TIL

Discussion, in general

Re: TIL

Postby Tuli » Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:46 pm

TIL there are bots on Amazon that make automated listings using stock photos. This leads to some hilarious images being printed on phone cases or other items. A lot of things make more sense now...
  • 8

User avatar
Tuli
TCS Camper
TCS Camper
 
Posts: 920
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:55 pm
Location: Estonia
Show rep
Title: Experimental Protrude

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Tue Nov 28, 2017 10:22 pm

TIL (well, YIL but close enough) that Australia, Africa, and South America each has unique biological niches at least partially because of insects.

In Australia, poor soil and abundant sunlight led to plants creating an excess of nectar (which is cheap) in order to persuade birds to pollinate their flowers and spread their seeds. The former may be partially due to the absence of bees, though birds are better pollinators than bees because they fly long distance, if you're a plant, all things being equal you'd rather have birds pollinating you than bees. Thus, Australia has much larger nectar-eaters and many more fruit-eating birds than anywhere else. However the abundance of sugar also leads insects to infest the plants, producing far more honeydew than elsewhere in the world, as well as a cotton-candy-like substance called lerp. And this leads to a lot of specialist honeydew and lerp feeders, as well as to birds that are much more territorial than birds anywhere else.

In Africa, termites are available in far greater numbers than anywhere else (it's not clear to me why this should be), and at least three groups of specialized ant and termite eaters on mainland Africa (aardvark, aardwolf, pangolins). All of Africa's ant/termite specialists tear open the mounds, which leads to birds and reptiles following in their wake to eat the termites. This was the least convincing example, since it's not clear to me that any of these birds and reptiles are specialists (though honeyguides are specialized followers of honey badgers) nor why Africa would have more termites but then the book was on Australia; Africa was only talked about in passing.

In South America, several birds specialize exclusively on following army ants and eating the little animals that attempt to flee from the ants.
  • 1

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

Re: TIL

Postby Anglerphobe » Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:12 pm

Do African army ants not have their own specialised bird followers?
  • 1

"Tusser, they tell me, when thou wert alive,
Thou, teaching thrift, thyselfe couldst never thrive.
So, like the whetstone, many men are wont
To sharpen others, when themselves are blunt."

Anyone who has any kind of opinion fucking disgusts me.
User avatar
Anglerphobe
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2160
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 6:03 pm
Show rep
Title: round Earth shill

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:41 pm

According to Wikipedia:
Birds that frequent army-ant swarms include the white-whiskered puffbird, rufous motmot, rufous-vented ground cuckoo, gray-necked wood rail, plain-brown woodcreeper, northern barred woodcreeper, cocoa woodcreeper, black-striped woodcreeper, fasciated antshrike, black-crowned antshrike, spotted antbird, bicolored antbird, ocellated antbird, chestnut-backed antbird, black-faced antthrush, and gray-headed tanager.

All of these are Neotropical (South and Central American) species, and several of those are army ant specialists. If African species do, it hasn't received the same level of study as the South American species.

However, also according to Wikipedia:
The Neotropical army ant Eciton burchellii has an estimated 350 to 500 animal associates, the most of any one species known to science.

So it could be that for whatever reason, this one particular ant species is uniquely good at flushing small animals from hiding, or that South American ants in general are.
  • 2

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

Re: TIL

Postby NathanLoiselle » Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:55 am

350 to 500 groupies? That's a lot.
  • 3

User avatar
NathanLoiselle
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 4484
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 3:49 am
Location: You'll Never Know!
Show rep

Re: TIL

Postby iMURDAu » Wed Nov 29, 2017 5:04 am

Nah it says "associates". As in slang for gang members. They flush out small animals from hiding while saying wiseguy catchphrases.
  • 5

“This is going to become a bad meme,” Todd observed.
User avatar
iMURDAu
TCS Chomper
TCS Chomper
 
Posts: 6752
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:08 am
Location: twitch.tv/beakstore
Show rep
Title: King of Fuh

Re: TIL

Postby SilverMaple » Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:04 am

TIL of Mari Lwyd, the festive Welsh Christmas tradition of carrying around a decorated horse skull and singing at people in an attempt to get permission to enter their house, while the residents of the house attempt to prevent the holiday horse skull bearers from entering their house (also via singing).

Isn't she beautiful?

Image
  • 11

Bert wrote:The best part of my job is fistfighting an 8 year old every day.


//Friend come and go, like the wave in the ocean, but true ones stay like an octopus on our face.\\
User avatar
SilverMaple
Champion
Champion
 
Posts: 1491
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:34 pm
Location: In da Lab
Show rep
Title: Nerd of a Feather

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:59 am

For the release of their single "Apeman" in the US, the Kinks' Ray Davis had to go back the the studio and overdub part of it.


To the US market "a foggin' up my eyes" sounded a bit too much like "a fuckin' up my eyes."

Also, this song was recommended and I don't think I've ever heard it.


It's nice and interesting how different this, "Apeman," and "Lola" all are. I think that the Kinks are a rather underrated band.

That said, I can't help but think he's calling Bette Davis a "cellulite hero." He really didn't voice his plosives much.
  • 3

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:31 am

Ya'll know the Edward Hopper painting "Nighthawks"?
It's this one
Image

Apparently it was supposed to evoke the feeling of "predators in the night" and I will never see it the same way again.
  • 4

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

Re: TIL

Postby iMURDAu » Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:27 pm

Engineers at MIT were able to embed nanoparticles into watercress plants so that ah I'll get to the point

They made glowing plants. How cool is that?
  • 6

“This is going to become a bad meme,” Todd observed.
User avatar
iMURDAu
TCS Chomper
TCS Chomper
 
Posts: 6752
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:08 am
Location: twitch.tv/beakstore
Show rep
Title: King of Fuh

Re: TIL

Postby Absentia » Tue Dec 19, 2017 4:30 am

In the 19th century, the US Army established an experimental Camel Corps with 70 imported animals in the Southwest. The camels reportedly performed well but the project was abandoned when the Civil War broke out, in part because one of its biggest supporters happened to be Jefferson Davis.
  • 6

User avatar
Absentia
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 1786
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:46 am
Location: Earth
Show rep

Re: TIL

Postby Paradox » Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:15 pm

TIL that there's only one country between Norway and North Korea.
  • 6

[Signature removed for nonpayment.]

The artist once again known as Dox.
User avatar
Paradox
Resident Dickhead
Resident Dickhead
 
Posts: 2243
Joined: Wed May 27, 2015 6:56 pm
Location: Dunbar, WV
Show rep
Title: True Neutral

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:16 am

Dutch explorer William Barentsz was convinced the water north of the Arctic Circle must be open ocean during the summer because the sun shone 24 hours a day and would therefore melt any ice that formed.
  • 1

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

Re: TIL

Postby PSTN » Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:20 am

cmsellers wrote:Dutch explorer William Barentsz was convinced the water north of the Arctic Circle must be open ocean during the summer because the sun shone 24 hours a day and would therefore melt any ice that formed.


In all fairness, this will be true before long. He was just ahead of his time.
  • 1

User avatar
PSTN
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1422
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2015 1:24 am
Show rep
Title: II

Re: TIL

Postby cmsellers » Thu Dec 21, 2017 3:24 am

PSTN wrote:In all fairness, this will be true before long. He was just ahead of his time.

The point is that his logically was laughably flawed. It's not heat that melts ice, people: it's light.
  • 2

User avatar
cmsellers
Back-End Admin
Back-End Admin
 
Posts: 9316
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 7:20 pm
Location: Not *that* Bay Area
Show rep
Title: Broken Record Player

PreviousNext

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests

cron