The radishes never really grew ... but Pica was still very happy with the grass.
(frankly I think she ate the radishes when I wasn't looking...)

#picathecat #caturday #catsofmastodon #cat

Here me out...
What if you used a camera above your desk so you could move your mouse by petting your cat?

When I said I was worried about my cat "going down a rabbit hole" I was thinking more about the risk of getting fleas or rabies from a wild animal... not this...

Anyway check your kitten's browser history.

I think we should classify cats as "cartilaginous beasts" (of land with fur) they are just so ... rubbery. There is something convergent in the "vibe" of the sharks and the cats IMO. Some hidden deep affinity.

When I look over my shoulder. #pica #catsofmastodon #picathecat

“she won’t let me use the mouse” -husband
(well she is a cat)
#caturday
#catsofmastodon
#picathecat #pica

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!

yeah moss is great but how about a vascular plant that has basically ... gone back to the way of the moss...

Azorella compacta

It's... it's a carrot that has given up on having leaves...

Imagine a hostile planet with plants like this... could you tell that they once grew in less cold and arid climates? What if flora of the twilight days of a planet look like the earliest life... but when you look closer there are abilities, and structures that tell their history....

Another all too barren spring in NYC. There should be so many insects, so many ants, so many tiny creatures filling the parks, hitting the windshields of cars.

Remember when bugs used to hit the windshields of cars because the air was so full of life?

I guess most people think this is 'improvement' but they are wrong. There is a campaign to put the American bumblebee on the endangered species list!

We are living in an eerie lifeless netherworld and I don't know why more can't see it!

I was listening to a podcast about SETI w/Seth Shostak and Michael Godier about how aliens (in theory) might get our attention (& how we might get their attention)

One idea: "piggybacking" For an astronomically significant event eg. a supernova you take that opportunity to broadcast your signal in the opposite direction so that everyone who is looking at the supernova gets your signal too.

I was musing on what a cool idea this was... but then it hit me. They just invented space pop-up ads.

Retired old people who aren't just ... busy being sick and dying give back to their communities in HUGE ways. We had someone's grandpa come to our robotics competition to cheer the team on. The old people in my building do all the serious political organizing and man the polls. I'm too busy working being in my 40s and all that.

Lowering retirement ages takes away more than just "retirement" ... it makes everything harder.

Far as I'm concerned it should be 59.

Important: Pica has *no* "legitimate need" for your credit card or SS number. **Please do not give her your personal information.** She is NOT in charge of a "Charity that Helps Persecuted Cats" nor does she have "Online Courses to Help U Sleep Better" She is NOT a "Sleeping Expert."

I think most of this is obvious but I'm just trying to clean up after the last ... incident. #catsofmastodon

Pica wishes you a happy caturday. Tuna and cash can be sent to her new P.o. box. #pica #caturday #catsofmastodon

Pica taps me on my shoulder to remind me of my responsibilities (to feed her) #pica #catsofmastodon #cat

Good morning everyone! Here is an important announcement from Pica, the very small and loud tabby cat. #catsofmastodon #pica #video #meow

Via tumblr:
(https://www.tumblr.com/futurebird/735700044986105856/image-descriptions-mattxiv-posts-a-series-of?source=share)

(Original post on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0U4FnMJmn0/ )

There were no image descriptions on the tumblr post I took the time to add them.

What would it take to make text-only, low-bandwidth websites/web apps fashionable again? If connectivity is poor: enjoy a more vintage experience. For safety/accessibility or for those with satellite phones it also seems important for emergencies.

(You’d think the “mobile friendly” web pages would have been about this. But, ‘mobile friendly’ design seems more about taking away features & reveling, like a greed-driven fiend hot with amoral avarice, since your targets might not have adblock.)

Release most domestic animals in a forest and they will be gone within the year. Cows? Eaten. Chickens? Extra Eaten. But not pigs. Pigs *revert* — they survive and each generation is more close to some lost wild boar ideal form than the next. Why are pigs different? Are they less domesticated? Is it the omnivory? Is it their intelligence?

In a few decades people say they need power weapons to protect their families from the pigs. What the heck?

(edit: some cows, chickens survive? see replies)

How do people go through life not knowing what weevils are? I was talking about ants to a teacher the other day and mentioned something about weevils & they were like "what are weevils?"

"Like beetles but with the long snoot to drill acorns and trees."

"drill acorns!?"

"That's how they end up hollow"

"oh."

"That's how acorn ants have a place to live!"

"oh. I didn't know so much was going on in acorns."

"That's not even the tip of the iceberg!"

I'm astonished.

Most know that ants dig in the dirt, or maybe they live in a decaying log. But ant nest diversity is vast.

Some ants make "carton" a paper-like substance used to construct nests in trees. Other ants use the silk of their larvae to bind leaves together for a green living nest. Some ground-nesting ants build flood levies in concentric circles to protect the entrance from monsoon rains. And of course, there are the wood ants who make massive mounds of pine needles.

Ants made all of these!