Dane Pavitt 🦕🌍

I've recently revived mine after a few years away. No harm starting up if you've got something to say or share

One reason Kemi Badenoch is so terrible is that her approach to being in opposition is to oppose first, then think of a reason second. Very often, she doesn‘t even bother with the second step. She’s too lazy to think first, speak second.

Big milestone today; my first conference poster!
Thrilled to see my 2nd year geology project up on display at the Lapworth Society conference in Birmingham today.

Photo courtesy of @harrybridger.bsky.social

Query for folks who've presented posters at academic conferences.
How much notice does one normally get that your poster has been accepted before the conference date?

A much needed clearout of the home studio. I've recently had the kick up the backside necessary to spool up the online scicomm output.
Time for a reboot

Dubai influencers share near-identical videos with footage of Dubai crown prince | LBC Videos featuring the caption ‘I know who protects us’ have been circulating on social media

I had no idea until this all started that the UAE licences and pays many influencers to live there and write positively about the regime.

That puts a whole new spin on things.

Propagandists in pocket of regime.

It's why all the messaging is the same.

www.lbc.co.uk/article/duba...

As out turns out, the “civilization“ spread by the western powers was always repression, plunder, & mass death disguised under the language of universal rights.

The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is what arrives when you order a puma off of Wish.

They're the largest apex predator on Madagascar, where they act to control the local lemur population.

They're the 'big cat' equivalent in family Eupleridae, which is a sister taxon to the mongoose family.

An excellent three-post take on one of the many facets of the recent Spinosaurus/Myhrvold/Epstein controversy. Science journalists, this story really needs covering! #scicomm #science #ethics #epstein

Do any mammal researchers or museum folks have images of mandibles in lateral view from these little dudes they wouldn't mind sharing or providing a source for? Photos, illustrations and 3D models are all valid

This is the most incredible footage of blue whales I’ve ever seen

A job rejection & a malfunctioning statistical analysis makes for a crap day. The small one patting me on the head while I put her to bed and saying "Sorry you had a sad day, daddy" makes it a little better

New fossils may settle debate over mysterious sail-backed spinosaurs Spinosaurs have sometimes been portrayed as swimmers or divers, but a new species of these dinosaurs bolsters the idea that they were more like gigantic herons

In which I provide a few thoughts on the new Spinosaurus species, S. mirabilis.

www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

I also stressed the deep connections between one of the study authors - Nathan Myhrvold - and Geoffrey Epstein to New Scientist. They didn't mention it, neither has anyone else.

Re: the new Spinosaurus paper and author Nathan Myhrvold.
If we're rightly going to scrutinise Jack Horner and the people and institutions that associate with and enable him, we need to hold everyone to the same standard.

Former Microsoft executive’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein comes under scrutiny Seattle Times business reporter Alex Halverson has written about connections between Epstein and former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold.

If the paleo community is going to be serious about Horner’s connection to Epstein, we also have to be serious about Myhrvold’s, because guess who contributed photos of animals mating to Epstein’s birthday book and has been appearing in new paleo papers this year - including the new Spinosaurus.

Only plausible explanation for casting Leto as Skeletor when Mark Hamill is still alive

Alien Covenant. The whole thing felt so fundamentally wrong and insulting

Less than two weeks into my dissertation module and I already have 15 pages of references. I must be mad 😳

My Astral Ammonite. The 12 stars in the constellation represent the 12 periods of life in the Phanerozoic (Cambrian-Quaternary)

got talked out of palaeo in school as pie in the sky. There was never an explaination of how to do it.
It was only listening to @davehone.bsky.social &
@iszi.com Terrible Lizards podcast explaining the academic pathway that I actually had the eureka moment of "Oh, THATS how it works!"

For people outside of paleontology:

This senior paleontologist, who married a 19-year-old, visited a convicted pedophile in 2012 & 2016. Is beefing over a conference argument from 13 years ago, angry because he was banned from a family-friendly event across the Atlantic. The level of petty.

I recently got the chance to join a research project with the promise of an author credit.
After learning the project is being run through SVP, I'm minded to withdraw my participation given the current climate around the society. Gotta lead by example.
Specifics removed for the usual safety reasons

This is incredibly exciting!!! What do you mean there were dinosaurs with hedgehog like spikes?! So cool!!!

a cartoon character with the words oh yeah it 's all coming together behind him ALT: a cartoon character with the words oh yeah it 's all coming together behind him

Geology project proposal submitted, dissertation research is all but approved 😁

Let‘s open this question up: who are the kindest, most wholesome paleontologists you know (Current/retired/historical/whatever)? Who SHOULD be featured in documentaries?

I’m tired of doomering, let’s focus on the bright lights among us.

I met @ladynaturalist.bsky.social at SVP last year, you couldn't ask for a bigger dose of positivity in the room

Jack Horner being in the Epstein files is not something I had on my bingo card for 2026.... Horner seemingly visited Epstein's ranch multiple times, including apparently with a student.

3,500 years BP: The last survival of the mammal megafauna in the Americas The last ages of appearance of mammalian megafauna in Brazil are associated with the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, establishing a consensus of exti…

Been over a year since this study was published & I feel like it didn't make as big of a splash as it should have. Is there something not kosher about it I'm missing?

Anyone else feel like handing out free training & certifications is another sign of the growing desperation of the AI sector to get normal people to use AI for literally anything?