myrmepropagandist

pro-ant propaganda, building electronics, writing sci-fi teaching mathematics & CS. I live in NYC.🎖️(<<Medal Awarded for the time when there were too many people.)
Proverbs 6:6

bug haters DNI

If you only use bluesky follow me here:
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I am a single human person not an ant colony.

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nprofile1qqsvq4q5f4mptqsw4g3j9eut5y8pz8zyyxg9jjptyxa8reg6ju5lgzcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dslvz46u

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Last Notes

2026-07-07 23:40:23 UTC

I don't care if the president interferes in a sports match? And it's not because I don't take sports seriously but I just don't think it ... upsetting.
It might be one of the more selfless and vaguely patriotic things our president has ever done. It's kind of like a loud T-ball mom who argues with the school umpire. It's ugly, it's wrong, but it's not evil. Just tacky.
Unless- he had money on the game.

2026-07-01 11:48:19 UTC

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It's a little embarrassing for ants that you can tell what they have been eating if they have eaten enough of it. If the gaster is white, it was probably protein such as fruit flies or other bugs... clear means they have been drinking nectar.
I wonder if they try to stick to one kind of food so they don't end up getting mixed together in their social stomach?

2026-06-13 23:31:16 UTC

Pica is delighted to announce her IPO!
She has pass the regulatory and ethics checks and would like to invite YOU to participate in the first round of stock sales as Pica Goes Public.
Please make an offer.
Please do not ask "what do I get?"
#picaTheCat

2026-06-05 00:31:44 UTC

I am the HOA now.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/694/676/854/123/263/original/41a510ddf73e973d.png

2026-06-01 23:56:22 UTC

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Even I can spot this one.
If you see an ant so big you do a double take, that's dinomyrmex.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/677/548/999/664/698/original/505cafb585ddffc6.png

2026-06-01 23:52:49 UTC

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The sheer ant diversity in this part of the world is overwhelming. So this book is kind of just a long list of ants that exist.
The preface says: "Therefore, if you want to read more about the life of ants, whether in Jambi or anywhere else, try to start writing the book yourself."
Understood!

2026-06-01 23:40:37 UTC

Here is a PDF of "A guide to the Ants of Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia)" which is full of photos of the ants.
Put it on your phone for a rainy day.
#antbooks #antphotos
https://penerbit.brin.go.id/press/catalog/view/273/365/5079

2026-06-01 11:05:35 UTC

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@nprofile…t0sx
Should we count piercing mouth parts as stingers? I say "no" ... there is something interesting about creatures that deliver venom NOT with the mouth.

2026-06-01 10:48:48 UTC

Animals that can sting:
Ants, Bees, Wasps, Scorpions, and Jellyfish
If we define a sting as a venom injected *at will* for defense or hunting this ability has evolved multiple times. Cnidarians were first with their stinging cells called nematocysts. I believe the hymenopterans were next?
(are there any other insects that can sting that aren't hymenopterans?)
Should the bite of snakes or the bite of spiders count as a "sting?"

2026-05-31 12:05:56 UTC

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@nprofile…8ptd
once again....
https://sauropods.win/@futurebird/116030408739264165

2026-05-31 10:27:12 UTC

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This book breaks it all down and explains why we call the "ant butt" the "gaster" and not the abdomen as you might expect.
And it's not just a silly reason, it helps you to understand how ants and other hymenopterans evolved.
The entry on "abdomen" is two pages long and good thing too!
Excellent book.

2026-05-31 10:25:29 UTC

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For example. Let's say you know a little about insects. You know the insect body has THREE parts: head, thorax and abdomen. You look at an ant and think "I've got this. This is easy."
Ants are always obviously divided into three parts. The first one is the head. But after that? Things get very messy.
The middle part of an ant is NOT a thorax. It's the thorax and part of the abdomen. Basically and abdomens are very strange.

2026-05-31 10:22:12 UTC

"Ants of Africa and Madagascar: a Guide to the Genera" is a really great ant book even if you don't often see African ants. Of course reading about them is fun, but it's a really recent and clearly illustrated and organized book.
It also has the BEST glossary of any ant book in my collection. The "Glossary of Morphological Terms" is like a secret decoder ring for reading scientific papers about ants. The authors assume you know nothing about ants and explain each term from the ground up.

