I don't really want to make a regular post now

[conuly]

(or ever) but I also don't want to not do it, so here we are I guess?

In order to make this a normal post, let me say that my Robert Moses counter is incrementing up again. It has now been 0 hours since the last time somebody brought up Robert Moses, but it's my fault for reading an article about walkable cities and then scrolling to the comments.

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The little town making nearly all of China's lanterns

In the '60s, experts dismissed this as a fake Rembrandt. Turns out, it's the real deal

Cockroaches that eat each other’s wings pair bond and turn into a fierce fighting force

Scientists Discovered an Ancient Egyptian Tool 2,000 Years Ahead of Its Time

Puppy abandoned at Las Vegas airport adopted by cop who rescued him

London’s most notorious thief was also a hero of the people

Beyond Oil: The Strait Of Hormuz And The Global Food Risk

Drones are reshaping Ukraine’s frontline — and the future of warfare

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Regarding the Egyptian drill, as someone pointed out in the comments, archaeologists really need a working knowledge of modern hand tools and their usage, because the designs have not changed that much over the millennia. There's only so many ways for them to work after all.

[moon_custafer]

Jack Shepherd is one of the people I keep in mind in case I need to put together a time-travelling commando unit.

[rebeccmeister]

You had me at cockroaches eating each others' wings - predictable!

It reminds me of something I've observed with ant queens. Ant queens start out with wings, but after they have mated and it's time to run around and dig a new nest, they drop to the ground and tear their wings off. As that article on cockroaches speculate, this probably has to do with the wings becoming a liability at that point (making them more visible to predators, making it harder to dig).

But the interesting thing is that, in one of the species I study, sometimes queens don't lose their wings. That might be because they haven't mated as much as they'd prefer (they usually mate multiply because there are benefits to that), or sometimes they don't mate at all if the conditions are poor. Anyway, regardless of the reason, eventually the workers from the same nest will chew off the queen's wings for her.

...if nothing else, hopefully this is at least a distraction while you are processing other things!