Notices by myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)

Emotional support ant. She doesn’t understand geometry (she’s just an ant) but she still wants you to do your best.

In walking limbs, the range of motion and control decreases as you move away from the body. In limbs made for manipulation things are less consistent. The human shoulder is a lot like the coxa in ants, it allows a wide range of movements in multiple dimensions. The elbow only allows one dimension of motion.

Ants have many more joints after that but they are like a stiff chain, no fine control. However, ants can flex their claws and expand and retract their foot pads.

Ants use their front two legs differently from the back legs. They may use these limbs to dig or hold objects in place when manipulating them with their mandibles. The coxa of the front leg is often longer while all of the other segments are shorter. Ants have a comb on their front legs which they use for grooming—

I don’t think the front legs are used for manipulation in enough ways to have that be their primary purpose but there is a distinction that makes them more like “arms”

I think I need to mention that many ants dig just like dogs ... using their front limbs to fling sand or loose soil between their back legs. It's very frantic, but also effective. I have some videos of Dorymyrmex digging this way. When mammals dig this way is it a stereotyped action, or somehow learned? What about with ants?

Can't find my video, but this one is better. It's "silver ants" or Cataglyphis bombycina

(no it's not speed up, they really move like that, when they spin in a circle they are looking for the sun so they will know how to get back to their nest. )

https://youtu.be/5089nKofSvw

Remember that the NAACP is calling for a massive boycott of Walmart, McDonald's and Meta because of their about face on DEI under pressure from the vague notions of the US president and his friends.

I would appreciate it you participated in this boycott too. It seems like it's pretty big.

(The NAACP has likely spoken with people at these organizations and found no common ground. They kind of hate calling for corporate boycotts so I can only imagine they go nowhere and were disgusted.)

If you already don't have contact with these three firms because you think they are terrible or they just aren't relevant to you? You can help by telling people about the boycott.

The somewhat mild reputation of the NAACP works in our favor on this one. They have a pretty positive reputation even among moderates. Takes a lot to make them angry.

"Did you know the NAACP wants a big boycott of McDonald's, Walmart and Meta?"

Make it common knowledge.

My very boring apolitical cousin who is in the military for some reason is hopping mad and all over the NAACP boycotts and texting everyone like crazy. She is PISSED.

They are waking up people who they DO NOT want to activate.

You see, I'm *always* like this. Not my cousin.

Delighted to see it.

Also, please *do* support the NAACP boycott list if you can. It's based on hitting the companies who are saying they are anti-diversity. So, pro-segregation I guess?

In some schools education is just ticking of boxes for topics. The classes are too large, the experienced teachers too few, the administration is too focused on switching textbooks every two years to "solve the problem" rather than cultivating schools as learning communities. Those who are most invested in teaching, leave and find places where they can really teach.

"I'm so glad I learned how do 'do my taxes' in school and not how to assess if an argument is true or false for myself."

I have worked with idealistic people who wanted to make education "more relevant" for students in inner city schools. They could see the kids were really NOT getting the liberal arts education & the power that comes with such an education. Thought "well at least I could teach them to budget better" These people also tended to think that poor people are bad at managing their money (I find the opposite is the case, poor people are experts at managing money, making it do more.)

The kids HATED it.

@RyeNCode @ligasser @mattdm @unchartedworlds

I think they myth is kept around to make people think higher taxes for higher incomes are "unfair"

It also allows people who are in higher brackets to act like they pay the highest percent on their whole income ... when their effective tax rate is lower, often much lower once we talk about deductions and other exceptions.

"A family making just 200K has to pay a 40% in taxes!!"

No, they don't.

A "financial literacy" course for working professionals who are doing OK financially and not worried about money (and thus probably could tighten their budgets in substantial ways) but with the understanding that 2/3s of the money recovered by improving their mortgage rates, cutting useless subscriptions etc. would be donated to practical material help for working poor people in their area.

Assigned as penance for anyone claiming that poor people "just need to budget better."

Money saving and finance tips *can* be very effective... if you have some money.

And if you do, it is worth taking the time to see if you are using your money well. For example, do you spend a lot of money at an online retailer because it's "easy" to shop with them but, as of late, the quality and reliability of the products they deliver isn't worth the premium price? *waggles eyebrows*

It's kind of horrible how much money I've saved since dumping amazon.

In line with the concept of this post I've decided I will spend half of the money I've saved on art commissions. They other half I will "save for retirement" which is a topic that gives me anxiety as I don't have a lot of confidence in this country holding together well enough for such planning to make sense.

There is a chance it could be a sucker move and I can't rule that out as glibly as I have in the past. To save money you have to have some confidence in your civilization.

@funkula

I know I won't regret a penny I spend on art commissions. The 401k could be a toss up. As always the standard advice applies (and is easy to say and hard to do if you don't have enough money)

* diversify: have a pension, savings, keep track of your Social Security but also buy a house or apartment if you can.
* Avoid things like bitcoin and gold unless you are an expert in commodities.
* Always look at reoccurring expenses cumulatively over at least 5 years.

anything else?

@funkula

* paying rent is the major cause of not having enough money. If you can find away to avoid any rents it's worth it!

It is not always possible or reasonable to take any of this advice.

Saw a post the other day: "I'm so glad I learned what a parallelogram is and NOT how to do my taxes in school."

Generally, people who say such things don't know what a parallelogram is OR how to do their taxes. They have been failed twice. They were presented with the signifiers of a liberal arts education but received none of the substance.

This isn't their fault and replacing alienating signifiers of a liberals arts education with signifiers "trades training" won't do what they think.

I really hate the concept of renting textbooks. Renting digital textbooks even more. When you take a course you are supposed to have what you learn forever. Naturally you won't remember it all, it won't always stay active in your mind, but you should be able to return to your notes and the textbook and "rehydrate" the knowledge. Discover that you can now connect it to all of the things you have learned since.

When the textbooks are rented? I feel like something deeper must be broken.

@Kuniti_shino

Have you tried aliexpress? I need that kind of stuff all of the time for projects. If you are in the US the shipping takes some time but I have found aliexpress to be more reliable that amazon in the past 3 years, provided I don't need the object in 2 weeks.

I've gotten better at just finding other options. Amazon gets a LOT of business by keeping you logged in and not needing to do the drudgery of entering payment details. Once you log out? Suddenly they are not so attractive.

@spacehobo @zkamvar

There was no thread. Just glue. I think they just drill those holes to make the glue stick better. I remember being horrified by the cheapness of the construction of this book (I still have it) for a hardcover book that had a price tag over $200 it was obscene to deliver such a piece of junk.

In the next year I helped the math department transition to using digital books that were free. I couldn't bear to think about students buying and renting these things.