I know it but I haven’t seen a good way of doing a long quote. Do I need the > on every single line? I’ve no idea why this time it put it into a code block, maybe something to do with my app (sync). The comment actually looks fine in a code block on my app so I thought it was good enough. Didn’t realise how shit it looked on desktop until you brought it up.

I didn’t do it on purpose, I just copied and pasted

Just putting the finishing touches on GNAW (Gnaw’s Not A Wheel)

Here’s an attempted explanation

Quinones are produced by epidermal cells for tanning the cuticle. This exists commonly in arthropods. [Dettner, 1987]

Some of the quinones don't get used up, but sit on the epidermis, making the arthropod distasteful. (Quinones are used as defensive secretions in a variety of modern arthropods, from beetles to millipedes. [Eisner, 1970])

Small invaginations develop in the epidermis between sclerites (plates of cuticle). By wiggling, the insect can squeeze more quinones onto its surface when they're needed.

The invaginations deepen. Muscles are moved around slightly, allowing them to help expel the quinones from some of them. (Many ants have glands similar to this near the end of their abdomen. [Holldobler & Wilson, 1990, pp. 233-237])

A couple invaginations (now reservoirs) become so deep that the others are inconsequential by comparison. Those gradually revert to the original epidermis.

In various insects, different defensive chemicals besides quinones appear. (See Eisner, 1970, for a review.) This helps those insects defend against predators which have evolved resistance to quinones. One of the new defensive chemicals is hydroquinone.

Cells that secrete the hydroquinones develop in multiple layers over part of the reservoir, allowing more hydroquinones to be produced. Channels between cells allow hydroquinones from all layers to reach the reservior.

The channels become a duct, specialized for transporting the chemicals. The secretory cells withdraw from the reservoir surface, ultimately becoming a separate organ.

This stage -- secretory glands connected by ducts to reservoirs -- exists in many beetles. The particular configuration of glands and reservoirs that bombardier beetles have is common to the other beetles in their suborder. [Forsyth, 1970]

Muscles adapt which close off the reservior, thus preventing the chemicals from leaking out when they're not needed.

Hydrogen peroxide, which is a common by-product of cellular metabolism, becomes mixed with the hydroquinones. The two react slowly, so a mixture of quinones and hydroquinones get used for defense.

Cells secreting a small amount of catalases and peroxidases appear along the output passage of the reservoir, outside the valve which closes it off from the outside. These ensure that more quinones appear in the defensive secretions. Catalases exist in almost all cells, and peroxidases are also common in plants, animals, and bacteria, so those chemicals needn't be developed from scratch but merely concentrated in one location.

More catalases and peroxidases are produced, so the discharge is warmer and is expelled faster by the oxygen generated by the reaction. The beetle Metrius contractus provides an example of a bombardier beetle which produces a foamy discharge, not jets, from its reaction chambers. The bubbling of the foam produces a fine mist. [Eisner et al., 2000]

The walls of that part of the output passage become firmer, allowing them to better withstand the heat and pressure generated by the reaction.

Still more catalases and peroxidases are produced, and the walls toughen and shape into a reaction chamber. Gradually they become the mechanism of today's bombardier beetles.

The tip of the beetle's abdomen becomes somewhat elongated and more flexible, allowing the beetle to aim its discharge in various directions.

I used something like this at a music festival, after they’d banned every other type of stove. I found a lot of nerds on the internet who all raved about these little things and after using them I was inclined to agree.

It’s the simplicity of them, they feel so peaceful to use. Yes they take a bit longer to boil than everything else but who’s rushing while camping.

I was playing a video game with a buddy recently. I was in the middle of a flank and he said he was out of ammo. I said “literally 0 bullets?” And he said “yep literally 0”. I aborted my flank to run back and give him some ammo but got killed as I ran back. Just then, he starts shooting.

I don’t think context makes the word “literally” clear. We ruined the word and now we need a new one to establish we’re not exaggerating.

Yeah you’re right, I didn’t mean to imply that they’re stupid. It’s stupid to us, but that’s only because we’re standing on the shoulders of giants.

I see what you’re getting at, and I personally think that’s probably how a lot of the myths/religions start, but I don’t think you can outright say that tribes only thought of them as children’s stories.

In the book I was referencing, the author noted the “cost” of a religion, in that the tribes were usually required to spend a significant amount of their time worshiping, and/or discarded resources in the name of sacrifice. One of the tribes studied spent 1 out of every 3 days worshiping. A very large commitment for people who have a very real risk of starvation if their hunts go badly. He then goes on to argue that there must be an evolutionary benefit to religion or an atheist tribe would have out-competed all of these tribes (but that’s another tangent). I bring this up because it implies that they do actually believe their “stories”, otherwise why risk starvation?

I recently read The World Until Yesterday which compares the way of life between tribal cultures and western cultures. The section about religion has a clumsy preamble that was obviously trying to cushion the blow for religious people reading the book who thought their religion was any different to tribal religions.

The author then goes on to treat them all the same.

It was quite funny to read. I was imagining how it must feel to see your religion laid out side by side with a dozen other equally stupid myths and think “Yep this is the right one. I was super lucky to be born to parents who picked the correct religion!”

Does their god need a reason to create every single fish? Sounds exhausting

Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, but at least it’s an ethos

An interesting one that sums it all up - crawling babies aren’t instinctively scared of cliffs or drops, they have to learn not to crawl off an edge. Which isn’t all that surprising except for the fact that when they start walking, they don’t carry this lesson forward and will happily walk off an edge. They need to learn it again.

It’s just saying she plugs her phone in to charge even though it’s at 80%. There’s not much to it.

I remember explaining something regarding special relativity to my colleagues once, and they replied that I must be wrong because “That doesn’t make sense at all”. Of course it doesn’t make sense, that’s how you know I’m right!

My junior’s commit messages look like this image. There’s always a way.

You can sign up as youremail+whatever@gmail.com and all emails still go to youremail@gmail.com. Other services will usually treat it as a different address and let you make new accounts.

Is it “frint”?

Tbf the song is called “Escape”

Don’t try to tell us that fruit is any better

A vibe programmer that built a palm-sized fusion reactor in a cave over the course of 3 months with a single companion

With a box o scraps!