futurebird

futurebird, 7 days 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, 7 days 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, 7 days 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, 7 days 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, 7 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, 8 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, 7 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, 8 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

futurebird, 8 days ago to random

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.

futurebird, 8 days ago to random

My Camponotus discolor colony has produced a batch of chunky queens. They all eclosed on the same day. I wonder when they fly? Alates are a mixed blessing for ant keepers— they can really drain the energy of a colony and may lead to its end. But, it’s beautiful to watch. Seriously considering mailing these girls back to Tar Heel ants in GA —. who sold me the queen. They are legal in NY but it’s too far north to let them fly. He has many colonies— maybe he could find a way to get them mated.

futurebird, 8 days ago to random

Flocks of graduates in colorful rayon robes, wind catching the hem, caps spinning in the air, groups of two or twenty: as much a part spring in The City Full of Schools, like the blossoms, like the balmy air— Like alates, winged ants, they gather and disperse forever.

Like the summer queens, whose wings are also one-use garments for celebration, for becoming

and for leaving.

futurebird, 8 days ago to random

Quick Tulip update: Didn’t see her for a few days and started to worry since she getting up in years for an ant. Just spotted her in the lower chamber doing some patrolling around. She’s at least two years old. Still full of life. #namedAnts #tulip #ants #tuliptheant

Close up of Tulip, a very good looking ant: she has a wide head and six sturdy black legs.

futurebird, 9 days ago to random

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, 8 days ago to random

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, 8 days ago to random

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

futurebird, 9 days ago to random

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, 8 days ago to random

Taking photos of exoplanets is important for two possible outcomes:

We see earth-like planets or life that inspires us to do space travel.

We don't see anything at all like Earth and sober up about this little oasis on the edge of a volcanic crater.

We are like the desert pupfish. That's why that strange little fish is so fascinating. It's a mirror.

A small welcoming pool ... where we might live for a long time... and around us nothing but death should it dry up and vanish.

futurebird, 9 days ago to random

OK this might be the right idea. You fill it with books, they don't get dusty... they go in the closet or deep in some storage nook.

Then in 15 years you can look at them and maybe part with a few... I can do this!

futurebird, 10 days ago (edited 9 days ago) to random

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

futurebird, 10 days ago (edited 10 days ago) to random

Hydroponic ultra ripe vertically farmed strawberries are very popular in NYC but flown in from Japan. Restaurants buy them at $2 per berry (not even big ones) they are very good— but do you know what’s more fancy than Japanese vertically farmed berries? LOCAL ONES. Why don’t we have a flouncy berry farm in NYC yet?

futurebird, 10 days ago to random

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!!)

futurebird, 10 days ago to random

Cats keep trying to start a union— but it’s too easy to attract scabs with offers of scritches and greenies. And every single cat thinks they are “union leadership” — add to that their intractable negotiation skills and the problems are obvious.

futurebird, 10 days ago to random

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, 10 days ago (edited 10 days ago) to random

Geometry on the football field. (the challenge for 9th grade students is to name congruent segments and diameters.)

futurebird, 11 days ago to random

Why is this sign so ominous to me? ?