@futurebird@sauropods.win
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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
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"Chain migration" is the BEST kind of immigration. You want people who move to you country to have a local network and support. You want new immigrants to bring their family, and the economic activity they generate and the value they add to communities to be in YOUR country.

I can't believe we let them use it like a slur. It's good and do it more.

What? They brought their elderly parents? That's good for US and for them (the new American we want to be successful and happy.) RIGHT?

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The cone ants have reached a depth of 25cm in their “excavation enrichment activity” (it’s a tube full of sand to satisfy their fiendish need to dig. ) In the wild their nest can be meters deep, but given the ideal nature of their current nest the digging which only a few 100 ants bother with is more of a diversion than urgently building a nest. I can inject water into the tube with a hypodermic needle. This makes them dig a little deeper? Have not figured that one out yet.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

This is like the journey to the center of the earth for them. How deep can they go? The tube is only 1.5 meters long. At deeper levels I have different sand colors so I am excited to see those colors in the huge waste pile in the outworld some day.

The still refuse to store brood in this tunnel. I bet at the ant council meetings they call it "the big dig" and complain about how it's over budget and behind schedule.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

In other "Breaking Cone Ant News" they are down to 11 queens. Two have their wings removed, the rest still have wings. No males have shown up.

I made felt covers for their main nest, I think it looks nifty. Inside the nest there are many new workers on the way, and even a few more new eggs. Who is laying them?

Still the super slim chance that these eggs are "left over" from the dead queen. Very unlikely but I'd like to see another BIG batch of eggs so I could rule it out with confidence.

A circular ant colony. It's like a petri dish with a central section with higher moisture levels and a pink clay surface. Masses of ants are busy. Brood are piled by size shape and age. A few queens with wings are wandering around.
Close up showing the newest eggs.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I get far too much joy from making soft felt covers for my ants. I can't make them little sweaters, but this is just as good. And they enjoy the dark. (also soft covers make less noise when removed, leading to less stressed ants)

I may embroider their scientific names into them this winter when they are in diapause.

It's nice to be able to make things for the ones you care about even if it doesn't totally make sense and even if they'll never understand what's going on beyond it being dark.

futurebird,
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@grumpasaurus

I can admit when they are stacking brood like this they can look alarming to those who don't see "ants" as a cool feature but more like a problem.

They are so resilient and determined to fill the world with ants.

RFDave, to random
@RFDave@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird do you have any idea what is going on here? We’re in Maryland, near Washington DC. I saw this in the early evening, about 6pm or so.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@RFDave

Most likely a war between multiple colonies of Tetramorium immigrans, the pavement ant.

If you look more closely you may see they are fighting in pairs, locked mandible to mandible. There are two other possibilities: It could be that these ants are cold and have emerged to absorb sunlight with their bodies which they will carry into the nest warming the brood, then back up into the sun. If they aren't fighting it could be that... Lastly it could be the prelude to a nuptial flight.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@RFDave

I can't be 100 on the species or what they are doing since I can only tell they are little brown ants who live under asphalt, on the margin of a mowed lawn and that they are massing near the surface in the summer sun.

But Tetramorium immigrans are constantly having wars. They are the most numerous ants in most human small cities and suburbs. They nearly always fight each other, often the queens will be sisters who set up their nests near to each other.

The winner gets all the brood.

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

He was a fungus, an algae, a lowly thing, a colony of simple organisms posing as a man. And he reveled in his own debasement. The only thing that mattered more to him than that was writing, his profession.

"lichen sub-scribe"

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@zalasur

It's never the right time for THIS LMAO.

You just gotta "and send post!" and not think about it too much

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

In the panopticon we'd tell each other stories, some even put on plays, they became very elaborate. Of course roles had to be assigned based on the location of cells... you always hoped the action was in the cells adjacent to your own. At the end of performances we'd cheer and clap, but then the performers always asked us to add their name to our list of "liked" prisoners so that the watchers would know. It was the only currency that really mattered in the prison: the one that the eye could see.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Do not judge me for enjoying a bit of blood sport. (Warning: very violent video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR63-g0jJmY

futurebird,
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@westerling

I know it was harrowing to watch such violence, but one can't but help admire the skill of such fighters.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The same people who want "parents rights" that let some random mom get books pulled from a library her homeschooled kid never even visits also want to roll back laws that require parents to be notified if teens are working in a chicken plant.

It's never about saving the kids. Not even a little.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

There are childeren as young as 10 and 12 in the US without their parents. (But sometimes with extended family who may or may not be on their side) working the hardest agriculture jobs.

One of my students here in the Bronx told me about how he worked picking in Texas "when he was younger" (he was 14 when I met him) His mother had to either leave them at home or she could bring them to work with her if they "helped out." The children were not paid.

That was in 2006.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

He was a bright kid and I think he managed to thrive because his mother and brother were looking out for him. But not all kids have that kind of support. Or an uncle who lives in NYC who could get him in to complete high school.

He basically had NO school but got a regents degree in his second language in 4 years anyways. He was born in the US. An "anchor baby" just like Barron Trump. Doing "chain migration" just like Melania with her mom.

futurebird,
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The truth is his family had been in and out of the US and Mexico for 300 years. More roots in this region and country than most people who live here.

And deeper ones if you get serious about it.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Let me ship you to some place where you don't know the language and put you in high school when you can barely write.

You couldn't keep up with this kid I'd bet.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@ThisIsWillAdams

I always wonder what they would say when asked about the rights of parents who support and affirm their trans kids?

Part of the fiction requires that they pretend that such parents don't exist, or if they do they must be a scary rumor.

The boring normal reality of it all makes their paper monster melt away as transparent nonsense.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Sometimes I think about how some of the people who are called "illegal" in the US have ancestors who were driven out of the US and my mind just reels at the audacity of it all.

Not that it's better to call someone from the other side of the globe "illegal" but do people ever stop and think about what they are saying?

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Calling people "illegal" when ya'll just got here and didn't even set any of this up.

Who domesticated the plants that let you live here? Who figured out the ecosystem and how to use it?

I guess maybe when you've TAKEN you worry about someone TAKING BACK... can't imagine anything else. Anything... more civilized.

futurebird,
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@grumpasaurus

I've been teaching for a little while I guess

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

This is Pepper, the carpenter ant. Since she was the most recent to escape she now has the green mark of shame (and a name “Peppermint”) She is a very small minor worker. She climbed the tweezers to explore my hand. She has been returned to the colony and it will be interesting to see if she is as bold as Tulip. (who has a pink dot, and who is quite a bit larger— although neither are majors.)

Pepper is the most dusty ant I’ve ever seen.

futurebird,
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

@BsCreativeLife

Pica will eat ants. She doesn't seem to enjoy them, but when she sees a bug it's a whole "thing" -- so it's not a great idea for them to wander around in the apartment. It's dangerous!

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

There are ants in Minecraft! That was enough to get me to find my password and download the game. This is part of "Alex's Mod" which is often paired with " Create" which is a popular new mod that adds trains and machines and many fun things.

I might start a create/alex's mod server this summer. Would anyone want to play some low energy vidja games? I promise I'm NOT just starting a server so I can find a way to make the ants take over the world. (Sincere! I'm a very chill player!)

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