There is an ant colony that lives in the cracks of the asphalt in 2nd ave. In the center of the street. I don’t know if I should call them absolute legends or idiots. They use the cracks as highways like sidewalks ants. It’s a big colony although I can never get a good look at them without getting hocked at.
@timhutton@simon@futurebird
I think fusion of both sides of the mandibles is the norm in tetrapods generally, but there are a number of notable exceptions, particularly baleen whales, and snakes, which for somewhat different reasons have a highly stretchy muscle there, which allows the two sides to spread very far apart, and yet be able to pull them back together when needed. Then there's Ornithischians and their predentary bone, but I've run out of room.
@futurebird@noplasticshower
I mean, there are differences, but you need to have some familiarity with both pieces to recognize them. That's not to say the differences are insignificant; Williams' changes better suit the theme of the empire.
What is the best explanation you’ve heard for 1 not being a prime number? For me it’s “because it breaks everything in my programs since the loops won’t terminate” but that’s obtuse. “Because the God of math decrees it so!” is compelling, but shallow.
“it can only be divided by 1 distinct number” is contrived.
1 “feels” prime— it has the fewest factors. (Primeness being about NOT having factors) ruling it out for having too few? eh.
“it’s the zero of multiplication” is better… thoughts?
@futurebird
if you define prime so that 1 is prime, you get a number system which is equally valid, but so full of anger at having been long snubbed by mathematicians, it plots to overthrow the normal order.
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
as far as smug, academically minded conservatives go, Bolton, Buckley, Bork, and Bloom all come to mind. But Bolton is the only one of those still alive.
(and historically, there were a great many smug academically minded conservatives in the life sciences)
@chemoelectric@futurebird
It was long ago, but I think I borrowed both of those Mortimer Adler books from a friend, but about a week later she had to move away, and she wanted them back before moving away, and I was about 2/3 done with the first and had barely started the 2nd. But on the other hand, if I don't finish a book in less than a week, that's usually a sign I'm not going to finish it ever, unless it's as technical as a university text book.
friends do you think "animals" in the tetrapod size range that had hydaulic driven limbs would be too heavy to evolve flapping flight of the type seen in birds, bats and pterosaurs?
@gay_ornithischians
I'm not a biomechanicist, but I don't see any reason the limits for hydraulic driven limbs would be greatly different than those for typical vertebrate muscles.
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."
@futurebird yeah, they are easy, and they are fun. But even more: The shape of the human hand clearly shows it's made by humans. Lots of other "easy and fun" stencils would, after 10,000 years, would leave plenty of doubt as to whether they were human made, or wouldn't make good newspaper photos.
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
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
I just want a spoon that won't bend when I use it on the ice cream I just dredged up from the bottom of the chest freezer.
(I mean, I have that, but it looks very old, and of course it's very thick. But I love it.)
in other news, the bowl I'm eating out of has titanium in the glaze. But not for lightness; it's super heavy. Titanium dioxide (rutile, usually) is a common high fire glaze ingredient. Although maybe not for mass-produced stuff.
@mazz@ai6yr
yeah, thinking of all the coffee drinkers I've known, I can't think of one who would only drink 2/3 of a cup. 60 servings, sure, but only maybe a dozen people, or less.
@futurebird
all through my teens and the first half of my 20s, I had only cassette tapes bc I couldn't afford a CD player or CDs. (Or even particularly many tapes.) When I finally had the money for those things, it was just about practical to rip CDs to mp3s and store them on a hard drive, and I didn't have any speakers except those connected to my computer, so that's what I did. I've never owned a record player.