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apparently bees also show a preference for flowers with some level of caffeine or nicotine in their nectar too

bees can get PTSD??? wild

why did a random german honeybee researcher just give me a more sensical practical explanation of how a classless anarchist society would function without eliminating democracy, by describing a beehive, than i have EVER received from an actual anarchist??

today on Unfun Facts I Could've Gone My Whole Life Without Knowing: wasps have the cognitive capacity for facial recognition🫠

genuinely taken aback by how smart bees are. i used to think arachnids were more intelligent, but so far i've learned bees perform social learning through observation, including pattern recognition, and pass that knowledge down through generations. not only that, they have a concept of time, and that their ability to communicate through dance evolves LINGUISTIC DIALECTS. swarming behavior also shows DEMOCRACY. wow

we can't know the true reason behind the 1916 new jersey shark attacks, but if i had to guess from a layman's point of view, i would guess the ongoing combat of world war 1 in the atlantic contributed. perhaps the shark grew accustomed to feeding on human remains among the casualties lost at sea? it would explain why only men and boys were targeted, as well as repeated predation

nice

while i'm aware of the research purpose of the experiments the author is discussing here, i can't help but be incredibly amused by the fact the author spent over a year on a social experiment entirely revolving around feeding bees and then gaslighting them by moving their house around

oh wait nevermind she just brought it up

given the the historical proximity in time and geography between middle + late egyptian dynasties and ancient abrahamic cultures around judea and samaria, i'd even go as far as to say it's likely that the prominence of serpents in ancient egyptian culture may have even directly influenced the abrahamic perceptions of snakes, through their preexisting cultural avoidance of pagan practice.

the author was just talking about how pre-christian cultural history shows fear of snakes is not evolved, and used baltic pagan folklore to evidence it. while she's right about those cultural traditions, i'm rather shocked she neglected to mention the entirety of ANCIENT EGYPT, who's organized religious structure featured snakes almost more than any other animal. [note 1/2]

and now he's using the COVID vaccine development cycle to recommend deregulating FDA approval timelines. in the era of fake medicine grifters and RFK, no less.
i wish i was exaggerating, this is such an abhorrently terrible idea that i can't even find the words to adequately articulate it.

i am genuinely appalled and disgusted by the casual way Mr. Klein recommends loosening widely approved and necessary regulations such as local disability access laws, state funding oversight, judicial review of environmental concerns and appeals of eminent domain. then he goes out of his way to praise the use of a state of emergency to EVADE FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND BYPASS CONSTRUCTION SAFETY REGULATION. repulsive.

i tried to start this book in good faith, despite my distaste for ezra klein. i got 30% of the way through before my irritation with this man's civil engineering input boiled over. did he seriously just blame WORKSITE SAFETY REGULATION for the worsening productivity of the american construction industry? yup. and worse yet, he did it based on feedback from a CONSTRUCTION COST ESTIMATOR. talk about disingenuous

wow, it's not explicitly mentioned (yet) but this history really highlights the way fundamentalist christian parenting became a pipeline that drew "crunchy" skeptic parents (prior to the advent of the term) into evangelical christianity and amplified their nascent anti-science beliefs via parent blaming into the modern day RFK jr led science denial movement of anti-vax and dangerous fake "autism cures"

much of the toxic parenting rhetoric seen in these evangelical parenting philosophies, once they became more stigmatized by secular gen X parents, maintained their insidious roots in the cultural subconscious and thus were easily stripped of their religious aspects, backfilled with misappropriated pop psychology, and funneled into the wellness cults that compose the modern american troubled teen industry.

i've unfortunately had the displeasure of a longer history with christian nationalism than the average american, largely because of the more direct effect such rhetoric and policy has on my life and my loved ones.
i'm reading this book among other similar titles because my anger is an exhausting and ineffective approach to deradicalization, and such efforts will be necessary when the time for reconstruction comes.