@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win cover
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barrygoldman1

@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win

#Teacher, story teller, #naturalist, dancer, piper of tunes. Studying #chemistry and #geology of the origins of life #astrobiology
blog which i should try to be consistant with
https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/
twitter: barrygoldman1

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Who’s growing beans up in first avenue???

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird dunno... but that corner looks vaguely familiar to me!

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Did you know there are leaf cutter ants in north America? As far north is Illinois!

So many cool ants in this video. I hope to keep most of these species some day... I have already kept Dorymyrmex. And someday I will keep the northern leafcutters... but I have to find them myself (flying) in NY or NJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu9a0DKWomM

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird Wheeler: leaf cutter ants of north america is a fun little read! i thot as far north as new jersey?

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I’m old enough to remember professors who said learning CS wasn’t a part of a foundational education any more than learning to use a lathe was a part of interior design. I don’t think this is common today, thankfully. But, what aspects of computer science should be integrated into existing subjects (a word processor in English to write a paper) and the degree to which it is an independent subject remain nebulous.

Thing is, understanding computers changes the way you think about everything.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird

from logic gates to programming soccer playing robots is the 2nd chapter of my complexity lab manual. so many foundational topics.

iteration vs recursion
binary search
trial and error algorithms
data vs algorithm
hierarchical architecture vs distrubuted
genetic algorithms
iterating simple algorithm over space like cellular automata leads to complex behavior
watching how u can build a hierarchy from logic gates to a turing complete processor
1/n

barrygoldman1 , to random
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

hey @futurebird there's a really cool thread on the site some of u guys don't like... about this crazy family of beetles many of which learned to live with ants
here's the paper
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959437X21000186

and here's the thread
https://x.com/Pselaphinae/status/1802727923826520180

SmudgeTheInsultCat , to random
@SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to avatar
barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @SmudgeTheInsultCat Simone Weil actually has things to say about this! i mean, concentrating on a math proof hard enough isn't THAT dissimular from many forms of prayer

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I decided to find out if any progress had been made on the science behind why some ants are attracted to electrical fields. After filtering out exterminators (it's so demoralizing to search for information on creatures you love and find nothing but people who know nothing about them boasting about how they will kill them all) I found what looked like a blog. But, who the heck is "James Brown"? Never heard of the dude. Maybe he could be my new friend if he likes ants enough to blog about them!

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @lostwax @albertcardona brilliant conclusion!

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Ant Chess Set:
Based on Camponotus

king - Alate Male
queen - De-Alate Queen (physogastric and extra large)
rooks - Alate Queens (Petite, for queens)
bishops - Median (Holding pupae in her jaws)
knights - Majors (huge heads)
pawns - Workers

How does this not already exist??? It's so obvious. One black side, one dark reddish-brown. Wooden board with natural bark edge.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird NOPE
ant "queen" is the most valued protected piece whos death is the death of th game so she is the King piece!

maybe alate "queen" can be chess Queen, most mobile

rook bishop knights can be workers of various castes or stages

rooks can be the workers that tend the colony queen (cuz castling!)

alate males r pawns! expendable!

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

A maiden in the woods attracts unicorns. This guy attracts ratsnakes. (Snakes will sit on you because you are warm. You are like a nice warm rock. I think that's why the snake liked his phone too.)

(His necklace gives off "loud wildlife guy" vibes, but his presentation style isn't what you might expect ... eg. going on about how everything is dangerous ... no it's nice and sensitive to the creatures.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1aWVrWLdgQ

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird i sat by a pond once and had a dragonfly use my knee as his perch. he'd land on it. fly off. come back. went on for long time..

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

How bad off would you be if you had just one genome?

An alien sends you through a transport device— on arrival every fungus, bacteria, mite, virus and plant has been eliminated from your body. You are now at the alien spaceport which is sterile, you can NOT acquire earth faunetta and floretta here. How sick would you be? Are you gonna die from this?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird just ONE genome? my mom's or my dad's? it would DEFINITELY fuck me up.

jencmars , to random
@jencmars@mastodon.art avatar

An Occult Stem Weevil (Lechriops oculatus), I think missing its left antennae. What a muppet.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@jencmars weevils are a whole vibe. such stubby tanks.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

What is the best explanation you’ve heard for 1 not being a prime number? For me it’s “because it breaks everything in my programs since the loops won’t terminate” but that’s obtuse. “Because the God of math decrees it so!” is compelling, but shallow.

