@futurebird@sauropods.win
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

futurebird

@futurebird@sauropods.win

pro-ant propaganda, building electronics, writing sci-fi teaching mathematics & CS. I live in NYC.

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futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

yeah moss is great but how about a vascular plant that has basically ... gone back to the way of the moss...

Azorella compacta

It's... it's a carrot that has given up on having leaves...

Imagine a hostile planet with plants like this... could you tell that they once grew in less cold and arid climates? What if flora of the twilight days of a planet look like the earliest life... but when you look closer there are abilities, and structures that tell their history....

It looks exactly like a tuft of green moss.

earthtoneone,
@earthtoneone@mstdn.social avatar

@futurebird I got all excited thinking this was the "star plant" that made me so happy when I was trekking in Ecuador, but the range and altitude didn't quite match. Turns out I was looking for Plantago rigida, which looks very similar, because apparently convergent evolution gave us a number of plant families with hardy little high-altitude cushion plants like this. TIL!

stevenbodzin,
@stevenbodzin@thepit.social avatar

@futurebird and then there's Punotia lagopus. I took this photo from a bus driving by https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20185839 but there are better shots out there. It just looks like a pale boulder. Only 20 observations on iNaturalist, probably because nobody realizes they are looking at a plant.

evacide, to random
@evacide@hachyderm.io avatar

When I talk about digital privacy, there is always some smug genius who shrugs and tells me, "Who cares? We all know we don't have any privacy anyway." Nothing could be more wrong. Convincing you that the fight is already over to the way people in power get you to stop resisting.

john, to ocean
@john@sauropods.win avatar

A new :

“The Wave”

The captain informs us that due to slightly choppy seas the giant paddling men have been deployed, but there is no cause for alarm.

https://johnconway.art/the_wave

Skye, to random German
@Skye@mastodon.scot avatar

Pont-Aven: Katze am Fenster - Cat at the window.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

If we have so much good AI tech why can't anyone make a spell check that I can't stump?

A few times a week I must go to the dictionary (like a cavewoman!) or search the web since I've mangled some word in such a way that there are no suggestions. It's just "wrong" what's wrong with it? Who knows!

Could it be a scientific name and just not in the dictionary? Maybe! Could it be an obscure word with a pretentious UK spelling? Probably! Could it be wrong? Also probably.

Do this first AI lords.

futurebird, (edited )
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@cyberlyra I thought about the data safety aspect— but in the end it’s not really a secure wall just an inconvenient one: Nothing is stopping some company from using the last book I listened to to serve me ads: so why can I get at least the same benefit from my own damn data ?

mensrea,
@mensrea@freeradical.zone avatar

@futurebird spellcheck will never be a match for my dyslexia. i'm just too powerful

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@mikewoods For me it’s the first vowel. I grew up in the midwest and we could only afford one vowel (E) in my youth. (yewth) 😫

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The company that's contracted to do security education has these little multiple choice tests, and it annoys me that they are confusing on purpose ... or they require you to listen to the wording of their videos carefully. eg:

Which URL is suspicious?

a. http : //www.gmail.com
b. https : //www.google.com/email

Um. The domain is valid for both. https is nice, but the later is a google 404... the former will re-load as https:

They wanted you to say the second one? Bad question.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

These videos and quizzes are not going to fix my cooworkers who have ABC passwords on postit notes on their desk.

The same coworkers who ask me "my computer says I have a virus" and I feel dread since we don't have virus software that would say that... so they DID SOMETHING.

What did you do, Linda? You can tell me. We will sort it out.

futurebird, (edited )
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@mkb

If it's anything like the rest of education it will vary by the person. Some people are excited to learn about security, may even read about it on their own. They are also the people who everyone asks computer questions... so can help spread information.

There are people who just don't care: they may need games or varied presentation to stay engaged. Humor is good too.

There are people who know they are bad at computers terrified to ask questions. They need to talk to people in person.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I will NOT let Pica bully me! I'm bigger than her and she can't "make" me do things!!

log,
@log@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@futurebird Birds that are only 40 grams are capable of early feeding bullying. Know the signs. Stop pet feed time creep before it starts.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@wa7iut @pdkoenig

In a few years I should have a whole congressional district on the shelf.

Problem is they are one issue: SUGAR

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The ant “foot” consists of a tarsal claw with two toes and the several segments above that I suspect are simply… well…floppy. Basically, I’ve seen no evidence ants can wiggle their ankles at will, but rather they seem to adjust the floppiness, or tension of the lower leg. The claws, however, show signs of dexterity, ants can control how sticky the soft pad of their foot is, but also seem to be able to grip and release with their claws. (how exactly are the muscles arranged?)

