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February 23

Funerary nomenclature?

Having named more than 200 species before, he called the newly identified bee “Hylaeus paumākō,” as “paumākō” means “mourning” or “grief” in Hawaiian. Distinguished by its all-black face, a unique characteristic not seen in any other known male bee species on Molokai, he said he felt the name was appropriate. Following the theme in Latin naming, where species with dark features are often named with the Latin word for funeral, he carried on that tradition in Hawai’i.[1]

I am not familiar with this naming convention involving the naming of all black specimens. Is it a thing outside entomology? Viriditas (talk) 01:41, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A Wikipedia search for "funereus" leads to a number of species of birds, mammals and even plants with that specific name, and many seem to be black or gray. In some cases, such as the Boreal owl, it's not clear that the creature is particularly black compared to others of it's family, so I guess you could speculate on whether the name referred to something like its nocturnal habits. But it does seem to be pretty well established pattern. Philly6097 (talk) 04:23, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Re the specific epithet of the boreal owl I found this: "The specific name funereus refers to the dark plumage , and maybe more so to the smoky dark brown of the young, but nonetheless the name sits well with the traditions of the churchyard."^[2] Judging from this photo, some individuals have indeed rather dark plumage. ‑‑Lambiam 06:45, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I'm trying to independently verify the part that says "species with dark features are often named with the Latin word for funeral". I’m curious if a history of science book or paper has addressed it. Viriditas (talk) 09:53, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I found a new source that addresses this directly.[3] Viriditas (talk) 20:30, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

pressurized sink plunger

[4] Any idea if these are any good? I have a slowly draining bathroom sink and a regular hand plunger didn't help much. I know they make those pressurized things for toilets too, and they sometimes blow out the toilet's wax seal and spray poop everywhere, so I naturally have some skepticism towards the sink one too.

I've found the plastic hair clog removal tools to be near useless. I think there are heavier duty ones so I might check the hardware store. Next thing after that is an actual drain snake, but I'm in an apartment so I think if the clog is beyond the under-sink trap then it's up to the building maintenance guys, while the HFT drain snakes start at 15 feet long. They are affordable though so I might try one and stop after 3 feet or so. I've always been told to avoid corrosive drain cleaners. Thanks. 2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:2D6 (talk) 23:47, 23 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

IMHE, not that great. The better sort (same budget) are pneumatic. [5] There's a hand pump to build up air pressure, then a valve to release it.

The trick of snipping barbs into the edge of a long, thin tie-wrap and using it as a rake to pull hair clogs out of the trap is a good one.

Then there's chemistry. The first rule is always to clear a block while it's still slow, before it becomes a total stoppage. There are several useful products for clearing bathroom traps (soap and hair) rather than kitchen (fat and rice). Caustic and corrosive aren't quite the same thing, so I'd have few qualms about using caustic soda to clean a slow flow like this if I suspect it to be fatty, but I'm in the UK and our domestic drain plumbing wouldn't have the small diameter iron piping that's sometimes seen in the US (Our iron only comes in at about 4" diameter). What you don't want (really!) is a total blockage that's now full of caustic too, and has to be baled out manually. (Nor, if you give up and call in Mario, will they want to deal with it.)

For toilet blockages, you might need acids rather than alkalis. But those are hard to get these days and problematic to use safely.

A cheap drain snake is certainly useful, especially for toilets and outside or kitchen gulley traps. But not bathroom sinks.

It's pretty rare for pipes beyond the first trap to block up, unless there's long-term por maintenance involved. Then it's time to spend money on it and get someone with the long reels and cameras. Andy Dingley (talk) 00:19, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, yeah, I've had some bad toilet clogs and bought a humongous toilet auger to clear them, and have had to use it a few times. Chemical drain cleaner ("Green Gobbler" brand, idk if you have it there) was not of much help on those. Per suggestion on homedepot.com I just poured 1.5L of boiling water down the sink. A little bit of crap floated out of the drain but otherwise it didn't help much. I have tried barbed plastic strips sold for drain clearing but they were nowhere near strong enough, but as mentioned I think I have seem some stronger looking ones in the hardware store, so I'll stop by there and see what they have. I might end up getting an actual drain snake. 2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:2D6 (talk) 00:38, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I got another one of those barbed hair remover strips (turns out to also be plastic, but stronger than the earlier one) and got I a decent sized blob of tangled hair out of the drain. I can't be sure I got the whole stoppage out, but it drains a lot better now. Thanks for the help. 2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:2D6 (talk) 05:39, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have a piece of flat stainless steel wire, about 30cm long, which I found on the street. I think it might be a bristle from a street sweeper. I bent a small hook on the end, and it is very good at getting out wads of hair. TrogWoolley (talk) 08:52, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't someone ask a similar question a few months ago? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:55, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't use any form of plunger of barbed stick. I remove the P trap under the sink. Clean it out. Put it back. Done. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 16:26, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Baseball Bugs: Plenty Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 November 3#Clogged Drain, Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2014 September 12#Will putting toilet unclogger make it worse?, Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 February 13#Blocked sink, Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2007 February 13#Blocked sink. 2A00:23C4:79DF:1:7DE9:D9FE:FE4B:D493 (talk) 17:43, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Personal advice bit, for keeping drains going some periodic dosing of an enzyme-based "buildup remover" is a good idea. I've become partial to "Drano Max Build-Up Remover" but there are numerous options on the market. These are safe for any drain and sewer system, being enzymes and detergents etc, not "harsh" chemicals like sodium hydroxide aka lye. But that in turn means they're to be used "proactively" as they work slowly and gradually—they're not for clearing fully stopped-up drains. Also if you have recurring issues with hair clogs get some sort of removable "sink strainer" cover to cover the drain and trap that sort of stuff.

On related topics, I have seen plumbers advising to once or twice a year operate all your individual plumbing stub-out (oh boy there's a needed redlink) shutoff valves: slowly turn each on/off a couple times. Mineral deposits tend to build up in them over time, plus they can gradually corrode. The worst possible time for such a valve to fail is, exactly when you need to operate it, such as because of a leak or broken fixture. Or, just randomly one day unnoticed, thereby potentially getting stuck "on" and giving you a nice brand-new leak to deal with. Also a good time to inspect the supply hoses etc while you're down there. --Slowking Man (talk) 01:54, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]