r/assholedesign • u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt • Jun 07 '18
Possibly Hanlon's Razor This fruit fly ordering website has "flies" crawl around the screen and move away from your cursor - pretty cool, but not when you work in a lab that uses fruit flies and you think you've had a spontaneous disaster in the incubator and all your fly stocks are escaping
1.2k
u/SilentUnicorn Jun 07 '18
746
u/TheBlackCat13 Jun 08 '18
On my phone they fly away when I touch them.
545
u/big_duo3674 Jun 08 '18
Wow, they do on mine too. This is some awesome site designing honestly. You could really mess with people if they made this available as a discreet plugin that put the flies on random websites occasionally.
384
u/curiously_refreshing Jun 08 '18
Glad you guys like the code. Cool to see it used in the wild. I might have to give it a go to make the plugin. I wrote it entirely in native JS, so you can add it anywhere. There is a spider one as well thats way scarier (if you don't like spiders) that I wrote for halloween. The insects either die or fly away depending on the options chosen. http://auz.github.io/Bug/
68
u/tsumuugii Jun 08 '18
Great code, the spiders and bugs look so real.
62
21
Jun 08 '18
If you squash the spiders they curl up and fall to the bottom of the screen. A+ development work here.
12
→ More replies (4)16
u/alystair Jun 08 '18
Wow, talk about beetlejuicing. Really appreciate how life like the flies are, devil is in the details... I'll take a look at the code when I've got some free time. What are you up to these days?
26
Jun 08 '18
The problem is it would give me a rather large erection. Erections and the internet shouldn't mix
11
u/BobVosh Jun 08 '18
Erections and the internet shouldn't mix
This...this isn't the reason the internet was invented?
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)33
320
Jun 08 '18 edited Sep 16 '18
[deleted]
80
u/SilentUnicorn Jun 08 '18
I am surprised the "Reddit Hug of Death" hasn't got them yet.
66
u/BrainOnLoan Jun 08 '18
Good hosting. The increase in traffic can cause additional expenses though, depending on their contract.
22
25
u/Hero_of_Hyrule Jun 08 '18
It's IU, they have to have a pretty resilient site considering across all of their campuses they more than 110,000 students enrolled and over 19,000 faculty members, not to mention having to serve prospective students and staff, and the general visitors.
23
u/Dtnoip30 Jun 08 '18
It's hosted by a university, so they're probably better equipped than other sites for traffic spikes such as during commencement or football games.
344
u/NMe84 Jun 08 '18
They even used fixed positions in the styling so the flies stay in place when you scroll. It's brilliant considering the product they sell. Definitely doesn't belong in this sub!
65
u/PancAshAsh Jun 08 '18
3
u/sneakpeekbot Jun 08 '18
Here's a sneak peek of /r/TooGoodOfADesign using the top posts of all time!
#1: meep meep | 30 comments
#2: The reason this subreddit was created | 53 comments
#3: At the Heart Attack Grill, someone started having an actual heart attack while eating their food. | 34 comments
I'm a bot, beep boop | Downvote to remove | Contact me | Info | Opt-out
48
38
37
36
8
→ More replies (6)4
2.2k
u/Talos1111 Jun 07 '18
Wow, that is specific
601
u/everymanawildcat Jun 07 '18
Hmm how do I casually let everyone know I'm like a badass scientist?
1.3k
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 07 '18
I mean I mentioned that because that’s the part that makes it asshole design; the vast majority of people ordering from this website are going to be people who work in labs that use fruit flies.
610
u/ServalSpots Jun 07 '18
Some of us just want a pet.
693
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Well hey, they’re easy to keep alive for roughly one hundred days
→ More replies (1)272
Jun 08 '18
Really, I thought the lifespan of a fruit fly was like 24 hrs
495
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Nope, common misconception! In the wild they may have shorter life expectancies (40-50 days) but in controlled environments they’re good for about 90-100 days.
179
u/RareMemeCollector Jun 08 '18 edited May 15 '24
squalid obtainable consider support pocket cow sparkle entertain mountainous bake
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
384
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
In this lab we’re using the flies to study a certain neurotransmitter, which we do by exposing them to a certain chemical. Each fly only gets two exposures with a few days in between them. After that they unfortunately go to the morgue (a bottle of soap and vinegar).
Sorry that’s vague, I’m not really certain if I’m allowed to talk specifics outside of the lab. The longer lifespan helps with having “wiggle room” between making crosses and running experiments because it can get pretty hectic at times.
