The Cipher, with water striders and a posting lesson

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September 4, 8:15 pm

Thanks for opening up The Cipher today. We've got some fun blogs on the site, plus the penultimate installment of Why Your Team Sucks, the 49ers preview! Go forth and read! -Maitreyi A Troubleshooting Paul Skenes Is Somehow Even More Frightening The Pirates ace has a level of resourcefulness beyond his years, Chris writes. Meet The Round Little Gymnasts In Your Backyard Springtails are aptly named for their ability to leap into the sky to avoid being eaten or smushed. No Breakfast But A Chinese Breakfast If you find yourself at Heung Fa Chun Sweet House or any other place with Kathryn's three breakfast pillars, here's what to order. Two Things We Liked On The Internet Today: "Seafood thieves strike again: Pallets of crab worth $42,000 stolen in South Philly" The winners of the Michigan Secretary of State's "I voted" sticker contest New Water Strider From Hainan Island, China Most of the photos I’ve seen of Hainan Island, which marks the southernmost point of China, reveal a tropical tourist destination. There are fancy resorts with international names: Le Méridien, Mandarin Oriental, the Ritz Carlton. But the island is a paradise for water striders, including the giant water strider Gigantometra gigas, which has a leg-span of nearly a foot. Scientists have just discovered a new species of water strider on Hainan Island, which is not quite so big but still has some pretty great gams. The researchers discovered Amemboa hainanica living in rivers and pools below waterfalls, rather idyllically. The new water strider, which was described in ZooKeys, is a charming shade of brown, echoing the colors of the stones or leaves in the river, and was observed both skittering across the surface of the water and resting at the edges of still water puddles. The water strider you see above is a male, and he appears to be having a nice day! Frankly, how could you not have a nice day as a water strider? When many of us humans want to have a nice summer’s day, we seek out a boat to enjoy the sensation of coastal breezes, fresh air, and a gentle bobbing. This is probably true of every day of a water strider’s life. It has designed its body to be a boat. For the new water strider A. hainanica, life is a vacation. It does not need the Ritz Carlton, the Mandarin Oriental. If you were to place it on a plush king bed, it would be utterly disoriented. “Where has my beloved river gone!” it might wonder. For unlike a luxury hotel, a gentle river or calm puddle is free to inhabit and, crucially for the water strider, wet. Who could ask for more! - Sabrina Imbler Photo: Fan Gao A Quick Posting Lesson For NFL Players Never tweet and never post. These are the principles I live by and I suggest everyone else do the same. But if you are an NFL player who finds yourself contractually obligated to post things from time to time, I can offer a slightly different guideline: Just never post anything that could be bookmarked by @J0rdanLoveMVP_SZN and used against you the second your team loses a game. See, as an example of what NOT to post, the readymade hater material recently shared by Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs to promote Dan Campbell's new Applebees commercial.  I bet Jahmyr thought this was a cute and harmless post. Wrong! The Dan Campbell Applebees ad was always a dicey proposition, visually speaking, but by including that caption, Gibbs left literally no work for the haters to do. If the Lions fail to convert on fourth down one time this season, we'll be seeing this all over. Never post.  - Maitreyi Copyright © 2024 Defector Media LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via Defector Media. Our mailing address is: Defector Media 147 Prince Street, PR3/19 Brooklyn, NY 11201  Unsubscribe - Unsubscribe Preferences