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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Termites are a group of detritophagous eusocial insects which consume a wide variety of decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, and soil humus. They are distinguished by their moniliform antennae and the soft-bodied and often unpigmented worker caste for which they have been commonly termed "white ants"; however, they are not ants, to which they are only distantly related. About 2,972 extant species are currently described, 2,105 of which are members of the family Termitidae.

Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (along with cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood eating cockroaches of the genus Cryptocercus. Previous estimates suggested the divergence took place during the Jurassic or Triassic. More recent estimates suggest that they have an origin during the Late Jurassic, with the first fossil records in the Early Cretaceous.

Similarly to ants and some bees and wasps from the separate order Hymenoptera, most termites have an analogous "worker" and "soldier" caste system consisting of mostly sterile individuals which are physically and behaviorally distinct. Unlike ants, most colonies begin from sexually mature individuals known as the "king" and "queen" that together form a lifelong monogamous pair. Also unlike ants, which undergo a complete metamorphosis, termites undergo an incomplete metamorphosis that proceeds through egg, nymph, and adult stages. Termite colonies are commonly described as superorganisms due to the collective behaviors of the individuals which form a self-governing entity: the colony itself. Their colonies range in size from a few hundred individuals to enormous societies with several million individuals. Most species are rarely seen, having a cryptic life-history where they remain hidden within the galleries and tunnels of their nests for most of their lives.

Termites' success as a group has led to them colonizing almost every global landmass, with the highest diversity occurring in the tropics where they are estimated to constitute 10% of the animal biomass, particularly in Africa which has the richest diversity with more than 1000 described species. They are important decomposers of decaying plant matter in the subtropical and tropical regions of the world, and their recycling of wood and plant matter is of considerable ecological importance. Many species are ecosystem engineers capable of altering soil characteristics such as hydrology, decomposition, nutrient cycling, vegetative growth, and consequently surrounding biodiversity through the large mounds constructed by certain species.

Termites have several impacts on humans. They are a delicacy in the diet of some human cultures such as the Makiritare in the Alto Orinoco province of Venezuela, where they are commonly used as a spice. They are also used in traditional medicinal treatments of various diseases and ailments, such as influenza, asthma, bronchitis, etc. Termites are most famous for being structural pests; however, the vast majority of termite species are innocuous, with the regional numbers of economically significant species being: North America, 9; Australia, 16; Indian subcontinent, 26; tropical Africa, 24; Central America and the West Indies, 17. Of known pest species, 28 of the most invasive and structurally damaging belong to the genus Coptotermes. The distribution of most known pest species is expected to increase over time as a consequence of climate change. Increased urbanization and connectivity is also predicted to expand the range of some pest termites.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

As loneliness is increasing the number of active serial killers is decreasing. Maybe social connections in the past were mainly serial killers scouting out targets.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I get so overwhelmed.

I don't know if I believe that people can keep themselves organized. It genuinely seems impossible without a second person aware to be aware of me and cognizant of my issues and habits.

Like, every time a situation happens I just have to fucking figure it out. I don't have that best friend who will listen no matter what and always knows what to say.

Tbh I kind of assume that everyone else does have someone, and I missed the Friend Deadline so that's why nobody chooses me

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

hypothesis: rephrase linen analogies to shit like "imagine shooting a hamburger with a gun on the baseball diamond" and americans will immediately understand kapital

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I know I'm using the apps^tm^ wrong, but I can't just swipe on a profile because I like how someone looks. There needs to be an app with no photos just profile and after connecting then photos are shared.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

It's crazy that such a big part of this country's economy is using psychological manipulation to extract rents (in the form of subscriptions) from people that there are companies who provide a service that navigates stopping those subscriptions for you.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Don't try to find the bug the cat is looking at. Trust the cat

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I rode my bike today! I almost got run over!

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I feel like if you're getting a consult for depression the secretary should note that inside the folder instead of writing it in big letters on the outside.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Just remembered the warren campaign holocaust tattoos. And the "blood and teeth" in a gothic font tattoo. michael-laugh

[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Behold: cookies & cream toe beans

bean cat-confused

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

There's gotta be a club I can join where I get to monologue about partial differential equations and then the other person monologues to me about HOI4 Soviet Union strats right?

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Sometimes I'll see something from an engineering subfield, and it'll be like just a rotation matrix and have two names attached to it. Boomers had the easiest careerpaths on earth. Like you do one 3rd year classical mechanics problen set and they give you tenure. You do a grad level course problem set and you become a fellow of the physics society or SIAM.

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

me: and some times the thoughts are too much, you know? it feels hard to breathe

my iFriend^TM^: woah, bucko! Sounds like you need to Talk Tuah therapist about that wowee The new iPhone 24 Max releases this fall! Preorder now! https://apple.com

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[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

I wish all of you something low key annoying but secures you a fucking hell of a bag

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

the fuck are they doing with money?