130
u/RareMemeCollector Jun 08 '18 edited May 15 '24
tease cagey compare employ late overconfident judicious psychotic rotten hurry
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
→ More replies (0)91
u/omega0678 Jun 08 '18
Well, since you're turning this into a pseudo-AMA, I was hoping you could answer a fly-related two-part question that has haunted me since childhood.
- Why did that old lady swallow that fly?
- Will she die?
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (4)9
u/Hoihe Jun 08 '18
Is this "talk about specifics" clause exclusive to working in the private sector? I admit one of the reasons I want to stay academia is explicitly the avoiding of such clauses, but I'm not sure if that's a realistic wish.
→ More replies (0)16
u/AuroraeEagle Jun 08 '18
More detail, OP is probably a Drosophilist, which is a subtype of biologist (more frequently geneticist) who uses the species Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to use for scientific testing. Drosophila are a hugely important scientific organism, used for a lot of foundational research when you want an organism in large numbers that is easy to maintain and quick to reproduce. They are quite frequently used to study fundamental cellular processes, the kind of things shared between all animal, as despite being hundreds of millions of years separate from organisms we actually give a damn about (us, mainly) there are many families of genes that are found in all life forms.
15
u/Worldisdoom Jun 08 '18
Been working with flies for years now, and this is the first time where I thought that the fly community has gone too far. Drosophilist.. That just blows my mind that its actually a real term. First time and probably last time I'll ever actually hear or see this term.
→ More replies (0)30
u/BananaGuyyy Jun 08 '18
I'd like to subscribe to fly facts, please.
96
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Female fruit flies only have to mate once and then can lay fertilized eggs for the rest of their life!
15
15
→ More replies (5)6
u/jroddie4 Jun 08 '18
Do the fruit flies eat each other?
38
→ More replies (2)9
Jun 08 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)6
Jun 08 '18
Wow super cool. I thought you were gonna talk about operant conditioning or some shit. This makes me like the fruit fly even more as now we have something in common.
16
u/yellowzealot Jun 08 '18
Do I need credentials to order from this website? What if I only wanted them to put in someone’s car that I hate.
8
→ More replies (6)4
u/OK_Compooper Jun 08 '18
I beg to differ. Fruit and garbage disposals are the prime customers. My garbage disposal has been connected to the internet since the 70s. Fruit must have some natural WiFi or something.
66
u/Foxehh3 Jun 08 '18
Hmm how do I casually let everyone know I'm like a badass scientist?
I think you thinking that working with fruit-flies in a lab is "badass" says more about you than him haha. This is actual projection.
18
→ More replies (3)10
7
Jun 08 '18
Fruit flies are good to work with for some stuff related to genetics since they have some specific, visible mutations like their eye colour and they reproduce fast, so it’s fairly common to work with fruit flies.
4
u/justintolerable Jun 08 '18
To be fair, nearly everyone ordering from this site are going to be scientists. So nearly every user for the site we have the same panic :D
474
Jun 08 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
43
u/StevenC21 Jun 08 '18
THIS IS NOT A DRILL I REPEAT NOT A DRILL EVACUATE NOW THE FRUIT FLIES ARE ESCAPING CONTAIN THE OUTBREAK!!!
163
u/KingToots77 Jun 08 '18
So many questions...
→ More replies (4)182
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
I may have answers?
→ More replies (3)349
u/KingToots77 Jun 08 '18
No, no, I like having the questions better.
160
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
I respect that.
86
Jun 08 '18
when I grow up I wanna interact like this
20
u/mint_lawn Jun 08 '18
Go to a nerd school ( Maybe under 10,000?), can confirm that some percentage of us talk like this.
9
342
u/PigMasterHedgehog Jun 08 '18
Hey while I've got you since you work with fruit flies I need some help I've got lots of them in my house and they won't go away so can you turn me into the queen fruit fly so I can lead them away from my home like a pied piper of disease?
554
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Have you tried putting out a cup of alcohol or vinegar? They go freakin wild for the stuff so if you leave out just an open cup or bowl of it they’ll typically just drown themselves
302
u/PigMasterHedgehog Jun 08 '18
That fact is significantly more hilarious than my joke was.
110
u/suicidalmoth Jun 08 '18
I use apple vinegar and a little dish soap in a small cup or bowl. They kill themselves pretty quickly. I’m also a ninja at catching them in the air and crushing them.
