The Wikipedia page on ant mimicry is full of fun facts, but the relevant bits:

Jumping spiders in the genus Myrmarachne are Batesian mimics

Batesian mimics lack strong defences of their own, and make use of their resemblance to a well-defended model, in this case ants, to avoid being attacked by their predators.

Studies on this genus have revealed that the major selection force is the avoidance of ants by predators such as spider wasps and other larger jumping spiders.

But also (not specific to Myrmarachne):

Ant mimics can be myrmecophilous, with the mimics and their ant models living commensally together. In the case of ants, the mimic is an inquiline in the ants’ nest. Such mimics may in addition be Batesian or aggressive (predator) mimics. To overcome ants’ powerful defences, mimics may imitate ants chemically with ant-like pheromones, visually, or by imitating an ant’s surface microstructure to defeat the ants’ tactile inspections.

How screwworms managed to jump the barrier in 2022 is not fully clear. But in the years immediately before, the coronavirus pandemic reportedly created supply-chain snarls at the fly factory in Panama and disrupted regular cattle inspections that might have set off the alarm bells earlier.

Still, the screwworm advanced relatively slowly through Panama and Costa Rica for the first couple of years.

800,000 cattle a year are raised illegally in nature reserves [in Central America] and then smuggled by boat and truck up to Mexico. This allowed the screwworm to spread much faster than it can fly [beginning in 2024]. The line of new screwworm cases followed known smuggling routes

wait did ‘holy water’ just mean ‘the strong stuff the monks are brewing’?

It’s a classic cop routine:

• Step 1: do some violence
• Step 2: realize it looks kinda bad, look around and arrest somebody else for what they just did
• Step 3: profit (time and a half for their trouble)

It looks like Puente Arizona and the Phoenix Legal Action Network have one, but it might just be in the Phoenix area. 480-506-7437, more info here.

We’ve got a hotline in Colorado! (844) 864-8341 They verify reports and share info with the community, and dispatch volunteer legal observers and immigration attorneys. Not sure if orgs in any other states have stood up something similar.

I think that’s true for the Aedes egypti species at least, they’re not native in the Americas and are a main disease-spreading species

The US effectively does both: the lotteries are run by the states and total prizes are much less than total ticket sales, generating net revenue for the state. Winnings are taxed like other income, meaning there are federal taxes and in many states state taxes.

Most Jews are not israeli and israel is not representative of Judaism, but israel does claim Judaism as a core part of its “national” identity, so there’s nothing antisemitic about pointing out the irony of Nazis supporting israel. The irony may be pretty superficial tho, some of the other replies here point out several reasons why Nazism and Zionism/israel are actually aligned.

I’ve been happy with Phonograph for queueing, nothing special but it seems very easy to use to me. Looks like tons of good recommendations on this thread I haven’t tried out tho, definitely might be something better out there

There’s great arguments here about how a service corps could bridge divides and give all youth a better pathway from highschool into the (often predatory) worlds of job markets and higher ed, and also great arguments about why mandatory service infringes on freedom pretty significantly.

Is there a way to structure a national year of service idea that gives people the freedom to opt out yet would still get chosen by many kids from diverse backgrounds? Like how do we get kids who have had a college fund ready to go since they were born to see the benefits of spending a year building bridges? It would be a neat cultural shift.