This is the most in-depth article I’ve ever read on New Zealand bat flies and the exciting little science-drama of their discovery and research.
These are the first flies discovered to have such an advanced almost colonial social structure, and they’re the only flies known to live in such a deep beneficial symbiosis with a mammal. There are countless other wingless flies that feed on the blood of bats but this variety is genetically unrelated to any of them and only feeds on guano.
My favorite thing about them is that, instead of simply dying like in most other insects, males who can no longer mate will just grow a lot bigger and become specialized watchmen over the eggs and larvae. When they sense a bat flying nearby, the guard males emit a high pitched buzzing (audible to humans!) to drive the bat away before it mistakenly squishes or eats them.
My favorite thing about this story is that when they were trying to collect samples from a recently abandoned bat colony, thousands of the flies climbed under the clothes of the researchers to get out of the cold and even though it felt super freaky they all knew the flies were incapable of biting and just doing what they’d usually do to hitch a ride on bats, so they didn’t fight it and later they successfully raised all the flies they “caught” that way on a diet of mashed up bananas.
My second favorite thing about this story is learning that you could just keep these on a diet of mashed up bananas. WTF. Give me some.
Edit/ I also fucking love that their eggs have long spines on them and are laid all over the colony walls so densely they look like moss. I’ve always been enamored with “encrusting” organisms and “mats” of biota like moss and lichen and mold and the thought of one that’s entirely insect eggs is the coolest possible shit to me.
@jerseydevious read Creature of the Night and causally presented to me the idea of Batman being something Dick willed to life to bring justice to his parents’ killer, and i ran 20 miles with it
My method of getting kids not to swear at camp was just to appeal to their sense of fairness.
Child: “Fuck!”
Me: “Hey! I’m not allowed to swear in front of you guys. It’s not fair if you swear in front of me, is it?”
Child: “I guess not… sorry…”
Sometimes I’d work with teenagers and facilitate activities like giant swing or zipline, which involve full-body harnesses that get Wildly Uncomfortable in the crotch areas. The younger kids didn’t mind it, but those burdened by more of the wonderful gifts of puberty had some things to complain about.
And complain they would! I think 15 year old boys are contractually obligated to shout “THIS HURTS MY BALLS!” at the top of their lungs every time they’re in a harness. To combat this, I’d warn them about the pain ahead of time and tell them that if they need to come down, I’ll help them down immediately. “However, I don’t get paid enough to listen to teenagers scream about their genitals for an hour. If you have to scream, we’re gonna call them ‘your honor’, okay?”
Teenagers screaming “OH NO! MY HONOR!” while swinging through the canopy? Hilarious.
Looks like a small party in a high fantasy
*Almul silently points to Alzu, then pauses, shrugs, and gestures in their own direction*
Sketch art by @maunderfiend posted with permission; the inspiration behind Pin and Press. Our boysLucifer and Xev; Lucifer is his, Xev is mine.
SUMMARY
After
each tense mission Lucifer helps cool down his partner; sometimes they go
further than a usual cool down, ending in panting breath and rolling curls.
Okay but what if Amelia Earhart disappeared because her plane crashed on Themyscira just like Steve Trevor’s and she decided to stay there to live a happy lesbian life
Thor enjoyed the pleasant fragrances of Midgardian soaps. The one in the common-floor bathroom was labelled “Lavender Daydream” and was tinted a mild purple. It had a gentle floral scent with a slightly acrid undertone, and Thor wondered absently if Midgard had an actual plant named lavender, or if it was like blue-flavored drinks, with no non-artificial analogue. With Midgard, there was no way to tell. Regardless, it was a pleasing scent, and Thor would enjoy the soothing scent and gentle moisturizing properties of the liquid.
Midgard was such a fascinating world.
Thor toweled his hands dry and stepped out of the bathroom, intending to head towards the kitchen. Bruce had left some curry in the fridge, and Thor wanted to test his mettle against his perennial foe, the spicy pepper.
He took one imperious stride into the common room and tripped. He caught himself on lavender-scented palms, just shy of sprawling flat on his face on the carpet.
Sitting innocently in the middle of the hallway was Mjolnir.
Strange. He was sure he’d left his hammer on the sofa.
kingofmemes posted:
common room rules state that anything unlabeled is fair for anyone to use. shoulda put a sticky note on your mythological weapon of unimaginable power before you left it on my seat buddy
BettSplendens Tumblr Evac 