2026-05-31 09:47:58 UTC

Jeff Bezoz in a recent interview opined over how terrible he thought it was that a "nurse making $75,000 from Queens" pays $12,000 a year in taxes.
He mused about how this nurse from Queens might better use that money.
And if you think a nurse from Queens is what he was really talking about may I interest you in some of #PicaTheCat 's exciting crypto currency investment opportunities.
Mr. Bezos we don't think you, yes you personally are paying your fare share of taxes. That's the issue bub.

2026-05-30 11:43:39 UTC

People are cheapskates with poor people but spendthrift with billionaires.
I just listened to someone complaining about how "the garbage union" has schemed so that there are always two people operating NYC garbage trucks to "waste my tax dollars" and I guess making too many wealthy sanitation workers... oh no the horror.
I like that there are two people on each truck. It's more efficient and safer. But, even if it was somehow a waste I promise you that's not who is wasting your money bud.

2026-05-28 11:42:06 UTC

Why isn't drinking water more intrinsically enjoyable?
I'm literally dehydrated but I have to kind of force myself to drink water.
Is it because "in the wild" drinking water is often a big risk? Is it because fruit juice is just too delicious and kind of breaks our brains.
Anyway it does get easier. But, if I don't force myself to drink water I will get a headache from dehydration which seems like a bad design choice IMO.

2026-05-27 00:56:33 UTC

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Here is one reason I know the Camponotus ID is wrong. You see the "clypeus" is basically the ant upper lip? The plate right above the mandibles.
In carpenter ants the antennae are set a bit above it. There is a gap. Makes them look a bit like cabbage patch kids.
But in the ants I was observing look? No gap at all. Her antennae are attached right to the top of the clypeus.
Now we can all avoid this mistake in the future.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/643/807/563/959/065/original/d8dd826e46d85008.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/643/807/738/760/651/original/27b62e6b1e666ff1.png

2026-05-27 00:39:11 UTC

I had the WRONG ID on these ants.
To make an excuse I fist saw this colony two years ago when I wasn't as good at identifying ants (this implies that I'm good at it now, I'm not, I'm just much better)
Any way this is isn't the chestnut carpenter ant. It's Formica pallidefulva.
And I'm mad since It was staring me in the face. Her antennae are too close to her clypus and her back isn't enough of a "hump"
Formica pallidefulva comes in a bunch of different colors just to be confusing. I

2026-05-25 17:42:46 UTC

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@nprofile…9m6j
Aw... those are garden ants maybe Formica subseria? great ants to have.
Even a degree or two of warmth is very attractive to them since it speeds up the development of their larvae.
Their main nest may be under that nice rock, and they could use the lights as a nursery in the evening.

2026-05-25 10:42:19 UTC

"fandoms" tend to coalesce around works of fiction that are massively popular and that have younger fans. That's probably why there isn't a massive Ian M. Banks (The Culture) fandom. And maybe it's for the best, but I do wish there was more fan art of The Culture.
What smaller or more obscure fictional work do you wish had a big online fandom?

2026-05-24 13:12:18 UTC

I love that NYC has a compost program. You can send your compostable food scraps to be made into soil.
That said I DO NOT participate in this program because my food scraps are too precious, it's how I make all of my soil! Soil is so expensive and hard to get. I'm not giving it to the city for free.
If you have good soil around your home it's a kind of wealth you may not have noticed. You can improve your soil by adding vermicompost to it. Then you can grow just about anything.

2026-05-24 12:39:42 UTC

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@nprofile…aw7e
The other reason that roaches are considered pests, beyond their attraction to messy food storage, water leaks and other problems is their ability to reproduce rapidly.
Given food, shelter and water they can explode in numbers and live in densities that few other insects can match. They are just "too good" at reproducing and exploiting the garbage and excess of human dwellings. And this is very upsetting.
If they never increased in numbers they might not be seen as pests. 2/2

2026-05-24 12:36:09 UTC

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@nprofile…aw7e
Thinking "why is this creature here?" and "why is this creature a pest?" have lead me to think about some questions that I think most people in NYC never consider.
"Why are roaches a pest?"
People will quickly respond "Because they spread disease." but this doesn't hold up well when you look into it. They are not a vector for any major disease.
It's really because the conditions that allow roaches to thrive are messy and gross. They are a symptom of neglect and disorder. 1/

2026-05-24 12:21:58 UTC

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@nprofile…aw7e
I just use a lint roller, the one I use to keep #picaTheCat's hair off of my coats.
I find a patch of aphid and roll them up. Then I put the tape in the freezer to kill them.
If there are any ants fussing over the aphids I just shake the leaf and the ants run, when they return they are shocked to find their whole flock has vanished.

