No they’re not lol

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/kissing-bugs/

The boxelder bug (Boisea trivittata) is often mistaken for a kissing bug due to its red and black coloration. However, while the kissing bug has six red-orange stripes along the side of its abdomen, the boxelder bug has red along the edges of the front wings.

I have no idea where you got this idea but it’s wrong.

https://npic.orst.edu/pest/boxelder.html

Are you perhaps thinking of kissing bugs???

I’ve never seen a blue Japanese persimmon but maybe it varies due to variety.

Oops I meant clockwise.

So what are they? My best guesses clockwise from the top:

1. Cherry???
2. Yangmei/Chinese bayberry
3. Apple? But with pink flesh for some reason
4. peach? But color is strange
5. Some type of persimmon but they’re not normally that blue color, so it may be a less common Diospyros species.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_by_country#/media/File:World_wind_generation_2021.png

When’s my handjob?

Well, I had this issue from drinking too much orange juice. I did drink it often but not an extreme amount I’d say. But even lower levels of acidity can cause your teeth to weaken over time.

The quality of the food only matters because our bodies can’t handle it. If we could improve our teeth (and other body parts) to be more resilient and adapted to available food resources then it wouldn’t be considered poor quality anymore.

Acidic food can dissolve your teeth. I’m aware of the involvement of bacteria but I didn’t want to go into too much detail for this one-liner. The point is our teeth are very poorly designed to stay intact in the face of the dietary environment they are used for.

When do we get teeth that aren’t made of a substance that our food literally dissolves? Seems like a major design flaw.

A fair point. I think I largely agree. But in the US there are a lot of grants for electric vehicles. Most public agencies are totally paralyzed and can’t do anything new without federal funding. My suspicion is it’s easier to get money for shiny new buses than for a new line. Especially because capital upgrades are mostly a one time cost while a new line requires ongoing funding. Funding they largely don’t have.

When I talk to my transit agency about new lines they look at me like I’m crazy and explain that they’re fighting as hard as they can just to maintain existing service. But it’s totally possible or maybe even likely there is mismanagement at play there.

Most of the passenger vehicles. A good chunk of heavy trucking could be replaced with rail too.

I didn’t mean any category would be totally eliminated, just the numbers reduced substantially for some.

Ah, I see. From a 10,000’ view this makes sense, but at least in my local political context, local government is relatively powerless to do much to reduce personal vehicle usage. But they do have total control over what buses are used. So I don’t see those changes as direct alternatives.

Changing from the personal car as the default means of travel is going to require a large, powerful political movement. It’s not something government leaders can do unilaterally. The backlash will be very intense. So I think it’s up to concerned and motivated members of the community to create a positive force for change that overwhelms that opposition.

Not sure I agree with this. Many of those vehicles don’t even need to exist, so effort is better spent on eliminating them. Buses are among the few vehicles that actually provide public benefits greater than their costs, so it makes sense to invest in new technology to improve them.

And as you alluded to, the air pollution benefits can be substantial.

Most insects don’t have a strong odor. It’s all types of ants as far as I’ve noticed.

With ants I typically notice it on my hands after I’ve touched them. So it’s strong enough to linger in that way.

I usually only smell it after they are agitated. I assume that’s what they meant? But usually when I’m smelling ants they are agitated.

It smells so weird and strong. I’m surprised not everyone can smell this. I wonder how common this is?

Well I believe this has happened. Wasn’t brachiosaurus found to be a mashup of multiple species? Or maybe it was a different one…

I’m assuming the research more meant that there were 3 cryptic species lumped into what we today call t-rex