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Comment by password4321 | Hacker News Reader

A nice weekend read that doesn't smell like AI but if you're short on time or interest:

Though the locusts had a huge migratory range stretching all the way to the eastern seaboard, its reproductive range was only a handful of river valleys in Wyoming and Montana. Once plowed, irrigated and trampled by livestock the species had nowhere left to lay eggs.

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This answers the title question but the most interesting part about the article is the fascinating way in which the locust’s behavior is triggered by crowding. An amazing biological adaption.

It’s well-worth reading the whole thing.

It was until the animated insects. I threw my phone

This was exactly my response

Gotta give credit, the gimmick is not superfluous.

I don’t enjoy horror movies. But the locust was a horror!

Sorry guys haha!! I intended the insects to come without prompting only on scroll pause but for debug purposes of the article I had set them to once every 15ish seconds[0]. I thought it was really great and love it personally as it really gets the AAA factor in, though I should probably respect use-reduced-motion lol

[0]: https://github.com/Explosion-Scratch/locusts/blob/main/src/c...

Loved them. Wish they were more realistically animated :)

There's something about those animated hoppers that fills me with nostalgia about the early web.

Maybe prompt the user if they like bugs and then add the auto-hop (and more) bugs to those who say yes?!

Random yet on topic, I found[0] the tiniest hopper I've ever seen today hitching a ride on my hoodie!

[0]https://i.ibb.co/Y4nwnpgP/Screenshot-20260601-165536-Gallery...

Jesus, that was a shocker for sure. I slapped my screen in reflex.

I couldn't help but think office politics is a bit like that. Over populate a company or starve employees of opportunities and thy will be less helpful to each other and more focused on self-promotion politics.

It's this that always makes me laugh - right wing people demanding people act like teams, and work for the common good...

right wing?

Absolutely - Right Wing core theorem is that people work as individuals - competition brings out the best, only the fittest/fastest/strongest will survive.

Well, prisoner's dilemma defectors demanding that everyone else cooperate, obviously.

I know right! It was a super interesting rabbit hole of mine while writing this to discover how boids simulations work, I'm personally very interested in whatever the mathematics of simple rules giving rise to complex and chaotic systems is. It'd be very interesting to do an article about the population dynamics and such of locusts (esp tying into general math).

I love what a gnash equilibrium (I think) it is of their behavior - and really funny, the constant march of canibalism haha

I immediately thought of how destroying the Monarch Butterfly wintering grounds in Mexico would have the same impact on Monarchs.

I disapprove of eminent domain but this is a great steelman case for it.

Monarchs are threatened during migration. It’s about how many individuals survive the round trip to breed more.

Drought and fire are two natural factors that destroy their migration routes’ food supply. Another is agriculture.

Folks like Monarch Watch and Xerces encourage planting of the few milkwood species (ie weeds) that the butterflies depend on for energy or egg-laying.

Restoring prairie is also effective. But there’s still drought and wildfire.

I have very fond memories of the occasional Monarch I would see growing up (and the lengths I would go to in order to ensure they were not the similarly colored Viceroys). Equally sad is the dramatic decline of songbirds and bird biodiversity in general (though I don't know if it's due to similar destruction of breeding grounds).

>that doesn't smell like AI

Note that it is AI-generated. It appears to be based on a human-written outline: https://github.com/Explosion-Scratch/locusts/blob/main/artic...

Thanks for the heads-up. I skimmed through looking for the answer to the title and my radar didn't go off immediately. I'm happy the humans involved are realizing they shouldn't let the AI phone it in.

No, it's not AI generated. I wrote the outline then the article. Parts of the code for the site itself (code only) are AI generated but the article I wrote by hand over the course of a day and a half or so! (Referencing my outline)

Ah, my mistake! I saw the references to writing style and assumed. I'm sorry. Unfortunately I can't delete or edit my comment any more.

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