2026-05-24 12:12:34 UTC

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@nprofile…aw7e
That said I do kill every spotted lanternfly that I see. I collect aphids with tape. I've had to use bait to keep my NYC apartment free of roaches.
But I'm always thinking "Why is this creature here? What allows it to thrive?"

2026-05-24 12:11:07 UTC

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@nprofile…aw7e
The problem is that killing the creature is treating the symptom. Nature is resilient and if you eliminate every pest, but the conditions that allowed them to thrive remain they will simply be replaced.
And often the methods used to kill pests also kill many other creatures as collateral damage. The pesticides used to stop fire ants killed every insect, and then, since fire ants are experts at exploiting newly opened ecological niches soon after there were more fire ants than ever.

2026-05-24 11:54:19 UTC

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When people fall in conflict with each other whole groups of people have been described as "pests" --this language is so alarming since the way that we respond to pest animals and living things is often extreme and alarming.
It's the worst kind of dehumanization to call a people "vermin" or "roaches."
Because it opens the door to genocide. The history is deeply disturbing.
Our attempts to eliminate actual pests have been less successful. Is it a broken way of thinking?
4/4

2026-05-22 01:50:03 UTC

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@nprofile…50h6 @nprofile…ss2c
Some countries have laws about collecting some kinds of ants, especially for export. There are also import laws.
You can apply for, and get permits for many things and it's not THAT hard.

2026-05-22 01:44:34 UTC

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@nprofile…ss2c
I joked that the guy who was smuggling all of the ants kept messaging me trying to deal illegal ants to me to a coworker and they didn't think it was a joke...
So I had to explain that no, I do not REALLY know the ant criminal.

2026-05-21 11:20:55 UTC

You can tell a midwesterner ANYING about NYC and they will just believe it.
A friend of mine is a tutor who charges about $190 per hour to teach Latin to fairly well off kids (she is really good at it and overbooked)
My mom asked if she had few customers now because of all the rich people leaving NYC due to the communist mayor.
Like... her customers aren't even rich enough to be hit by that new tax, although they are really rich. Nobody is leaving. They all voted for him to BTW.

2026-05-19 10:44:15 UTC

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Despite living in a "world city" where at least 30 percent of the people speak Spanish it's really hard to learn a second language in the US.
I've told my husband he should pretend he's IDK Swedish or something and only knows a smattering of Chinese so he can get practice, but he is too polite to do this.
"Pretend you don't know English!"
I have a different problem sometimes someone decides that I know Spanish and comes at me at like 9999 mph in some dialect and it's like drowning.

2026-05-19 10:37:09 UTC

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So, if you want to brush up on a language look for experts in something you care about talking fast about that subject in the language you are learning.
It helps to learn the major keywords first. eg "hormigas" "la reina" but then you are good to go. Leverage context!

2026-05-19 10:33:38 UTC

When someone is speaking Spanish I understand about 30 percent of what they are saying. But if it's about ants it goes up to like 60 percent.
Spanish language ant videos have really helped me to improve my listening skills in my poor excuse of a second language.

2026-05-17 12:04:46 UTC

My students have informed me that saying things are cringe is "cringe" ... they are such remarkable young people.

2026-05-17 03:02:26 UTC

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@nprofile…s0kv
I think the vocals could be?
I don't really know.

2026-05-17 01:50:21 UTC

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This animation is hypnotic in the best ways.
It's like what I think tiktok must be like, but I can never stand tiktok because there is too much AI (I get motion sickness from it) and too many annoying things.
So it's like if tikTok was good?