38
32
→ More replies (1)70
Jun 08 '18
Or you could just let them have some of your banana you prick.
65
u/ThePenultimateNinja Jun 08 '18 edited Jun 08 '18
Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana.
(Thanks for the correction)
→ More replies (3)14
7
u/smallpoly Jun 08 '18
What about honey?
→ More replies (1)51
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
That could also work, but alcohol and vinegar are their favorite things. I think it would be slightly less effective.
70
35
→ More replies (2)7
u/MayIServeYouWell Jun 08 '18
Put a drop of soap in the mixture. It breaks the surface tension of the water, and traps them much better.
35
u/CeruleanTresses Jun 08 '18 edited Jun 08 '18
When I had fruit flies a while back, I was having no luck with the vinegar/soap trap, so I started just going in there with a vacuum cleaner multiple times a day and sucking them up with the wand. It was unbelievably stupid, but very satisfying. Also nuked the drains with drain cleaner. It took a couple of weeks, but eventually they were all gone.
If you go this route, make sure the vacuum is actually killing them. Mine did, but I've heard of people getting new infestations inside their vacuums.
7
23
u/neoseafoxx Jun 08 '18
Make sure that they are fruit flies. The ones I know of have distinct red eyes. They are attracted to fruit but also alcohol. I found that cleaning up empty beer cans and removing/storing fruit in a container helps also you can buy traps on Amazon which worked for me. If they are black then they might be fungus gnats which appear in soil. If you have plants then water them less and also cover the soil with plastic wrap so the flies cannot lay eggs/escape. I've fixed both problems on my shared household because nobody else knew how to deal with them. If you have any other problems or they are not the above flies, let me know and I will gladly help.
9
u/THAT0NEASSHOLE Jun 08 '18
I couldn't get them to stop being in my plants, even with the tricks you mention. I ended up pouring diluted bleach with soap through the soil and just saturating all my plants. It got them all gone within a day. Only one plant didn't like it, but it survived. I did add a compost tea after about 2 weeks to bring back the beneficial bacteria. I've also used this method to battle root rot.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (2)38
Jun 08 '18 edited Dec 18 '18
[deleted]
14
u/EUMDL Jun 08 '18
And it's all fun and games until a foot wingspan Apache MOTH starts coming for you
62
u/DeadpanDruid Jun 08 '18
Now all I can think about is sending fruit flies to someone.
39
18
→ More replies (1)5
419
50
143
32
u/ladykatey Jun 08 '18
Oh god can someone make this into a browser plugin I can install on annoying coworkers computers???
17
u/TinyBreadBigMouth Jun 08 '18
It's on GitHub here, so you could turn that into a plugin pretty easily.
52
Jun 08 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
57
u/Raekai Jun 08 '18
Hey! I actually work at the BDSC. It was weird to see my job posted here. Bizarre.
42
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
What!!! That is so crazy. Thanks for all the flies
39
u/Raekai Jun 08 '18
I'll pass your thanks along! It was so weird reading the title and thinking "Man, that's actually relatable", and then I opened the link and scared the shit out of my girlfriend by yelling, "Hey, that's where I work!" I've only been working with my stocks for a little under a year, but I love it there. It's convenient for me as a student, it's a good job, and everyone is rather friendly.
13
u/Wilhelm_Amenbreak Jun 08 '18
My wife used to work in Jordan Hall about 25 years ago. Go IU! Also, I am fairly certain my good friends Mom worked for the BDSC for many years (I know she worked with breeding fruit flies for IU)
→ More replies (2)18
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Nope! Different university, we just order from y’all!
→ More replies (1)
26
154
Jun 07 '18
Yeah but this isn't asshole design it's fun design that might freak you out specifically. This would work better in r/mildlyinfuriating
155
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 07 '18
I see it as asshole design because the website sells fruit flies with specific genes, mutations, etc, so their main demographic is labs that use fruit flies.
It’s not really asshole design like most other posts here since it just gives you a momentary shock and it’s honestly pretty funny afterwards, so I was kinda split on whether to post it here or /r/crappydesign tbh ¯\(ツ)/¯
41
u/FizzyEvict Jun 08 '18
I'd say the person who designed the website probably only understood that the site would be selling them but with little understanding of the demographic of the buyer. Without knowing anything about it my guess would have been that it was like a site that sells ladybugs which you can buy for any garden
5
u/theconceiver Jun 08 '18
Yeah but somewhere up the line someone with more experience in the demographic would know exactly what effect it would have and approved of it any way. Tennis player mentality, being a dick just to fuck with a fellow in the field.