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

You know i thought it was a wierd choice to have nick mullen voice all the characters in wukong's english dub but its really growing on me

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

So a few weeks ago I watched 2 video essays about the 2015 indie game Fran Bow, a horror point & click adventure game. I played the game myself 2 years ago, didn't really get it and mostly just wrote it off but these video analyses got me intrigued again because they were like, really bad. They clearly didn't get what the game was about either, this one guy made a 40 minute video and the only thing he really interpreted were the freaking chapter titles.

So I downloaded the game again and this time I'm taking notes. I have a document purely for noting down literally anything I find noteworthy and another document of possible interpretations and theories.

And ooh boy, this game. It does not give you a damn break with how much stuff it throws at you. It became apparent to me within like 2 hours that this is not a game where you can do a Game Theory style "explanation" video about what "really" happened because it's almost aggressively nonsensical and ambiguous. At the same time, there are so, so, so many things that could symbolize something but don't necessarily have to. It's weird because it starts semi-grounded, then becomes increasingly fantastical to the point where you wonder if this is still about anything at all, but then it comes back around to reality only to go completely off the rails at the end.

There are just enough recurring themes and loose connections between the endless waves of nonsense Fran Bow throws at me that I think there is something there that connects it all, but it still feels like a Sisyphean task to decipher it. It's so hard to tell what is just there for "horror & madness" vibes and what is there because it actually means something.

At the end of chapter 2, this random toad in the most "apropos nothing" gives you a 40 page journal of this dude named León Castillo who, and I can't stress this enough, does not appear in the game outside of a single photograph at the end and has no impact on the story whatsoever. The content of the journal is also not directly relevant to the game's progression at all, you can easily solve every puzzle and finish the game without ever looking at the journal. But if you do read it, you can tell that it's clearly about something, that it is related to what the game is about, but I have no fucking clue what that is. I found this guide post on Steam which attempts to interpret it and connects it to spiritualism and occultism, which are subjects I know very little about so I have no idea if this person is onto something or talking out of their ass. It includes screenshots of every page so if you recognize anything in there, do tell me.

I wanna know what this game is about. Look at these stupid fkn journal pages. Surely this is not just vibes. Right??

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

felix-linus is gonna be on guys to talk about esports guys.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

CW: mention of IP owned by prominent mold-brained transphobe

spoilerThe baseball team I like is doing a harry potter day so I get to see people wearing special hats and scarves that signify their patronage of a transphobic scumbag. So that's nice.

I don't mean to hate on anyone who likes or enjoys harry Potter in ways that don't give her more money of course. I grew up with harry potter and will pirate the movies for nostalgia once every few years although her world building is absolute dog shit through adult eyes. And also, I might pirate the new open world game at some point just to see what its like. but these people gotta show everyone else that they spent extra money for a stupid hat because they love merch that gives revenue to a transphobe.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Steve Shives, decent Star Trek opinion haver of youtube, has been democratposting a lot lately and the titles are all much too maybe-later-honey to watch.

Latest:

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

I missed the sports struggle session ooooooooooooooh

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I need to get hobbies that involve me talking the entire time because if im not talking im thinking and if im thinking theyre negative thoughts

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Pig got got here in Houston and now I’m gonna have to hear about this all day every day for a week.

Gonna be a lot of “liberals are making crime out of control” ,“the uSuAl SuSpEcTs (*dogs barking in The distance *)”, etc

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Bart is absolutely a genius. All three of the simpson kids are. Lisa is obviously Lisa, but bart on multiple occasions has been proven to not only be competent at his craft but the absolute best. Lisa had the advantage of being passionate about being percieved as smart. Bart has time and time again shown the accelerate quickly in his preffered fields. He surpassed her in musical ability in an increadibly short time. He surpassed her in chemistry when he could use it for destruction. He has the ability to be the best, he just rather do his own thing.

Maggie orchestrated an entire heist to retrieve her pacifier at less than a year old. That's an impossible task at an impossible age. She very well may be the greatest of the three

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

My anti-vaxer coworker is always sick soviet-hmm

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Kojima just posted a photo of him posing with a sawed-off shotgun. Need someone to edit the doohickey in. the-doohickey

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Girl who engages in communist praxis by heightening her internal contradictions galaxy-brain

[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

My boss mentioning how she has a lot of leftist ideals and doesn't consider herself as a democrat curious-marx

Then she mentions that our organization is antiwoke alex-aware but clarifies that she means it's generally against performative wokeness stuff that doesn't do anything to actually address issues brow

I mean if she's talking about liberalism type stuff then yeah sick but it's kinda hard to tell...

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

Cockroaches be like "what if we were ants?"

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

found a spice mix in the cupboard that's got a lot of good stuff (cayenne, cumin, curry) but also cinnamon which is certainly a vibe

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

It’s funny how raven rock jail is nicer than a large chunk of Skyrim’s residents homes.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

That Javier Millei dude really gives messy haired weirdos a bad rap. Which is saying something, since we're already known to be offputting.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

olimar-point pikmin-carry-llibbing-outpikmin-carry-r pikmin-onion
FWIIII ^Huh!^ ^Hooh!^ ^Huh!^ ^Hooh!^ ^Huh!^ ^Hooh!^

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this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
86 points (97.8% liked)

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