2026-05-17 01:40:03 UTC

This music video may be "cute" and "funny" but I am trouble by the implied existence of some kind of ... "cat power ring" that can call cats from all over the world to defeat dangerous kaju... even if only dough based.
Should such power be in the hands of cats?
Discuss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH3mYQaSA7I

2026-05-16 11:03:06 UTC

If you know a teen who is a senior in high school, and if they are a "high achieving" sort of kid please remember this can be a tough time of year and tough time of their life.
It can seem like the whole world hangs on the decisions they cannot control.
It can seem like doors are closing forever.
Everything.
Never.
Always.
Forever.
These words can dominate their thinking. I don't know how to tell them isn't true. We love that you want to win so badly, we love you when you lose.

2026-05-16 09:38:06 UTC

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@nprofile…w9l5
Urban ecology can be a little gross, but all ecologies are gross when you look into it. There is also heroism, great battles and wars are all around you. But you need to tune in to the most common living things in your area first and learn their names and how they live.
By the way this parasitoid wasp? It's a lovely creature. It has dark blue eyes and a waist that'd make a fashion house jealous.
Someone should make a dress based on this wasp. It would win awards.

2026-05-16 09:34:57 UTC

If you think "I can't study nature where I live. There is no nature here." there is another way to look at this.
First you are wrong. There is nature everywhere.
But you can think of your anthropocene environment as "easy mode" you won't be overwhelmed with species, you just need to start by learning the big players.
Just last week @nprofile…w9l5 told me about Evania appendigaster which is a wasp that lays it's eggs in the eggs of roaches. I spot it by the rail-road overpass the next day!

2026-05-14 21:09:44 UTC

Is there a such thing as a macrophotography trail cam? Like a camera to watch a tiny patch of moss all night at high magnification?

2026-05-14 10:07:42 UTC

I've been depressed about the gutting of the voting rights act but there is a silver lining to it.
The democratic representatives of majority Black districts in the south have been reliable, predictable and stultified. This change offers an opportunity for new alliances.
It's bad, make no mistake, but this is a moment of political change on many levels.
Everyone assumes they know what these new districts will be but ya'll don't know. In that I find some hope.

2026-05-11 14:41:49 UTC

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@nprofile…40zt
“Last month, a Harvard MBA grad named Ben Horwitz launched Sinceerly, an “AI to undo your AI writing.” The Chrome extension has three modes: “Subtle,” “Human,” and “CEO,” which takes AI-generated text and gets rid of em dashes, adds typos, slang, acronyms, puts words all in lowercase…”
I could not tell if this was satire and I was not alone in that.
Should I go on writing stories?
Not really a question worth asking. It’s not like I have a choice.

2026-05-11 14:03:58 UTC

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As if to confirm this, the alien looked sharply up to a regiment of a leaf-cutter ants, each one carrying her green prize like a flag along a slender branch on the margin of the rainforest. To my eye they all looked identical, but the alien trained her holographic recording device on one particular ant.
“This one.” the alien said. “this ant has just cut a perfect portion of the leaf. It has a perfect level of moisture that will exactly match the needs of her colony.” 3/

2026-05-11 14:02:08 UTC

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Seeing my confusion she continued “Our system has shown that somewhere, a few meters from this exact location a moment of peak synchronicity and happiness is … inevitable.”
The alien gazed at me expectedly. I gazed back, stunned to silence.
“It’s not you, is it?” Said the alien.
Slowly, I shook my head “no.”
And of course, I could not be the subject of a moment of “peak happiness” what could be more absurd?
2/

2026-05-11 14:01:27 UTC

A Short Story Inspired by Recent Conversations
“Important Work”
“We are archivists,” the alien explained, “we travel from solar system to solar system searching for events worthy of recording to add to our library.”
“I am responsible for archives of moments of great happiness.” The alien explained, “I seek beings in a perfect state of joy. That is why I have come to earth.” She beamed at me as if this made perfect sense.
1/

2026-05-11 10:30:12 UTC

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I don't think we can really know how much harm we are doing. I think it's good to care. To question "is this OK?"
The study never discusses the ethics of cutting off the legs of ants to see how they navigate. I think it should be discussed.
I kill insects all the time, for the record. I don't think this study was wrong or that it should not have happened. But I arrived at that conclusion after a lot of considerations, observations. I *never* want people to stop asking this question.
4/
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/555/454/350/374/684/original/73beb66680739009.png

