Notices by myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)

Final draft of the aphid rodeo poster.

Everything wrong with the Wikipedia is something that is just generally wrong with working with humans.

My experience with the Wikipedia included being harassed white nationalists because I edited their creepy "Race and IQ" article. A very ugly experience. I did not feel supported or protected by "the wikipedia community" --

Despite this, I STILL think it's one of the best resources on the internet. That Mr. Musk wants to destroy it only makes me more confident this is correct.

In fact, there is a lot of systemic bias in the Wikipedia. This is a reflection of systemic bias in society.

For example if you look at biographies notable men outnumber women, it's white and western dominated. The "Race and IQ" topic is still a big mess. But, you can tell from the boatload of citations and the 1GB talk page that it's a contested topic. I expect if the Wiki can endure the talk pages will be a huge resource for historians.

If we still have historians in the future.

The "marketplace of ideas" is an imperfect concept that inherently magnifies oppressions. Who has the time to edit articles? What sources are reliable? Bias must exist in any attempt to describe the world. And yet, the idea that we should attempt the task together is inherently radical.

And, the idea that "everyone who can be bothered" should just hash out the definition of everything turns out to be too woke for most fascists. Even with all the built in advantages conservatives can't compete.

It's also why they don't like democracy. And democracy is flawed too.

But, if we can start from "everyone can edit" and "everyone should have a say" we at least have a slim chance of hearing all voices. We at least have a chance at arriving at a self-aware stance that recognizes its own shortcomings and tries to be better.

God will not come down from heaven and write a perfect encyclopedia for us. Short of that, (if you care to think such a thing is possible) this is the best we will get.

A group of Wikipedia editors have formed a group to address AI-generated content infiltrating the site.

(And I think Gillian makes a great point. What does it say exactly about the ... "value" of this new technology)

(Also she used the wrong "their" and I corrected it, because it was driving me nuts, that's why the word "they're" is in red.)

Please check if your vote was just tossed out and challenge it.

You have until Friday April 18 ... so check now and let your friends know so they can check too.

https://thegriffinlist.com/

YouTube recommends a video with the title "Ancient Egyptians Were Mining Copper from the Great Lakes?"

And now I want to kill someone.

Change your username to "12.8K discerning, perceptive, intelligent people" and then when you like a post it will say:

"12.8K discerning, perceptive, intelligent people and 11 others favorited your post 1m"

And people will get all excited about having their post blow up and wonder what's wrong with the 11.

I'm thinking of an activity for 5th graders that involves trying to figure out a way to fold an insect wing so it fits under a wing-cover or elytra.

We could learn about the different ways that insects fold their wings (and how cool earwigs are) but also I think there could be some geometry in this too.

Each student would get a pattern for the unfolded wing and the cover that corresponds to it. Then try to fold it up so that it fits, then compare to how nature did it.

It might be a function of who I follow but #handsoff protests have made a huge splash on the fedi, a medium one on facebook, and not a peep on tumblr.

(This is more interesting since I think of the fedi as more international, more tech, older, tumblr is younger ... but not by much, and more arts.)

What's it like on bluesky, X, instagram et al?

Maybe this seems basic but it constantly blows my mind. Why does nearly everything have:

* two eyes on head above the mouth and smelling organ(s) (antennae "smelling organs")
* the brain is in the head

Basically, nearly all vertebrates & a shocking number of invertebrates have a head with a brain in it and a "face"

Does this imply a common ancestor with a head with a face & two eyes? OR is this convergent?

(We know that complex eyes are convergent, but did this start with simple eyes?)

If anyone needs an understated PR guy and an excellent mathematics and computer science teacher both with the skills of sailing crew members please let me know and please take us out of this country on your large boat. I can teach you and your kids to program and to do math, my husband can keep media people tame. We both know about sailboats. (it’s a long shot but worth asking.)

In my office there is the most glorious house centipede. I see them each morning as I’m the first one to get in, and startle them from their nightly creepings when I switch on the lights. I’ve tried to catch them several times, but they are swift, and I don’t know if they would be safer in the basement than our office. I am terrified one of my coworkers will see them and crush them or toss them outside where it is too cold.

Today they have bunkered themselves in a box of old exams.

I need to let the other people in the office know about this centipede, who lives on a diet of spiders, who live, in turn, on smaller arthropods— it speaks of a complex ecosystem the size and elegance of this creature: deadly, delicate, a muderous chandelier with racing stripes. (for those of you in tropical climates please rest easy, this is not one of those snake like creatures it can’t hurt a human)

At the bottom of the ecosystem are messy middle school students.

I thought of putting a sign on the box, but that seems in contravention of “Project Try To Be Normal”

I just don’t want anyone to be startled by the creature and kill it. I’ve seen that happen before and it’s very upsetting. I find if I let people know how helpful they are it’s possible to get people to leave them be. I hope no one needs to look up any old exams today!

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is a fascinating and deeply alien world. Many bodies in space are, well, dead. No weather, no climate, no geology. Not Titan! Things are Happening on Titan, but none of the elements building the complexity and weather of this planet are the same as those on Earth.

I really enjoyed this video, and here are some exciting images. What happens when a river of methane carves "rock" of water-ice and organic sand?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxPsu0zHrd8

@mansr

The Queen Ant talks to King Solomon in Proverbs, but now I'm remembering that this is a story in the Jewish texts, but not in the Bible. Dang it.

Friendly reminder that there *are* talking ants in the Bible** so don't @ me, Christians.

EDIT
**For large values of "in the"

Please don't order lilies for your friends and lovers if they have a cat. Really... a gift of flowers for a cat owner is... I won't say it's *always* a bad idea, but consider if the cat owner has any house plants.

If they have no house plants there is a *reason* for that. It's called: The Cat. You can have house plants OR a cat but not both. Cats chew on plants, and they will chew on lilies and get sick and possibly die. No, they don't know not to eat these plants. They dig right in.