Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.
Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals often living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories with sizeable nest that consist of millions of individuals or into the hundreds of millions in super colonies. Typical colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens” (gynes). The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.
Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.
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Non-native ants are breaking down biogeographic boundaries and homogenizing community assemblages
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How 16th Century Trade Made Fire Ants an Early Global Invader
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Most “white elephant” gift I’ve been given in a long time is a nespresso machine.
The coffee is tasty and all but the pods cost as much as a coffee from the Timmy’s drive thru and that’s only if I get the big pack.
Making your own pods from normal coffee is possible and i got the rubber caps to turn my used pods into reusable ones but running regular coffee through a bootleg pod in a nespresso just gets you slightly foamy folgers or whatever so why not just make a whole pot of drip?
Now it might as well be a decoration unless we feel like splurging or we get gifted some pods
I don’t understand The Pods. I’ve got a lip stove top espresso maker that makes enough to fill a cup and I spend like $20 a month on coffee, I also mostly drink it at work where it’s free
I had a nice old stove top espresso percolator but the handle broke so I got a replacement. Its like an electric kettle with a base so I don’t have to use the stove. The metal is cheap and flimsy feeling compared to my old one but it makes really good coffee.
admittedly you can probably get maybe smoother/probably more consistent (but not necessarily “better” lol) results out of the pods with much less effort. This is from my experience with moka pots. And that applies to nespresso pods specifically, keurig and others are typically absolute bottom barrel. No question they’re expensive AF though. Its not a very thoughtful gift for the wrong type of person (not well off, doesn’t like creating waste, etc)
I had early pods cause when I was living at home my parents didn’t drink coffee and it was a new thing and they didn’t really understand there are smaller coffee makers than a full drip and pit setup cause they don’t drink coffee and also that I also drink about a pot of coffee a day if it’s normal coffee. Hence the espresso maker, I drink a coffee mug of black espresso if I’m not working or about 4 very small cups of drip at work
lol yeah classic. I have like one, maybe two espressos a day but if I go out to a coffee shop I often end up having more and getting jittery
I drink a solid half litre of it in a mug.
I cant do that any more lol, I used to drink straight cold press concentrate a lot and I think the fallout of that made me more caffeine sensitive
I just like the taste more that way really.
My Xiaomi phone’s notifications sound just like Windows’ and it confuses the piss out of me every time I hear it. Looking all over my PC screen to find it
ANTS
cuties
Writing should lead with the conclusion. Authors yap too much and I don’t retain any of the information because I don’t know what to do with it. Tell me what you want me to believe and THEN write your 9 paragraphs justifying it. Fuck. Reading theory is like trying to guess what a Rube Goldberg machine finally does while looking through a paper tube.
Part of the reasons scientific papers have an abstract. I learned in Uni that you should read the conclusion first anyway and then maybe the analysis/discussion, methods and graphs if you want to critique or reproduce the work, and the intro if you don’t know much about the subject. I think it’s among the rights of the reader. Just do it!
You aren’t wrong. That’s how I was taught to write essays.
Pleasantville (1998) is a weird, flawed little movie but it plainly illustrates why they’re called “reactionary” and shows the forces of reaction organizing in real time.
the message is extremely lib, but Toby does gain his color enacting violence on fascists, so that’s cool.
Between this and O Brorher, Where Art Thou? They were really showing off digital color grading in the late 90s.
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What do you do when you were taught to write somewhat efficient code in college but now everyone considers a series of functions stolen from GitHub (by chatgpt) a program and efficient code wastes time
Asking for a friend who is fighting for their life
So my boss does this thing where he asks me to do a task, tells me how much it would cost do it with a third party service (usually ends up being around 5-10K)
I usually end up doing it and get nothing but a “awesome job!” Nothing about a bonus ever, gotta stick to the MArKeT RATe 🤪
I wish very bad things would happen to my boss.
fuck landlords
fuck carsCW: meat
putting some spam, egg, and seaweed in my spicy instant ramen and calling it cuisine
Children of Time does some really neat stuff with ants and how they react to the uplift virus.
One of the coolest moments in the book is when Portia sees the ants touch a thin piece of metal to a crystal because you, the reader, know exactly what’s happening but she just knows it’s important somehow.
all hexbear’s powerposters should
and create fresh anonymous accounts. there’s a weird “cool kid club” dynamic with the same few names controlling the site’s culture.Anyone ever read Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow? It was in a stack of books destined for the trash, I didn’t even read the synopsis fully, I just grabbed it because I enjoy gilded era aesthetics. It was really good, I ended up reading it in 2 days.
I’m curious what other people think about it.
indecision will be my downfall frfr
have you considered that your downfall may also be caused by exactly one of your other shortcomings? pick one and tell us about it!
shout out to ants
