.

Just FYI I'm going to get strict again about not re-sharing undescribed images. (You should too, it keeps the feed readable.)

If you forget? If this is new? Don't feel bad, just stop doing that.

https://www.tumblr.com/aspirationatwork/750857131588304896

futurebird, 10 hours ago to random

Do you like parasites? Or dislike them but can't stop learning about them? The worst ones are in the sea. Makes all of the parasitoid wasp stuff seem tame! There are worse fates than being paralyzed and fed to a hungry larvae who eats your organs selectively so you live longer.

Here is a great video. It is very gross. But it's cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZQ2wcQY3o

futurebird, 14 hours ago (edited 4 minutes ago) to random

Have you thought much about, or engaged with "liminal space" content in the past 10 years? (Through a reddit group, tumblr, compilation videos etc.)

Regardless if you care about such content now, if you ever spent some time enjoying or being disquieted by such images and media... that's "engaging"

If you don't know what this is about you have not. If you know what it's about but just never paid it any mind? Same.

futurebird, 15 hours ago to random

Research means formulating a question. Sketching the kind of evidence you think would provide answers to the question and then dispassionately looking for that evidence and either answering the question or determining it can't yet be answered.

Falling into an internet rabbit hole and stimulating your sense of fear or wonder reading the strangest things you can find that creep you out isn't research. It's fun maybe, but it's not research.

Yes both involve searching and reading but ... come on.

futurebird, 13 hours ago to random

It's the same picture.

https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-mask-order-2654942318/

The photo of the "hot dog guy" from "I think you should leave" saying "We're all trying to find the guy who did this!" (he did it)

futurebird, 22 hours ago to random

This is the kind of thing I always imagined a husband would get when grocery shopping before I had one and, lo, it’s the sort of thing they really do come home with.

Just… just random cheese—

can I complain though? I think not!

futurebird, 21 hours ago to random

Every day is Leg Day with Dirhinus! This is a parasitoid wasp. They lay their eggs in the pupae of flies, often flies that are found on corpses (including human corpses, making them forensically significant.)

Wasps are distant cousins of ants, and you can see something of the ant her... and something of the alien. Why is her head like that?

Her big back legs have a retractable tarsus so they can be used as prongs when injecting an egg into a fly pupae.

Showing how the tarus of the back leg can retract into the big shiny club like "thighs" This is a Dirhinus found in East Africa. They are found all over the world.
Front view. A very alien face. Big bug eyes. chubby antennae. small dainty mandibles. The taco grove can also be seen from this angle.
Thomas Shahan photo of the dorsal view. Showing the grove in the front of the head like a taco shell. The antenae can be tucked away into this grove.

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

I bought some pink sand for my ants but it’s strangely hydrophobic? It is very fine sand and it will become saturated if stirred vigorously - but why does it trap air like this? isn’t this odd?

Piles of sparkling pink sand retains air at the bottom of the glass.
another view of strange sand.

futurebird, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago) to random

Trump has said FOUR times that he will withhold federal funding from schools that require vaccines. Not just COVID. ALL.

This is most schools. This is hitting me where I work. This will lead to children dead from measles. It's obvious, inevitable.

Someone on here said they just couldn't bear to vote for Biden to keep Trump from office since at least under Trump there were better masking rules.

I hope that person sees this.

Worse is worse.

edit: because I don't know measles from smallpox

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

I was wondering why hand stencils are so common in early human cave art... then I read one of the comments on the video about the art "This is so cool I'm going to do it in my son's room."

Oh.

Ok I get it now.

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

A benefit of giving my Camponotus nicobarensis colony a room with dirt to play in has been finding out that they will quickly bury large food items. I gave them a huge dubia this morning... which normally would keep them busy for about two days, in an hour it disappeared it into the ground.

I'm glad I can feed them in a space with a hard surface too... since if they bury food it will be hard to know when they have eaten it all. (which can make the tank too dirty)

Still I'm amazed!

futurebird, 1 day ago (edited 1 hour ago) to random

Which best describes you?

("records" in this context are shellac, vinyl or resin etc. recorded sound discs played using needle)

If you have some records you can play and others you can't choose the third option.

If you have a player but it's broken choose the first option.

You "own" a player if one is in your home and you can use it when you want.

You "own" records if you are one of the people who must be asked if they were sold or thrown away.

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

I just got my fixie out of the shop and was able to ride it again. I forgot how much I loved this bike. When I went to pick it up the bike shop guy was like "um did you know one of your tires is off of a wheel chair?"

... I did not... but I guess it was strange that it was gray. I used to get my bike fixed by a guy in the park who worked out of his van BEST prices in the city. ... but yeah, IDK where he got his parts... LMAO

I almost wish I could be a messenger again. It was a life.

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

If it's a problem that a judges daughter works for Democrats it's a problem that a judge was appointed by the defendant.

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

I hate what debates tend to be: soundbite mines where each side runs around claiming that they got in the best "dunk" and thus won.

It reminds me of when I as a teen and the ran the dozens in the school yard. "Yo mamma so fat the lobbyists say 'save some for me!'"

Can't even agree who won the last election. How can Trump ask to participate in a system he doesn't even recognize as legitimate?

Why debate Biden? You don't think he's president, right?

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

Pica: Can I licky every bacon and poach egg?
Me: No, that would ruin the human breakfast, but you may have a little crumb of bacon and little crumb of egg.
Pica: donot want
Me: Then go away.
Pica: Can I PLEASE licky every bacon and poach egg? PLEAS

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

Nothing makes a meal feel fancy like quite like featherlight flatwear. I want forks optimized for spaceflight. Titanium butterknife! The new definition of luxury!

futurebird, 1 day ago to random

Is there a place in the oral arguments or in the missives from the Supreme Court where the more reasonable justices can raise and call attention to the outrageous actions, conflicts of interests of their peers?

Shouldn't having a symbol, in support of an attempt to steal an election at one of their homes make it in to the record?

Could they be more aggressive in this way? If not why not?

They all pretend to be so impartial and its dishonest. It's ugly.

futurebird, 2 days ago to random

From: https://www.instagram.com/matrondesign/?hl=en

Thing is, centipedes are famously fastidious. They wash every single leg multiple times a day and seem rather like a very leggy cat while doing it.

Perhaps it's because they are predators. Predators seem to tend to be into washing up more.

(I know it's a millipede in the cartoon, but that just makes it funnier since the centipede would roll their eyes at the complaining. )

futurebird, 2 days ago to random

Sometimes when I'm really tired I'll stare at a post in German on here and just wonder why I can't make any sense of it... then slowly I realize.

futurebird, 2 days ago to HashtagGames

Riches and Wonders is a song by The Mountain Goats that's secretly about being in ant in an colony.

#SecretMeaningsInSongs
#HashTagGames

my fav cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gdLDLlFc3M

futurebird, 2 days ago to random

I filmed this two years ago, and the short video has become pretty popular. People are surprised that ants do this. Though to me it seems a general extension of their endless fussing over pupae... cleaning them and even biting them if they start developing into queens when queens are not wanted.

https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/687533053186326528/harvester-ants-render-first-aid-for-their-pupating