2026-05-11 10:20:41 UTC

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I have mixed feelings about the study. The injuries they inflicted on the ants would have shorted their lives. The process of being captured, pinned down under bright lights and a microscope would have been terrifying for the tiny creatures. Every fear response would be maximized. Their world would have been pure terror.
But ants are resilient. Ants would resume their work when released. They would still even bring food back to their nest!
Some people take this as a sign they are automata. 3/

2026-05-11 10:12:20 UTC

In a famous study Matthias Wittlinger, Rüdiger Wehner and Harald Wolf glued stilts on to the legs of some ants, and shortened the legs of other ants by amputating segments of their tarsi. This allowed them to show that ants count the number of steps they take when foraging.
If someone had done a similar study with mice, or people I would hope they would lose their university post and possibly go to prison.
But we don't see insect pain as see vertebrate pain.
1/

2026-05-11 03:00:47 UTC

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@nprofile…zmtw
I can't imagine "the internet" getting boo'd like that in 2001 Grads would have cheered along for "internet"
Or even like bitcoin in say 2010, lots of people were skeptical but would not have just boo'd
This is remarkably unpopular.

2026-05-11 00:34:32 UTC

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@nprofile…6g65
When my foot and leg were broken they put a cast on my foot. My foot became swollen in the cast and started to hurt from being pinched. It was the worst pain of my life. Worse than when my appendix burst, worse than the broken leg.
After SIX HOURS I got them to cut the cast and just sat there crying since the pain had stopped.
But they just didn't understand how much it was hurting. I still don't understand why it was so bad.
I was on some painkillers but it still hurt.

2026-05-11 00:03:32 UTC

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Listen I'm going to start a carrot operation up on the roof and make some BANK.
The only issue is I suspect all of the people with basement pot farms are switching to carrots and other veggies to cash in too... so I'd better hurry.

2026-05-10 23:59:26 UTC

I was joking that my vegetable garden is basically a dude ranch, but if carrots at the grocery at $5 for a bag maybe I *do* need to grow them.
I'm not talking some kind of fancy carrots either. The basic kind.
And a box of cereal costs $7
I think I will just stop eating it's too expensive.

2026-05-10 22:01:10 UTC

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@nprofile…snjr
They just want to know what you eat and when so they can somehow raise the price on it all. Ghouls.

2026-05-10 21:28:08 UTC

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@nprofile…mmp3
"You're absolutely right, turning on the magnetron with the door open was very dangerous and irresponsible. I have updated my instruction set to say 'never ever turn on the magnetron with the door open no matter what' rather than just 'never turn on the magnetron with the door open'"

2026-05-10 21:14:56 UTC

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You can't have any popcorn until you enter the wifi password and download the new firmware.
This is the definition of HELL.

2026-05-10 21:09:16 UTC

AI powered microwave. Everyone must be laughing at this. This is such a joke.
People don't even just the damn popcorn button and that ... kind of works.

2026-05-10 00:19:34 UTC

AI wasn't the "next big thing" ... the market has missed it. Maybe it's not obviously profitable enough. But, there are ideas out there growing that will change the world and only the people close to them even know what they are.
It's not totally possible to just decide that something is going to "change the world." You can fake it for a bit, but eventually reality sets in.
That doesn't mean that nothing is happing. You just might need to listen in different places.

2026-05-09 23:21:21 UTC

We have:
1. Button Knife
2. Tiny 8GB drive
3. Fidget Spinner of Doom
(Just wanted to share some of the odd things I've found recently. Teen me would have put those buttons on EVERYTHING ... you never know!)
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/547/174/143/311/332/original/4e389c336feb209f.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/547/174/335/990/864/original/7f104b1f7421f915.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/547/174/530/421/238/original/97410fdb9806e74a.png

2026-05-09 18:27:10 UTC

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@nprofile…a0rz
Every pest control website (ok not "every" but damn near most of them) will use a photo of some other ant for their "fire ant" because they just don't look very menacing with their simple wide set eyes.

