I Like Seeing These On My Dash. I Think They're Cool

“Why shouldn’t I eat toothpaste? It’s a free world. Why shouldn’t I chew my toenails? I happen to have trodden in some honey. Why shouldn’t I prance across central park with delicate sideways leaps? I know what your answer will be: “it isn’t done”. But it’s no earthly use just saying it isn’t done. If there’s a reason why it isn’t done, give the reason — if there’s no reason, don’t attempt to stop me doing it. All other things being equal, the mere fact that something “isn’t done” is in itself an excellent reason for doing it.”

— Derek Parfit, “The Eaton College Chronicle”, Eton Microcosm

these all look phenominal!

Results from the #paleostream! Turnersuchus, Batrachognathus, Platyhystrix and Kundurosaurus. Some details might confuse you here. I explain below.

The Batrachognathus here are flying around a curious structure, a "Steinerne Rinne", a rare occurrence in which small, calciumhydrogencarbonat rich creeks over time turn into natural aqueducts because of moss and algae taking the Co2 out of the water. Limestone comes out and encrusts the moss.

Platyhystrix is not only shown with an osteoderm-only-sail but also producing spermatophores. Some modern day salamanders do this after a mating dance instead of the usual watery copulation.

The last scene shows a Kundurosaurus unsure about the situation it is in. It has it's nest next to a blue lava stream. Blue lava is created by high concentrations of burning sulfur on the surface.

Hot dang, this sounds super fun! Another one I used to do is freerice.com, where you do little grammar puzzles to donate rice to children in impoverished countries.

Cool Tip

If you are like me and always need to be working on something to keep your anxiety under control, during this quarentine why not helping scientists by looking at pictures of some neat penguins? or even galaxies?  There’s this site call Zooniverse, where you can help on scientific projects by analyzing pictures and data!  Right now my favorite project has returned, called Penguin Watch (where yeah, you get to watch penguins, it’s amazing)

you basically have to analyse photos looking for penguins, their chicks, eggs or even predators and human interaction But there are lots of interesting projects you can help in areas such as biology, physics, history or even art: 

Oh and the best part, some institutions even accept it as volunteering/service hour requirements for graduation and scholarships!! It’s helping me a lot during this time, so I thought it was worth sharing 

This is such a neat piece! I'd probably actually buy this to put it up in my place if I had the money.

Sketchy Thoughts by Jason Limon

How do you set a scene without overusing visual descriptions?

Practical Tips to Show, Don’t Tell

Show, don’t tell is probably the most common writing advice any author will ever receive. Instead of explicitly telling readers what is happening or how characters are feeling, showing allows them to experience the story firsthand. It’s good advice, and important for writers to take to heart, but sometimes it can be difficult to get the balance right. Here are some practical tips to show, don’t tell:

Set the scene

To really immerse your readers in your story, you want them to feel as if they’re in it – experiencing the world you’ve built. By writing about how characters perceive and interact with their surroundings, you’ll draw your readers in.

Examples:

Telling: It was winter, and the water was cold.

Showing: I hunched my shoulders up, burrowing deeper into my coat as my heavy boots crunched through the thin ice forming at the water’s edge.

Keep up the pace

Excess scene description will almost always bring your narrative pacing to a screeching halt. Instead of describing the scene every time, describe your characters’ actions within it.

Examples:

Telling: The lake was frozen and the trees were covered in snow.

Showing: My heart pounded as I almost lost my balance on the ice beneath my feet. I ducked and weaved my way home, dodging the snow that the howling wind shook loose from the treetops above me.

Keep your language descriptive, but simple

When it comes to show, don’t tell, it can be easy to fall into the trap of over-describing. Language that is too flowery or over the top can be just as bad as telling. You want to set a scene, not explain it to death.

Examples:

Too much: The azure-blue lake glinted like diamonds under a glittering sun that shone like a lightbulb in the darkness.

Just right: The sun reflected off the ice brightly, highlighting the deep blue of the water beneath it.

Create a sense of character

The way a character speaks and acts can be the perfect way to show your readers who they are and set a scene without over-describing it. For example, you can use body language, like gestures and posture to reveal a character’s emotions or attitude in a way you can’t reveal by simply describing the scene. Sometimes an intricate description of the location is not as important as how the character feels in the moment

Examples:

Telling: The room was the same as he remembered as a child, with its red carpets, brown-papered walls, high ceilings, and huge wooden table propped in front of large bay windows. It made him anxious.

Showing: He shuffled anxiously to the table overlooking the garden, his mind heavy with the weight of childhood memories.

#fossil #crocodile #yeah baby give me more croc ancestors #that’s my jam

These crocodile ancestors lived a two-legged life

A set of 106-million year old footprints show a crocodile relative appears to have walked on two legs.

Modern day crocodiles are pretty impressive. Some even climb trees. But 106 million years ago, a crocodile ancestor had another trick: It walked on two legs.

That’s what scientists now think, based on fossil footprints in South Korea. They are the first footprint evidence that some ancient ancestors of modern crocodiles walked on two legs. The size and spacing of the tracks suggest the reptile’s length spanned 2 to 3 meters (6 to 12 feet). That would make it about the size of modern crocs.  

Explainer: Understanding geologic time

The ancient tracks appear in the Jinju Formation, a South Korean site full of fossils. Most of its fossils date to the Mesozoic, between 252 and 66 million years ago. The Mesozoic is sometimes called the Age of Dinosaurs, but plenty of other animals lived at that time, too.

Now scientists have found a set of footprints there. It’s tough to identify what species made them, says Martin Lockley. As a paleontologist, he studies ancient organisms. He works at the University of Colorado in Denver. “Short of finding the animal dead in its tracks, there’s always a little bit of uncertainty,” he explains.

Explainer: How a fossil forms

But footprints, like animals, can be classified by type. The scientists couldn’t tell what animal left the beautifully preserved prints. For that, they’d need fossils of its tissues. Instead, they sorted the ancient prints into a “footprint genus.” So while they couldn’t say what animal genus the prints belonged to, they were able to determine that they were in the footprint genus Batrachopus.

All prints in this group were made by crocodylomorphs (Krok-oh-DY-loh-morfs). The name means “crocodile-shaped.” This group includes modern crocodiles, alligators and their ancestors.

The tracks’ most surprising feature is that they only show hind feet. There’s no evidence of “hand” prints at all. That’s strong evidence that this creature was bipedal — walking on only its hind legs, Lockley says. “We have dozens of these things, and not one sign of a front footprint,” he says. “So we’re pretty convinced.”

Zack could use some help! The link to their Gumroad will be reblogged.

All of their stuff in Gumroad is GREAT! I recommend The Activity Club and The Final Hole and Everlasting!