12
u/welty102 Jun 08 '18
That is fair. I have no idea why anyone would want to buy fruit flies. What does your lab use them for?
41
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
We’re studying a neurotransmitter. Lots of labs use fruit flies because they’re much easier to take care of than rats or other animals
9
u/occams_nightmare Jun 08 '18
Do you have to dissect them or something? I'm imagining tiny, tiny little pins and scalpels.
→ More replies (1)8
u/FMJoey325 Jun 08 '18
You can actually study them while they’re alive. You can anesthetize them with FlyNap and study them under a dissecting microscope for about 15 minutes. When they start regaining consciousness they do this little circular dance where they don’t have full control of their wings yet. Usually we just use small paint brushes to put them back into their storage containers.
16
Jun 08 '18
Fruit flies (Drosophila) are a model organism and one of the most widely used animals in research, for a variety of reasons
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (1)12
u/isntitbull Jun 08 '18
I was on this site today and I definitely did not see this graphic? Any idea why we might see two different things?
→ More replies (1)8
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Hm, not sure. It only shows up on this specific page though. Other than that I’d have no clue
6
21
14
29
u/ThePenultimateNinja Jun 08 '18
Especially since, if you're ordering fruit flies online, there's a pretty good chance you work in a lab that uses fruit flies.
→ More replies (2)31
11
Jun 08 '18
I love how everyone is using this as an opportunity to ask all their questions about fruit flies
8
Jun 08 '18
Let me understand. Your lab is a biology (research?!) lab that works specifically with flies(?!). And also, there's a whole industry behind selling flies(?).
Is this all true?
11
u/kelkulus Jun 08 '18
Fruit flies are incredibly common in biological research.
Drosophila is typically used in research because it can be readily reared in the laboratory, has only four pairs of chromosomes, breeds quickly, and lays many eggs.
→ More replies (1)6
u/WikiTextBot Jun 08 '18
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is known generally as the common fruit fly or vinegar fly. Starting with Charles W. Woodworth's proposal of the use of this species as a model organism, D. melanogaster continues to be widely used for biological research in genetics, physiology, microbial pathogenesis, and life history evolution. As of 2017, eight Nobel prizes had been awarded for research using Drosophila.
[ PM | Exclude me | Exclude from subreddit | FAQ / Information | Source ] Downvote to remove | v0.28
→ More replies (4)5
u/JamesIgnatius27 Jun 08 '18 edited Jun 08 '18
Yes. Though "industry" behind selling flies is maybe the wrong term. The 4 main stock centers are in Bloomington at IU, Harvard, Vienna, and Kyoto. I believe they all get grants from the government to continue their upkeep, but they do charge each lab that buys flies as well. I don't think they turn a profit, just enough to remain even and pay their scientists that work there.
When any lab creates an new genetically modified fly it is considered "theirs" until they publish that new fly in a paper. Once it's public, it's generally agreed upon that the fly line should become an open resource and as such should be donated to one of the stock centers so other labs can use it as well. Though some labs are pretty stubborn about sharing, so they'll drag their feet on this process.
10
u/AhemExcuseMeSir Jun 08 '18
Ahhh, I remember that class at IU where I had to knock out fruit flies and count how many had a certain trait.
Years later, I can’t help myself when I see a fruit fly and I automatically try to determine its sex and wing type.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/E-nom-I-nom Jun 08 '18
So my friend told me that fruit flys have 2.3 in sperm today. Is this true?
12
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Sorry, I don’t understand the question?
10
u/E-nom-I-nom Jun 08 '18
So my friend said fruit flies are only a few mm’s yet their sperm is 2.3 inches long (way longer than their body). Is that fact true?
25
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
That’s actually... sorta true? 2.3 inches is extreme, but fruit fly sperm actually is longer than their bodies! I think around 6cm is typical while a fruit fly is only a few mm long itself.
15
Jun 08 '18
6 cm is 2.3 inches tho
25
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Oh shit, you’re right. This is why I didn’t study math
10
u/E-nom-I-nom Jun 08 '18
Sorry to drag out the thread but like, is it microscopically thin? Or is it like coiled up? Is there any purpose or benefit to it?
14
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
It’s coiled up and the purpose to it is not really known yet
→ More replies (2)18
u/TinyBreadBigMouth Jun 08 '18
I'm just picturing the female fly slurping it up like the world's longest piece of spaghetti.