2026-05-09 17:55:44 UTC

"This ant is a menace, she is a terror, she will ruin your day."
You look her up? She always has eyes like an old-time cartoon character.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/545/895/640/158/445/original/c8fddea0c84ee7cd.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/545/896/126/579/158/original/23bb47838eb1f424.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/545/896/636/852/926/original/126f977bdb24668f.png
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/545/900/254/903/678/original/b128c04d969428b9.png

2026-05-09 13:10:10 UTC

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The harder the cheese the more water you will need.
1. Blend 1 part corn starch to 4 parts water by volume (you can eyeball this, you are making milk-like liquid)
2. pulverize or grate the cheese, heat in a dish with low heat and slowly VERY SLOWLY add the corn starch water and mix it well as you go.
3. Once you have blended in the corn starch water and the sauce is runny turn up the heat and let it bubble.
4. It will get thick and be ready to serve!

2026-05-09 13:06:59 UTC

Cheese Sauce can seem like a complex and advanced food, it will impress your friends. But, it turns out it's very simple to make.
When you try to melt most cheeses they will become more like a liquid, but the fat will separate making a lumpy texture, and when it cools it will harden. To prevent this you need corn starch.
Mix the corn starch with water and slowly blend it into the melting cheese. Add more water than you think!

2026-05-08 23:26:18 UTC

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Queen update! Her eggs have hatched and are now larvae. She will feed them “trophic egg” which are eggs that cannot hatch.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/541/537/798/040/623/original/e320b94999211dd2.png

2026-05-08 15:08:35 UTC

walking by the courthouse this morning it was delightful to see the happy brides and grooms just married. Friday is the most popular day for courthouse weddings I am actually working in the Merrick office is an exciting and interesting job. What would it be like to see so many different people at that particular junction in their life?

2026-05-08 11:00:29 UTC

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@nprofile…xqj0
I love LaTeX so much and still want to win the world over. When I taught college everyone used it exclusively. It was just the culture.
Now I have a google doc, converted from word and the diagrams are from old scans of worksheets from the 80s.
It's wild!
I got into making LaTeX math problem sets that would automatically generate with unique numbers and diagrams and put the solutions at the end. That was so much fun, and they still use my system back at the college.

2026-05-08 10:13:01 UTC

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I'm remembering sending an email to another teacher with a possible set of problems with a calc test. I just sent the *.tex file with a little note "I compile them in overleaf, lazy I know" the teacher had no idea how to open it, or why I thought they might be lazy.
😆
I thought "of course they all have LaTeX installed on desktop and use the command line... I hope they don't look down on me for using a web app"
🤣

2026-05-08 10:05:04 UTC

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The math teachers at the HS had developed all of this wonderful material for teaching. But it's all in Word and Google docs. I've learned to work with it, and I've taught a few people a little LaTeX.
After the rough first months people stopped being intimidated and now we all get on great.
I still dream of getting all those documents converted, though...
someday...

2026-05-08 10:02:35 UTC

When I moved from teaching college to high school (best decision ever, by the way) I assumed everyone in the HS math department would use LaTeX and overleaf. And for some reason several people were intimidated by me (I think being in a college environment had caused me to project a certain ominous math aura as a matter of self preservation) so no one wanted to tell me they had no idea what LaTeX or overleaf was.
HS teachers math use word, and I have seen some horrors ... My god.

2026-05-07 21:50:24 UTC

My carpenter ants moved their graveyard to a new location. It took them only a day and I didn't catch them in the act. I was, at first alarmed by the pile of dead ants, then I realized that they have decided they like using the back of the extra log slice as a clubhouse for older majors. They cleared away the trash pile near the door to the next chamber over.
I decided to give them some nice feeders having noticed this.
Then realized I'm probably accidentally starting a kind of ant religion.

2026-05-07 12:15:12 UTC

Prototaxites keeps me up at night. Think of them towering 3-5m tall, enigmatic finger-like forms, they defined the landscapes of the early Devonian.
And that is why I find the prototaxites so unsettling: for despite their obvious success, their ubiquity in the fossil record, there is nothing quite like them around today. There is nothing even close.
1/

2026-05-07 10:17:51 UTC

A student solves a problem. Their diagram doesn't match the situation described. Even working with that diagram, their application of trig functions is incorrect. The algebra contains more errors in arithmetic and logic.
But, after a half page of equations and numbers and diagrams they have the correct answer.
Out of ten points how many would they receive?
From me? 3/10
Knowing that a problem requires a diagram, trig, a numerical answer with the right units shows some understanding.