“it can only be divided by 1 distinct number” is contrived.

1 “feels” prime— it has the fewest factors. (Primeness being about NOT having factors) ruling it out for having too few? eh.

“it’s the zero of multiplication” is better… thoughts?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird if u made a program to factor a number into primes and 1 was allowed, how would you decide to terminate it?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird were u specifically thinking of factoring algorithms or would it break other algorithms?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird anyway i subscribe to the reason being that if 1 were prime, nubmers wouldnt have unique prime factorizations

rahmstorf , to random German
@rahmstorf@fediscience.org avatar

„Every human being has the right to be born on a livable planet.“
Fantastic conversation just now of Antje Boetius (director of AWI polar research institute) with Tyler Prize winner Johan Rockström (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK).

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@rahmstorf wow thats a weird phrase. you mean retroactively? every POSSIBLE human being? who grants livability of planets?

it's some wild science fiction level idea!

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The ant “foot” consists of a tarsal claw with two toes and the several segments above that I suspect are simply… well…floppy. Basically, I’ve seen no evidence ants can wiggle their ankles at will, but rather they seem to adjust the floppiness, or tension of the lower leg. The claws, however, show signs of dexterity, ants can control how sticky the soft pad of their foot is, but also seem to be able to grip and release with their claws. (how exactly are the muscles arranged?)

Another view that includes the segments above which I suspect to be “floppy” the ant leg is often covered in hairs.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird i used to wonder about the algorithms insects use for walking. if i take the slightest misstep it could mean broken bones or worse, but for a tiny bug? placing feet don't need to be so precise.

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

It's perfect. Bravo Jonathan Yeo. I don't know if it was a choice... or just how the paint choose to speak. But, you got him. Perfectly. WOW.

Very much how I think of monarchs... down to the damn butterfly. LMAO

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird i read it as: last monarch to go down before the whole world burnt to a crisp.

and now i get the butterfly. kinda dopy if u ask me.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

When I pick up a wild ant such as this Camponotus pennsylvanicus minor worker I’m always anxious that I return her to her colony. I followed her after letting her go. She ran the full length of a football field then suddenly up a pole. Waiting there another ant of the same species. They fussed over each other. Grooming and feeding each other for several minutes. Then they tucked into a nook in the fence and went to sleep! I guess they won’t be taking me to their main nest today.

The sister she ran to find after the strange experience of running over my hand for a bit. They are feeding each other which ants do when nervous.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird camponotus don't form empires! lemme see... do colonies of ANY and spcies ABSORB other colonies?

  1. some steal workers

  2. some queens take over single colonies

  3. fire ants do a weird swapping/joining thing when they are young and casing out new territory
    https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2008/05/on-sexvines-and-boundary-crossing-in.html

  4. multi queen colonies that form by fision? do they join together?

  5. supercolonies...

now... what about trees?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird waht's your current count? i remember keeping a jar of pond scum for a year and half on the window and over that time counted ~60 different microcritters.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Why is Trump saying "the prison populations are down all over the world"

"they are emptying their insane asylums and sending them"

??

This is just a pure 100 percent fabrication with nothing to even seem like it might, if you squinted, and read it backwards to back it up, right?

I mean if he can just say any damn thing and people will buy it why not? Wow.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird i NEVER listen to his words.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Get ready for a host of awful commentary about the Flynn Effect (the general tendency, since 1930 to about 2000 for test scores and IQ test scores to increase) "reversing"

I'm certain no one will use this data to make nefarious or evil political points!

OK, but what is really going on? Since there has never been consensus about the origins of the Flynn Effect in the first place who knows!

(It's education. People are better at tests when they spend time getting educated and taking tests)

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @zens good luck finding teachers willing to let and guide teenagers in ovrethrowing their rotting business as usual... let alone administrators!

sigh...

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

How would it feel? What would it say about us? if we remain a nation that builds weapons of war, effective weapons, our best technology— and none of the people cared what purpose they served? they could defend a people violated by invading armies, they could be a tool to sweep a people away and not even our young people full of idealism think it worth questioning. Streets quiet, peaceful, another beautiful spring— and not one willing to listen, imagine the rumble of distant munitions.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird ever since learning about things like Flint michigan and all the processes related to it ... way back in my college days, i've decided THIS NATION IS ENTIRELY TOO SILENT. we are a bunch of sissies! i include myself in this indictment!