Another view that includes the segments above which I suspect to be “floppy” the ant leg is often covered in hairs.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The tripod walk leads to queens who have a lot of “junk in the trunk” waddling— this makes it easy to identify ants in film and video even if you can’t see them clearly— they just move in an ant-y manner.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

It’s well-known that ants, unlike most insects, always keep three legs in contact with the surface they are traversing. They walk as if their legs are two tripods alternately swinging forward: so on either side they either have the front and back leg down OR the middle leg.

Some ant mimics will try to approximate this distinctive gait to better blend in! Consider a spider holding two legs up in front (to mimic antennae) then, rather than creeping as spiders normally do, trying to waggle along!

Wharrrrrrgarbl,
@Wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud avatar

@futurebird unsure if you have already seen this paper, and also unsure enough about ant anatomy to know if this mechanism involves the ankle you're thinking about, but this is describing a potentially relevant mixed muscular/hydraulic mechanism for ant grippies

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.111139298

john, to art
@john@sauropods.win avatar

A random artwork from my gallery:

"Stegosaurus stenops" — 2012

Stegosaurus stenops, in classic Stegosaurus livery, taking a drink.

https://johnconway.art/stegosaurus-stenops

chloe, to random
@chloe@chadthundercock.com avatar

What the FUCK did I do?

futurebird, (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

It's perfect. Bravo Jonathan Yeo. I don't know if it was a choice... or just how the paint choose to speak. But, you got him. Perfectly. WOW.

Very much how I think of monarchs... down to the damn butterfly. LMAO

nschonni,
@nschonni@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird reminded me of https://triviahappy.com/articles/what-happened-to-the-vigo-the-carpathian-painting-from-ghostbusters-ii

alexwild, to Texas
@alexwild@mastodon.online avatar

While the Texas GOP’s ongoing destruction of public education may seem ideological, it’s worth looking past the culture war smokescreen. It’s simpler than that. The people doing it are pouring state money into their own pockets.

It’s just crime.

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/report-texas-tax-dollars-diverted-out-of-state-to-charter-schools-founded-by-mike-miles

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I know that people say it's unethical but I think it's good to let a cat use her instincts for mousing.

(She is such a little obstruction. Will NOT let anyone do ANYTHING but pet her, please help us she is a tyrant!!)

log,
@log@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@futurebird I have heard people have had success with the following:

+decoy computer equipment
+acrylic equipment shields
+cat drugs like 'nip, "val", and 'vine
+an ersatz human lap made from old pants and stuffing
+invoking a random section of Shadow Proclamation treaty (only works if cat is a disguised alien)

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

My nervous Formica subsericea colony. These are black field ants. When I turn on the light they panic. A newly emerged worker (called a callow) cowers as her sisters stampede over her. She is newly emerged and not strong enough to run and freak out.

One of her sisters picks her up and she tucks her legs in like a pupae so she is easy to carry. In a few days she will be a lovely black like her older sisters.

The light gray ant picked up by a sister.
Side view of callow and fully hardened exoskeleton.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@starrwulfe They don’t let callows leave the nest. Really for the first months of their lives young ants do safe jobs inside the nest: feeding larvae, grooming their sisters and queen, and resting. The ants who venture out are the older ants and the further they go from the nest the older they are.

starrwulfe,
@starrwulfe@vivaldi.net avatar

@futurebird

Ahh ok, makes sense. Now I want to sit outside and observe the ant mound in my backyard and see if I notice any new ones coming out.
Those lil ladies are fascinating and very necessary for the planet too. 🐜

thepoliticalcat,
@thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird
When in trouble, when in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout

I'm sure that's the black ant motto!

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

One thing I observed today that I HOPE I can get on video somehow ... Camponotus pennslyvanicus can jump one of the wild ants I was looking at did a leap from my hand to to nearby pole.

It was not just a fall, she launched herself like a grasshopper!

I wonder if jumping is more common in ants than we think...

@alexwild

Shanmonster,
@Shanmonster@c.im avatar

@futurebird @alexwild I don’t know much about ants, but a couple of years ago, I was sitting by a pool when an ant carried a dead ant over to the water. It then proceeded to toss the dead ant in and scurry away. Did the ant murder and dispose of the body? Was it simply a burial at sea? Hmm!

EricIndiana, to Black_cats
@EricIndiana@mastodon.social avatar

Joey can fly.

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