2026-05-07 09:36:43 UTC

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@nprofile…55vq
All of this handwringing about conciseness is ultimately about morality. Should you feel bad about crushing a bug? How bad should you feel?
Destroying beautiful things, destroying complex things, especially complex things that you don't understand strikes me as significant.
It's why you feel something when you see a mandala erased from the sand. It's why that erasure is incorporated into the tradition.
Sweeping the floor is not the same if there is a mandala.

2026-05-07 09:32:40 UTC

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@nprofile…55vq
The problem with developing a "test for conciseness" is we do not have a definition for what it is that would allow such a test to work with other people who we can presume to be conscious (if conciseness can be well defined)
I think we should retreat to simpler questions. Here is one:
Is it possible for pain and suffering to exist without conciseness?

2026-05-07 09:16:44 UTC

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@nprofile…55vq
One thing I like about Turing is most of what he speculates about works like a recipe. There is never any part of it that's so vague that you can't really try it.

2026-05-07 00:43:14 UTC

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@nprofile…rc7h
I don't think another nine bucks will slow these people down.
There is a driver service where they take you to the game and show up and pick you up at the door. You pay the driver for the whole game and for his ruthless skill being there through the Jenga puzzle of traffic to whisk you away right from your $700 seats.
They ain't thinking about a congestion charge.
No we just need to give more tickets during games. But the local police are paid off not to.

2026-05-07 00:23:33 UTC

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@nprofile…rc7h
We are very aware the trucks with refrigeration are a huge problem. This is an uptick in a catch-all indicator that isn't also backed up by more traffic.
Frankly Yankees games have so many limos and black cars sitting with their engines on because they want to pick up their charges that it's a wonder I am not dead from that alone.

2026-05-06 23:48:39 UTC

Something fishy is going on in the South Bronx where I live.
A very thin, not peer-reviewed study showed an uptick in pollution "after congestion pricing" and the papers are going a bit crazy over it like they care about anything in the Bronx ever.
Not buying THAT.
What is really going on? Someone is promoting anything they can find to anyone who will listen to try to take away our lovely congestion pricing.
Which is my favorite thing in the world.

2026-05-06 09:45:40 UTC

Griffin of "Bugs and Biology" just had the experience that makes so many people reconsider ants:
It is the moment when you are observing a colony of ants and realize that the colony is observing YOU right back. They colony is trying to analyze and classify YOU. The colony has plans for YOU.
It can be a chilling experience and bull ants do it better than any ants since they watch large vertebrates.
They manage large vertebrates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIl5zKywM-Y

2026-05-05 19:28:37 UTC

People think of the ocean as an amorphous mass, but it is also a great sorter of objects, particularly the plastic floatsome New York City‘s little contribution to the many oceanic garbage patches. From my kayak I have seen some very strange things. There is, for example a beach on an uninhabited island just north of the city that is completely covered in plastic tampon applicators. Something about the motion of the waters has all sorted them to this 16 m wide space. 1/

2026-05-05 01:51:57 UTC

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Get it? "early projections"
I'll be here all night.
😃

2026-05-05 01:46:58 UTC

There have been a lot of people who thought that educational films would replace teaching. You could just have a whole series of film reels and put them in the projector and BOOM education.
Did educators reject movies? Not really. I think most teachers will show a video clip if it's helpful.
But, it kind of shocking how little the technology of film is used in education compared to some of the early projections.

2026-05-05 01:36:05 UTC

There are 22,000 species of ants.
It's going to take 60 years, but I'm not stopping.
(Please do not think to much about how that's only the number of described ants, and how that number keeps going up and old ants keep getting revised. )

2026-05-04 09:59:44 UTC

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These are real american news infographics with real american units of measure.
They have taken us for absolute fools!
(This is paraphrasing an ancient meme. Bless be if you know, you are an old one too then.)

