echo
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Ants
May 21, 2017 19:28:17 GMT -8
Post by echo on May 21, 2017 19:28:17 GMT -8
I don't miss the fire ants of my childhood but the little sugar ants here love electronics. I've been lucky but several people I know have had things like computers, radios or other electronics destroyed by being colonized
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gabby
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Ants
May 21, 2017 19:39:41 GMT -8
Post by gabby on May 21, 2017 19:39:41 GMT -8
I don't miss the fire ants of my childhood but the little sugar ants here love electronics. I've been lucky but several people I know have had things like computers, radios or other electronics destroyed by being colonized ...and don't forget A/C compressor units! Our local A/C repairman told me he's seen documented cases of PCB "infestation". In subtropical South American countries, it's apparently a fact of life. They have to take extraordinary measures to keep electronics out of harm's way. Of course, it's not really the electronics the ants love, it's the synthetic sugar-based coating on the boards that protects against moisture and other "contaminants"/"degraders". See Conformal coating with synthetic polymers Ants eat the stuff. I used to work with computers and motherboard construction: every board is passed through a "bath" of the coating on an assembly line, and then dried. If a component on a board fails, you have to scratch away the coating to put the new component in place, then reseal locally. (I was a software quality assurance engineer, but I knew a lot of hardware guys.)
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BigLoad
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Ants
May 21, 2017 20:14:45 GMT -8
Post by BigLoad on May 21, 2017 20:14:45 GMT -8
I only once had the misfortune of camping directly on an anthill. It wasn't a particularly obvious one, just a spot that was a little more open and a little sandier than anywhere else nearby (also much flatter, which is why I liked it). There weren't an unusual number ants visible when I set up late in the day and I didn't notice anything in the night. Everything seemed OK in the morning, too, until I looked outside. The mesh was coated with them. I popped them off and exited to find the whole exterior coated in ants, apparently trying to reach their now-covered home. Fortunately, they weren't biters, and I quickly shook them free without incident.
I grateful that my run-ins with biting ants have involved only small quantities at any time. I hate having biting ants in my shirt when I have a pack on. I don't like having to stop, take off the pack, get out the ants, and hoist the pack back up again. I'll keep going and endure a few bites, hoping that a few is all there will be. Sometimes I'm disappointed by those bites that sink in long after I thought they were done with me.
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echo
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Post by echo on May 22, 2017 5:56:04 GMT -8
gabby I didn't forget the A/C units so much as never even think of them. It is so temperate here that no one has much for insulation or Air conditioning.
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davesenesac
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Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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Ants
May 22, 2017 9:28:51 GMT -8
Post by davesenesac on May 22, 2017 9:28:51 GMT -8
Last Saturday morning, May 20, was just outside Yosemite on a quiet mountain road at about 4k elevation looking for wildflower subjects. Worked the above subject of miniature lupine, lupinus bicolor, together with Hartweg's iris, iris hartwegii. In this era of high megapixel sensors, I often find elements upon post processing that I had not noticed when shooting. That is especially the case with small insects that are often crawling about on plants and flowers, eating the delicious offerings. In the above image one can see black ants on the outside of the flower tubes at the point of the female ovary junction that they apparently bite into at that point in order to get at some plant gland that is seeping a liquid they enjoy. Sony A6000, Sigma 60mm, diffusion disk 6000x4000 pixels focus stack blend.
View the enlarged 50% pixels slice crop below for a more magnified view. On the wilted flower higher up one can also see two dark spots against the yellow that are two ants inside the tube that are showing through the translucent material.
Just got back from a quick Monday morning small grocery run to Target and it is now 10:15am PDT. Brought up windy.com and see the breeze atop the Santa Cruz mountains will be much lighter than forecast so will quickly change into my dirty clothes, grab the camera gear, and head up 20 miles to an Open Space Preserve named Russian Ridge at about 2.5k feet that I looked at a few weeks ago and expected would be at wildflower peak by late May. Was about and in Yosemite 4 days, so am processing a bunch of images that will get back to later this pm.
retired now...everyday I wake up its Saturday, David
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