@dracontes.bsky.social
Portuguese. Atheist. Queer. Furry. Bachelor's in Biology, minor in Earth Sciences. Amateur at paleontology. Amateur at art. Palaeos.com custodian. DA gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/dracontes (He/Him; 42; Algarve, Portugal | 🏳️🌈 🇵🇹 )
"Collective punishment is bad. Except when it's for people I've decided are bad, then it's good" seems to be a fundamental flaw in the human psyche
On the theme of space artworks:
Comet Impacting Europa, Moon of Jupiter
30" x 40" Oil on Panel 2000
Created as part of a series of works celebrating the gas giants and their moons.
Obliged my idle curiosity on whether this was some funny image edit. Turns out you can find something very similar at African Wildlife Safari, Port Clinton, Ohio.
Felt compelled to look the source up. Wasn't quite expecting the soundtrack and narration.
Admittedly, this sooner reminded me of the few scenes I've seen of The Thing (1982), which is quite the case of fictional symbiosis.
Symbiotic relationship, a definition :
- For the zoanthid coral : acquire mobility, can feed on different areas
- For the hermit crab : a cool hat
"Fucking Cosmos"
The acerbic, dyspeptic Carl Sagan we never (maybe thankfully) got.
Idle curiosity bears weird fruit.
Poked Google Trends on worldwide interest shown by web searches for 'Dinosaur' & 'Magic: The Gathering', subjects that have been nearer to my heart, over the past 20+ years.
I reckon this shows changes in user population makeup, rather than interest at large.
As far as I remember, broadcasting Dragon Ball here in Portugal was done with no fanfare. Maybe assuming kids will watch anything & other anime in similar vein had been successful enough.
Fun times though when they realized what they had on their hands & we got to watch DBZ maybe 4 times over.
In preparation for the upcoming conventions (looking at you, Wels Comic Con), I have begun the process of creating small illustrations for stickers and acrylic keychains (a process I am as of yet unfamiliar with and want to get proficient at handling). Dangling Spinosaurus, anyone?
Just your periodic reminder that today is the first day someone learned about something you've known about for decades.
Be chill and supportive about that.
Thought I'd do a thread of some of my favorite #paleoart - inspired by watching an old Skeleton Crew podcast episode
"Sinopteroberries" - uncertain pterosaur, possibly Nemicolopterus, but probably a juvenile Sinopterus enjoying some red podocarp berries (John Conway)
#sciart
And here's a good, recent video on the conservation effort surrounding the Iberian lynx.
Also, buried in the article—Lord Howe Island is now rat-free and the bird population has rebounded SPECTACULARLY—Black-winged Petrels went from under 3% breeding success rate to 67%! mousefreemarion.org/australias-l...
YAYYY! More tree lobsters for the gene pool!
These little weirdos make me so happy. People saw the last handful of surviving GIANT-ASS stick insects and said “They’re not dying out on my watch!”
Though to be clear, I'm rather seeing if the bias in the anonymized quoted repost is in fact recorded somewhere less anecdotal. Turned up some interesting leads. Now, whether that reflects a wider reality is for people with better statistical know-how than me to tease out.
Well, someone has to know the name already, to search it or to cause others to search it. Also, I'd think (hope) people search to refresh knowledge.
Still, as topics (rolling what Google deems relevant into it like 'T-rex'), Tyrannosaurus is still ahead. Interesting slump around Covid times though.
Got a Dr.'s appt today to go over the results of my bloodwork I ran a crowdfunder for last month. Pretty sure they're going to want payment for some other past due bills, so buying one of my pins, #suncatchers, or #art prints will go a long way to help!
Here's a megathread of my Etsy listings: /1
Idle curiosity obliged me to have a look on Google Trends.
It is what it is. Certainly some apples to gnaw on. Speaking of which...
I certainly won't claim that all human scientific endeavors have always been good and noble and without any suffering to humankind. But I will say that the scientific impulse--the curiosity that drives us to work together to understand our universe--is one of my very favorite things about humanity.
It brings me some solace to know that whatever's happening down here, there are still some absolutely incredible human-made and human-driven robots wandering around Mars, looking at cool rocks and dirt and sending us pictures just because we're curious about planets and our own origins in the cosmos
(The target audience for this will be rather niche, but I’ll do it anyway.)
“I asked ChatGPT…”
Oh yeah? Well, I asked this guy, and got a more trustworthy answer than you did.
Had to have a look: as usual for insect papers of the time, www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54680#p... , there's a lot of Latin, but no etymology.
My guess: a truncation of 'carus', en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carus#L... , "beloved, costly." Sure enough, the deity running this realm is fond of beetles.
Which is an odd sort of naturalistic fallacy: these are animals, caring little beyond what affects them directly.
That said, I can get behind the article's main point that, we, as consumers of fiction, could do with more hopeful, aspirational stories than what's currently greenlit on mainstream.
On people yearning for comeuppance in their fiction, I must say it was bemusing to find comments on the Jurassic Park movies claiming their main draw was to see the designated villains get mauled and devoured by dinosaurs.
& then those types get discomfited when a bystander gets similar treatment.
We (and other eukaryotic organisms) are part of the “Asgard” archaeans, specifically the Heimdall group. (Except for our mitochondria, of course.)
Certainly something to see Wukong among the Asgardians. Probably found Loki to be a partner in crime ;)
I think it’s cool that some people focus on curing disease and some people focus on understanding what animals are up to and some people think about our place in the universe and how things came to be the way they are. People are driven by curiosity and I promise you you don’t want it any other way
I did wonder about those, but finding good enough photos for the martens was already a bit of a struggle. The dark iris and the specular reflection on the cornea sure don't help.
Just found out that martens & fishers, among mustelids at least, converge with mongooses in having horizontal pupils.
Hat tip to @rabosaalforn.bsky.social .
I just idly perused it today, after locking my account and studiously ignoring it for months on end.
Bit of a microcosm that I immediately encountered strains of discourse that I already find tedious but put in the most acrimonious way possible.