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Martini Glambassador's avatar

Your hed gif today pits aphid against ladybird beetle (which I used to call a ladybug, but now I don’t!). More info, with some science, here: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/ladybird-beetle-vs-aphid

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Queroloustwo's avatar

All ladybird beetles respond to the name of Claudia Alta Johnson.

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subterrene's avatar

The last place I worked (all of two weeks ago) had a real problem with insects, due to how the building was constructed - my office mate and I kept a leaderboard of who had killed more wasps in our office. But out of all of our chitinous visitors the lady, um, birds were the most welcome. I always wished we could somehow free just them from our workspace.

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Birb-General of the US's avatar

Ladybirds eat the aphids but the ants just farm them.

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Up Here in the Clouds's avatar

I loved the side eye game both had going on!

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Linoleum von Curmudgeon, Esq.'s avatar

Thank Crom there was no cute animated bug-on-bug cannibal violence shown here. I appreciate that all we had was the *implication* of that bug-on-bug cannibal violence

I don't object to the bug-on-bug cannibal violence itself because we all need that to keep ourselves from being shoulder deep in aphids.

It's just that with all news of RWNJ domestic, bigot based, terrorism constantly going on all the time I just didn't need any more cannibal violence in my life.

Besides, these little critters are mighty cute.

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John Thorstensen's avatar

I was just out in a Arizona at the observatory a week ago, and the place is overrun with a huge, huge plague of ladybugs -- giant black masses of them under the eaves, all over everything. They're great in small numbers. When they actually crawl inside the instrument and leave giant black shadows on the detector, maybe not so much -- plus they smell bad.

They do eat aphids, though.

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BecomingJenn's avatar

they do tend to do this at this time of year esp as the monsoon water hit this last week. (We got rain in the lowlands).

FIL used to work as firewatcher on Bill Williams mountain, and yep it was exactly as you indicate. Climbing up to the tower for the first little bit and on the screen it, they would cover everything, esp the permanent shelter for peeps working there cuz it didn't have any sort of hookups beyond electric.

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BecomingJenn's avatar

I forgot to add the time line, this was in the early 00's

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Don'tBlameTheDog's avatar

I have them in my sun tunnels. Little black shadows on the glass. 🤷

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TootsStansbury 🇺🇦's avatar

The little knife and fork made me laugh.

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DeVoid's avatar

Who knew? Not me.

"The origins of the name 'ladybug' trace back to when European farmers would pray to Virgin Mary to prevent their crops from being destroyed by pests. Ladybugs then ate up the insects! They were called 'Lady beetles' after Virgin Mary and have always been loved by farmers since."

https://tohonochul.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Ladybug_Facts_Worksheet.pdf

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Menotsure's avatar

Lacewing larvae are also aphid predators, and as their common name, aphid lion, implies, they, unlike today's cutie, are monsters.

https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5237

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Queroloustwo's avatar

Looks like an extra from Starship Troopers.

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Thalia Is Not Amused's avatar

Lacewing Larvae sounds like a Stevie Nicks preschool cover band.

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CambridgeKnitter's avatar

Stevie Nicks was doing a show in Boston recently. Before she had to be there, she wandered over to the Boston Public Market and visited the store where my husband was working. Not only was she incredibly nice, but she liked the nuts he sold her so much she came back for more and was nice for a second time.

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Thalia Is Not Amused's avatar

That's such a lovely story, thanks for sharing it with me! I love it when the artists I love turn out to be kind as well.

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Menotsure's avatar

They grow into very pretty lacewings, though.

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Tetman Callis's avatar

"Ladybird beetles"? All right. That tracks. When I was a boy, they were ladybugs and were urged to fly away home. Apparently their homes were burning and their children had vanished. That must have been about ladybugs in Ukraine.

But I am not a boy (though the child is the father to the man), and things change, though Russia hasn't. And ladybird beetles haven't, either, and and still chow down on aphids, which for ladybird beetles, as the video says, "are just juicy green insect cupcakes."

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Broderie Anglaise's avatar

In the UK, we just call 'em ladybirds. We even have a nursery rhyme about them:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home!

Your house is on fire, your children all gone,

All but one, and her name is Ann,

And she crept under the pudding pan.

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Lady MS's avatar

Learned that precise verse as a child, and my peeps left the Olde Country more than ten gens ago:)

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tehbaddr's avatar

Ladybird beetle?! What sort of WOKE nonsense is that?!

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Cryny's avatar

Well, they are beetles rather than true bugs. But they're also not ladies, nor are they birds. I'd say it's a wash as far as accuracy goes. Still WOKE!

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Thatsit Fortheotherwon's avatar

Real MEN keep Black Widow Spiders and occasionally die from their poison, as real men are wont to do.

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Oblio's Cap's avatar

Don't try to understand limey culture..

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JCfromNC's avatar

Yay, I thought that was probably an aphid the ladybug, er, ladybird was chasing.

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Comp-Jen-stator Class's avatar

Most the ladybugs we get round here anymore are the imported asiatic ones, that pinch. But when I am back in the deep woods, and come across any size bit of meadow, I see a lot of the more native ones

Which makes me happy

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GEM's avatar

We sell actual ladybird beetles at our nursery but some lady claimed they were invasive. So I looked up what she mentioned as her "proof" and found out about Asian beetles. We don't have those here, thank Goddess.

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OG Blockhead's avatar

Those invasive ones are in actual piles in our gigantic basement. I bought a shop vac for the sole purpose of cleaning their horrible little carcasses up.

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Thatsit Fortheotherwon's avatar

Are they the ones that stink a little bit and their legs fall off when you smack them?

