Posts by mxchara@seattle.pink
(DIR) Post #B5Ou3IcdNLJMdhEWLA by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-17T23:54:18Z
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@futurebird oh marvelous. I love that old verbose style of science writing. and I'm glad the ant revived after getting soaked in "rectified spirits of wine" (lovely old name)
(DIR) Post #B5Ox8Qj4yLWt5FNzZw by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-18T00:28:59Z
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@futurebird I didn't know a lot about Robert Hooke (except for a couple high points) so I was moved to look him up, and...well let's just say that he seems to have been the sort of ill-tempered and fractious guy who would get exasperated that an ant wouldn't sit still under a lens
(DIR) Post #B5UjVPRzeF0dNVDW4W by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-20T19:23:56Z
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@futurebird had to look up. shiny!
(DIR) Post #B5V8cv0ZDItk8L492m by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-21T00:05:21Z
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@futurebird oh that is a really cool extrapolation! I find myself thinking of runners emerging from every conceivable shelter from the heat, doing their business as fast as possible between way-points
(DIR) Post #B5VHcfy61xLZ4krxjs by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-21T01:46:52Z
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@futurebird that feels almost like a lingering memetic memory of a different Toledo, casting its odd glamour on the present-day city. (I'm reminded that I still haven't seen Paris, Texas.)
(DIR) Post #B5ZXTc8hGznwUcMu0m by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-23T03:03:17Z
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@futurebird I don't suppose there were thunderclouds that day? maybe there was some freak updraft
(DIR) Post #B5fXkViRZfTCRTuAuO by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-26T00:34:35Z
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@futurebird in a similar spirit must the ancestors of the tunicate thought, "geez just sitting in one place and filter-feeding seems pretty nice huh"
(DIR) Post #B5flMqARHc84HPbhGi by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-26T03:07:20Z
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@futurebird @akamran aaa I feel that every time I see a stray ant, or I'm in a situation where I know an ant (or other colonial insect) will be separated from their home, e.g. by hitching an accidental ride on a car. I'm a smart person (I think), I know what that separation means...I always feel troubled by such sights, troubled without any idea what to do about it. I might cross myself at such moments
(DIR) Post #B5h1Z2AGIS7JO7Jv4C by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-26T17:43:32Z
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@futurebird super! what do you plan on growing?
(DIR) Post #B5h2dLFNOFtNgSKYHw by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-26T17:55:30Z
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@futurebird beans! you can't go wrong with beans
(DIR) Post #B5iwR0wyofeNqoNstk by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-27T15:55:14Z
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@futurebird I am sharply reminded of the "post-industrial economy" talk I heard in the 1990s which I guess has never really gone away, has it? I haven't heard that buzzword in a while but the general notion that somehow we'd transcended the need for sordid grunt labor and now we'd all be talking to computers for a living was abroad during the Clinton-era tech boom. I thought it was ridiculous back then: surely people could see that the need for basic manufacturing and agriculture and so forth hadn't gone anywhere? but I guess somehow "technology" was gonna make all those things painless and easy...or at least, swept far out of sight.
(DIR) Post #B5lQV9dbqNdmtV8Mkq by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-04-28T20:38:59Z
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@futurebird do ants continuously replenish the trail-marking chemicals? I imagine that they're volatile enough to require frequent replenishing. I've also wondered whether there was more than one chemical signal involved in forming trails—surely there's a lot of variation among ant species
(DIR) Post #B5qNRi68S4pIXWwUYy by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-01T06:00:51Z
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@futurebird that's such a big thing in the insect world, isn't it, plants which have evolved certain substances and specialized parts that are just...food! abundance of food which attracts the bug friends who feed and build
(DIR) Post #B5rHgyMTrS6El1RTVo by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-01T14:56:09Z
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@benroyce really! a right-wing political initiative to save a whale...let me see
(DIR) Post #B5rHgzeF4ttwkOlAps by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-01T14:59:21Z
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@benroyce the articles are cagey about who's doing it. "Two German entrepreneurs," says a BBC article, one named Felix Bohnsack
(DIR) Post #B64HoQ6nceJtta8b4K by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-07T23:03:48Z
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@futurebird aphids are far cuter than they have any right to be, they're delicate little critters, like plant mites and other insects that get regarded as "pests"
(DIR) Post #B64YonaA2x6vuzdb6W by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-08T02:14:30Z
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@futurebird seeds for the ants! how charming
(DIR) Post #B66P9XxUigAmJmj5e4 by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-08T23:31:38Z
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@futurebird aw, cute critter. this the mystery ant queen, I take it?
(DIR) Post #B6MRVJrgQlogKNGowy by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-16T17:17:24Z
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@futurebird what?! how dare you impede the grand progress of Tesla Optimus towards android servitors with this cheap skepticism! Why there's announcements in Fortune magazine every day about them!!
(DIR) Post #B6MRxiaY6PSx7BnVEO by mxchara@seattle.pink
2026-05-16T17:22:32Z
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@futurebird I like robots too (well the idea of them, with genuinely independent intelligence and personality) but it's very difficult to imagine the current crowd of tech boys to come up with anything better than dubious toys for military and police use (and they'll spend public money on anything)