2026-05-04 01:53:31 UTC

People make fun of Americans and our units, but this is a real infographic about hail size from a news station.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/513/804/346/915/931/original/751c3b0af8ce7415.png

2026-05-04 01:34:26 UTC

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@nprofile…38y0 @nprofile…qdtq @nprofile…vyk4
Ants really lean into the whole "I hardly worth eating, made mostly of parts to sting and bite and you'll get beat up by my sisters if you do" strat a lot.
It's why there are so many creatures that mimic ants. Most things leave ants alone. (with notable exceptions, but even anteaters are going for the larvae not the adults.)

2026-05-04 01:30:29 UTC

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@nprofile…38y0 @nprofile…qdtq @nprofile…vyk4
Larger ants don't often attack smaller ants since they could get swarmed.
Ants that feed on other ants tend to do "nest raids" taking eggs and larvae which have many more calories than adult ants.

2026-05-04 00:48:51 UTC

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@nprofile…evvn @nprofile…a8rk
I think my grandpa read me this book or something similar. I have this constant and unexplained worry at all times that a big catfish might eat me.

2026-05-04 00:43:44 UTC

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@nprofile…vyk4
Ant can already ride other ants.
Ant size range is wild.
This is an "acron ant" (temnothorax) and a carpenter ant. These aren't even the largest and smallest ants, just two ants you can find in Eastern Europe who can meet like this in the wild.
Remarkable photo by Bakos Ádám
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/116/513/520/514/207/854/original/31efd15c125a9aa0.png

2026-05-04 00:33:09 UTC

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@nprofile…a8rk
"Ol Jimmy Gum-Mouth, the school-bus sized catfish eats someone every summer. He eats you in one gulp. They say the water won't even ripple. Only comes out when the lake is still as glass and the fog is hanging low... But the town council has been covering up to not scare the tourists."

2026-05-04 00:30:43 UTC

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@nprofile…vyk4
This would be more terrifying in a way. What does it mean if you can see a water bear with a simple magnifying glass? What else is larger and by how much?!?

2026-05-03 23:56:57 UTC

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I'm a huge fan of any cryptid that is simply a very large fish. Especially if it has a name.

2026-05-03 23:54:53 UTC

Most places with a cryptid try to make it make a little sense. "Well, you see there are these primates from the last Ice Age and ... " or " ... this lake is very old and catfish never stop growing so you can't rule out that one is the size of bus..."
But not NJ. "There is a devil in the woods. It's gonna get you."
"so... how did it get there? what's the deal?"
"... it's the devil."

2026-05-03 23:12:27 UTC

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@nprofile…dzk4
I don't think "giant ----" tends to work out well in general. Perhaps this is the real lesson.
Personally I think simply fox-sized ants would be more interesting. They wouldn't try to eat people unless desperate. We could learn to live with them.

2026-05-03 22:20:03 UTC

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I would like to submit that giant woodpeckers would be much more terrifying than giant ants. They can fly and would find pulling people out of building to eat very similar to searching for grubs.
Really a giant ant eater in the real terror.

2026-05-03 22:17:53 UTC

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So cattle ranches and people would be targets in the summer, and sugar syrup producing places would be targets year round.
The ants would also need a lot of fresh clean water and places to build nests. Honestly taking over the drain tunnels in LA made a lot of sense.
Could such large ants dig underground nests? It might be difficult.
People would be just the size of fruit flies. It's not looking good for us.
2/2

2026-05-03 22:13:05 UTC

So, let's consider the ants from Them. What would giant ants really be like?
They would be incredibly hungry. During the summer an adult ant can eat half an fruit fly per day. Ant can simply stay still and use much less food, but if it's summer they'll want to increase their numbers and feed not just themselves but their larvae so they can raise more ants and have a nuptial flight to start more colonies.
Adult ants can do rather well on sugars, but the young need protein.
1/

2026-05-03 12:41:57 UTC

One day I'll a pot without a typo, missing word or letter.
😔

2026-05-03 12:25:03 UTC

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@nprofile…nw2r
That pun got me good that's all I mean. :)

2026-05-03 12:21:10 UTC

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@nprofile…nw2r
I'm so angry right now and there is nothing I can do about it.