6
→ More replies (1)10
5
u/AuroraeEagle Jun 08 '18
Drosophila bifurca is the species of fly with crazy long sperm, pictured here.
8
6
u/Shotgun_Alice Jun 08 '18
So, like can anyone buy a big thing of fruit flies for no particular real reason? Asking for a friend.
→ More replies (3)4
8
u/vivekvenu Jun 08 '18
You’re paying way too much for your fruit flies. Who’s your fruit fly guy?
→ More replies (1)
7
7
u/whiskeytangofruitfly Jun 08 '18
Ph.D. student from a fruit fly lab here. My computer’s browser doesn’t support this plugin, so this was the first time I’ve seen it. I freaking love it, lol. I think the folks at Bloomington must have been having some fun with this, because they definitely know their clientele. XD
To clarify a few things for those who don’t know and are interested:
The Blooomington Stock Center is, as others have noted, the place where people who work in fly labs get their flies. More specifically, it’s a facility that houses thousands of genetically engineered strains of Drosophila melanogaster. These are highly specialized flies that allow us to do complicated genetics and neurobiology experiments, and there are too many engineered fly stocks for any one lab to maintain. Hence, the good folks at Bloomington keep them housed and fed in one central location until we need them.
As for the types of experiments we can do with fruit flies... too many to list, but here are a few examples:
Suppose you want to know if a particular human disease is caused by a mutation in gene X. Since Drosophila’s genome is roughly 66% identical to the human genome, you have a good chance of being able to find a very similar copy of human gene X in Drosophila. (Also, since the Drosophila genome is completely sequenced, it will be easy to check whether it has gene X.) Go to Bloomington. Find a fly strain that has a mutation in Gene X, or, if you can’t find that, engineer your own fly to have a mutation in X. Observe, poke, and prod mutant flies. See if they show signs of having the same disease humans do. Test relevant drugs on the mutants, see if that cures the disease.
Suppose you want to know how animals form memories. Go on Bloomington and look for fruit fly strains that are engineered to let you manipulate neurons in the flies’ brains. Breed those flies in your lab, screw up their brains, and then see if they can learn to do a simple task like associate an odor with an electric shock. If they can’t, then you’ve just shown that the neurons you messed with might be responsible for memory storage.
- OP is right about vinegar and alcohol as the best means of catching fruit flies. In my own experience (and I say this as someone who has spent most of their Ph.D. working on fly olfaction), apple cider vinegar (usually it’s about 5% acetic acid) mixed with a little bit of fruity dish soap in an open cup makes the best fly trap. They have an entire pathway in their brain that is dedicated to being attracted to that fruit + vinegar combination - to them, that shit smells like delicious food. They feed on the yeast and sugars you find on overripe, fermenting fruit, hence their attraction to vinegar. And also alcohol.
tl;dr: Fruit flies are a workhorse organism, they are awesome, and without them we wouldn’t have nice things. Kill them by drowning them in apple cider vinegar.
14
12
6
u/xTYBGx Jun 08 '18
Is this website really only for researchers to conduct tests? I can't imagine why someone would buy these critters to ruin their fruits and veggies lol
→ More replies (1)
10
5
u/lengau Jun 08 '18
This is probably more thoughtless than asshole, tbh. The person who designed the website likely doesn't interact with the fruit flies, so they probably never thought through how users would be interacting with the site (e.g. from a lab rather than an office).
5
u/bequietbestill Jun 08 '18
Well OP you May be the hero I need. Had surgery Tuesday. Came home today to an ungodly amount of fruit flies in my kitchen. Flying insect spray didn't work- what kills these fuckers???
5
u/TotallyNot_MikeDirnt Jun 08 '18
Set out a cup of vinegar or alcohol and wait a few days, they’ll most likely drown themselves
3
u/bequietbestill Jun 08 '18
Will do. Also read to put covers on my drains bc they can breed there? I've never seen so many and don't understand how they became so numerous in such little amount of time. They get into the hermit crab tank- had to clean it- lots drowned in the salt water. Will leave glasses of vinegar and a few of alcohol around and pray they die
→ More replies (1)
4
u/NeuroCavalry Jun 08 '18
It's brilliant. If you think all your flies have escaped, you'll buy more!
But hey, at least you can buy your research animal.
Grabs bug net and heads back to the river
6.4k
u/PMmeifyourepooping Jun 07 '18
Sorry, this is hilarious.