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OG Blockhead's avatar

Hmm. I don't know. The basement is generally kind of smelly (we live in a converted barn). They do bite and, worse, inspire homicidal thoughts in Mrs. Blockhead.

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Internet Personae's avatar

Team ladybird beetle here - gotta go with the sharp-dressed-bug -

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Alpaca Suitcase's avatar

Every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed bug!

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CJLB's avatar

Stopped dead in my tracks at the Laura Kipnis article. I don't like to brag, but I'm old and I'm not going to see how AI plays out. I read here and there, for and more for, and I'm frightened for my grandchildren. Give me a shot of giving a "reasonable interpretation" of any book I've read and I will simply give my "reasonable interpretation". If someone buys that shit, they own it. Do I look like a goddess? Holy shit, this stuff is nuts. These tech bro asshats are frightening.

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MissMuppet's avatar

First debate question HAS to be, “Who won the 2020 Presidential election?” If Von Schitzenpants claims that he did throw him off the stage and just chat with Joe for the remainder of the event.

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William Donnell's avatar

Ima go with "Does Marcellus Wallace look like a bitch?"

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Nemo's avatar

I read the headline question and immediately got the answer: That could happen, but it would require thorazine, LOTS of thorazine.

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Pilgrim's avatar

"Only two Christian denominations operating on the reservation told me they do not include anti-traditional-Apache rhetoric in their sermons and ideology: the Catholic church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church."

The Mormons may not have a great history, but for a gaggle of white people the present church has a remarkably non-racist official attitude, I suppose it's part of the desire/plan to become a world religion. Really not to be lumped in with the Evangelical fundamentalists.

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

I'm afraid I won't be able to watch the debate tonight because of a medical condition.

I suffer violent, projectile vomiting whenever I hear Chump's voice.

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BecomingJenn's avatar

same. I don't like my vagus nerve stimulated in that fashion. I'd like to keep my meals IN my stomach thank you very much.

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Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

If the Romans could have played Chump rally outtakes, their vomitoriums would have been so much more efficient.

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Khavrinen's avatar

“Trump allies urge him not to be a ‘raging asshole’ at the debate.”

The old saying is "first time for everything", but I'm not planning on holding my breath until that happens.

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BECKY's avatar

Is anyone watching the debate? I can't stomach him even when I think he's going to make a gigantic a$$hole of himself. I'll just come here for a good unbiased retelling of it.

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Karen's avatar

The really manly ones pickup rattlesnakes at the train tracks while buying blow

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tim gueguen's avatar

Meet Felix-Antoine Hamel. He made Canadian history Monday night by getting no votes in a Canadian election that people actually voted in.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/first-candidate-zero-votes-election-loss-1.7247339

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MrPug's avatar

My biggest fear is that they will drug Trump with quaaludes (or whatever is the new equivalent) so that he isn't a rage addled moron in the debate. It's a super low bar but if can get through 90 minutes without having a 2 minute rage rant about electric sharks and Biden persecuting him, he'll look "normal".

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"M"'s avatar

Mary Trump and Dahlia Lithwick talk a lot about the "normalcy bias" a lot of folk have and how it's poisoning the discourse

People keep expecting Republicans to act like reasonable people who want democracy as opposed to acting like fascists

Meanwhile, Marc Elias and Democracy Docket have been telling us Republicans keep trying to bring back the far flung insanity known as the Independent State Legislature Doctrine, which would basically destroy federalism, and because it sounds so dry, people don't want to know what it means

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Nemo's avatar

So, back to the Articles of Confederation then? That worked out so perfectly that we had to go to MORE perfect. Will we be getting to perfectest next time?

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Louise Pattison's avatar

The Guardian article is heartbreaking. I had no idea that so-called "christian" churches and charities were still perpetuating their 19th century cruelty with impunity on Native American reservations like this.

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eliz_'s avatar

WELS is the most nutso Lutheran denomination, followed closely by the Missouri Synod. My Dad grew up in WELS (including attending a WELS high school), and his parents were disappointed/horrified that he was marrying my Missouri Synod-raised Mom ... and in a Missouri Synod church.

For reference, WELS does allow women to be pastors or even to take part in congregational voting.

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Louise Pattison's avatar

Liked meaning, thanks for the info.

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Melissa's avatar

The real satanic stuff is using one's own religious beliefs to denigrate the cultural heritage of others. These so called Christians do not understand one thing about being a decent human being. Jesus' words fly right over the heads of racist, misogynist white men.

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Nemo's avatar

Jesus is highly overrated. He knew damn well how the Romans dealt with seditionists in a notoriously troubled province. And he danced VERY close to the line. His teachings (to the extent that we know them after numerous revisions) mixed new age hippy love with fundamentalist Judaism.

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Lady MS's avatar

Read Madiba Dennie’s perfect ‘splainer on SCOTUS Snyder decision and one line leapt from the page. She noted, in an achingly funny metaphor, that it’s only bribery if it comes from the Bribery region of France; otherwise, it’s simply “sparkling pay-to-play”.

Weirdly, however, Elie Mystal got quite a laugh on Chris Hayes last night with that exact same line and- without going to the tape - I don’t recall him giving attribution to Ms. Dennie. Will go back and check before calling Elie, who’s funny in his own right, a lowdown, Borscht Belt joke thief.

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Lady MS's avatar

Updating my own post…highlight reels of All In currently available do not feature the Mystal segment, so above non-comment is simply ‘to the best of my recollection’.

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marxalot's avatar

I'd chip in if'n I had any to chip, but important parts of my car need rebuilding before I drive it to Chicago and sell it there (hopefully), or give up and drive it back home (nooooooooo), so you'll just have to make your monthly 10$ stretch.

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Glennis Waterman's avatar

Ooh ooh! Maybe Trump will finally “pivot”!!!

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