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Happy mother’s day to my Camponotus pennsylvanicus queen! She is nearly four years old this summer and the proud mother of nearly 700 beautiful daughters. Here she is today and years ago where her colony had only 30 ants. She has done an amazing job raising a huge colony!

The same queen protects a small pile of brood.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @vikxin @EricFielding ohgod

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Currently sowing a tiny garden for my field ants. I've kept field ants before and they didn't really thrive. I'm hoping if I can arrange for them to tend a heard of aphids they will be happier.

They colony is about 15 strong, and the queen is lovely shiny and black. They are also very nervous and freak out at every new sound and vibration. Will a box of green plants calm them? We shall see!

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird who are field ants?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird one day i will learn to key out Formica. i remember back when i watched ants. there were at least 3

  1. exsectoides, easy to spot
  2. black ones that invaded exsectoides nests? and defended with vigourous biting
  3. ones on the lawn that ran around like crazy.

no doubt i was seeing other spp too.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Has anyone read any good math and science history nonfiction books recently? (pop nonfiction please) Are there any really good ones out?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird here is an amusing passage illustrating how science is done
https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2009/03/example-of-how-science-works-from.html

not a recent book. the book it is from might be amusing to read.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird REALLY good one? i hope you own
Walter Tschinkel, "The Fire Ants"?

https://phys.org/news/2006-05-ants-true-story-told-scientist.html

beautiful book. you can dip in anywhere and find an interesting story.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird anyway... my favorites. not very recent i'm afraid, but maybe youve missed some of them

https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2017/07/towards-100-nonfiction-books-everyone.html

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

3 dollars for helados? The upper east is wild ya’ll there best be a silver dollar in the bottom of this dixiecup…

i sound like an old lady telling my students how they used to cost a quarter. one rascal said “a quarter of what? ten bucks?”

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird damm! i miss having that on the streets!

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird chocolate lemon was my fav combo. do you remember when it was a block of ice and the guy would shave the ice into a cup and pour syrup all over it? damm...

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Simply putting colored paint on a few ants has let me discover that individual ants have certain spots they like best — Tulip likes to be on the highest point of this branch. If I don’t see her there I get worried. She’s a little camera (light) shy so documenting how often I see her in the same spot has been a challenge. She has preferred this spot for at least a whole month. Here are a few times I caught here there.

Tulip peers around the edge of the branch. She’s a good looking ant.
blurry tulip runs because so turned the light on.
Another shot that at least clearly shows it’s her since all you see is a blurry pink gaster.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird haha 'cooperative leopards' you mean cheetahs. hmmm dunno if cheetahs climb trees tho. maybe they dont cuz they eat communally? i think they hunt communally

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird i remember feeding my ants one summer on disabled fruit flies. Aphaenogaster, Crematogaster, Paratrechina, Brachymyrmex, who else did i have? Tapinoma? Lasius? so long ago...

anyway they were all so different in how they would deal with and dispatch their prey! the tiniest, the Paratrechina were the most fearless. some of the bigger ones would approach more tentetively!

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Heliograph but.... was she a meter long?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Heliograph summer generation honeyees work themselves to death. my notes say 10 flights a day for 4 to 5 days. 2-5km per flight?

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Hey mister binturong, you a bear? or are you a cat? or are you a big rodent? Or heck... are you some kind of raccoon? Which one are you?

mister binturong: yea

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@llewelly @futurebird haha i used to play a game on the old craigslist discussion forums cuz once a yahoo asked 'yeah how could a cat evolve into a dog?' and i would post DOZENS of species of carnivors phylogenetically surrounding cats and dogs and ask "ok wise guys, which of these kinds is cats and which is dogs?" fun days

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

"Joe Biden fascist marxist prosecutors"

Like... how do you even unpack a phrase like that?

The prosecutors aren't--
Biden's not--
Marxism isn't--
Fascism doesn't--
It's New York State not--
Those aren't even--

This is beyond a Gish Gallop (lies so thick you can't sound sane as you counter them all)

It's like information anti-matter and it's not even the whole sentence.

What do we call something that is "beyond untrue" ?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird true and false are only MINOR categories of human experience. don't sweat it. we most certainly are NOT primarily rational beings. rationality is a boutique addiction only some of us subscribe to.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The overhead for the AI on a minecraft ant is so great that the mod creators limit the colonies to just 20 ants to prevent lag. Fine for gameplay 20 feels like a lot.

Interesting the kind of things they do: remember the location of their nest, find a path back, collect leaves etc. are so taxing.

In the real world a colony of 1000+ is typical. Some colonies have millions of ants. And real ants have much more to "process" Kind of gives you a sense of the scale of the intelligence of a colony.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird 260 skills of honeybees is pertinant here:
https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-many-skills-does-tiny-honey-bee.html

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@mycotropic @futurebird ant info processing is very different than human osses. probly REALLY tangled and enmeshed 'code' each routine using each other's subroutines... all running on HIGHLY parallel processing structure.

only a million highly interlocked neurons at most, but we don't know if counting neurons is the right way to look.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@mycotropic @futurebird well here's the problems that honeybees solve (similiar in flavor to ant life)

https://blackskimmer.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-many-skills-does-tiny-honey-bee.html

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Woodswalked @mycotropic i've toyed with the idea of writing a story of honeybee life including each of those behaviors... i'm not focused.

but YOU you can do it (for an ant species). would be phenomenal.

many ants are more generalist than honeybees?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Woodswalked @mycotropic a whole ant mythology about wax and propolis. i think sometimes ants attack hives and i wouldnt' be surprised honeybees trap ants (dead, alive?) in propolis.

i wonder what the phylogeny of wax is! stingless honeybees make it too? when did it evolve? do other wasps make it?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Woodswalked @mycotropic ok evolution of waxmaking in hymenoptera is confusing. all insects make 'waxes' (mix of hydrocarbons and esters) (ant cuticles use waxes) but i guess what we are looking for is 'combwax' is that a term?

how do i find evolution of combwax in apocrita? (bees wasps ants) @alexwild

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @Woodswalked @mycotropic ants would rather hang from wall and stuff their honey in gross overgrown bellies!

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @ai6yr @Woodswalked @mycotropic i guess they are easy to haul out. it's the GIANT DEAD MICE that get embalmed.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I could deal with, but didn't agree with, the idea that a president can't be hauled into court during his term, ok, ok I can see the potential for abuse there.

But, no man is president for life, so that protection will expire and the force of the law still exists. (and the burden of proof)

I simply don't get immunity beyond that. I don't get it at all.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird @david ur right. such a waste of time. just thow the orc into the stocks. the complexity of court proceedings in the face of blatantly BAD behavior is an affront to humanity. i've seen SO MANY examples.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

My current radical take that is driving the principal insane is the idea that to better educate our students about social media, online safety etc. we should have them set up and run their own social media on the school intranet.

And I get why. But, why do we just throw young people out into the wilds of the internet where they are surrounded by ads, creepy people, criminals etc.?

Part of why social media can be chaotic and destructive is because too many adults hope it just wont exist.

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird when i watched parents put their kids in front of tv back in the 70s... i did not understand. all manner of insanity they just let into their homes. like building a highway through the home and let anybody come in...

i gues it's an old problem.

schools tho... i watched them be SO STOOPIT about computers, so suckered in by snake oil salesmen.

well what WERE the ideals of school anyway?

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

“Fluent Python” is an excellent example of a “good programming language book” — it’s not cluttered with “enterprise examples” it’s focused on how python works and goes into detail on edge cases. This lets one write code with real confidence that you know everything it’s doing. It is also written with the aim to justify why python is the way that it is. Which I need or I get irritated.

If you like python you should probably have a pdf or buy a copy.

Now which book on Java is analogous?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird hmm that doesn't seem to be in my collection. i can haz pdf?

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird found a pdf hmm very interesting.

https://coderbooks.ru/fluent_python_2nd_edition/

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Java has a interface* called “Set” but the documentation is nebulous & ominous. “may throw an exception” what? does no one even know? There isn’t even a method for intersection & union?! What is the point? I taught my students to use the set object in Python. It was an elegant beautiful experience— Thought we could do it in Java but I think I will just use arraylist, write my own damn methods.

I’m biased, but Java is always more annoying like this. ugh. (*this explains part of my confusion)

barrygoldman1 ,
@barrygoldman1@sauropods.win avatar

@futurebird the set operations are insane (python) with them u can write one liners that woulda taken 10s of miinutes or more of thinking and coding up a dozens of lines of code in older languages without it.

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