[alphynix]

Utahraptor ostrommaysorum lived during the Early Cretaceous (~130-124 mya) in Utah, USA, and was the largest known dromaeosaurid. Reaching lengths of around 6m long (20′), it’s often compared in size to the fictional raptors of Jurassic Park.

Recent discoveries show it had some weird proportions compared to its relatives – a thick stocky body, chunky legs, smaller arms, a shorter and more flexible tail, and a large deep skull with an oddly curved lower jaw.

But we still don’t know very much about it… yet.

There’s a huge slab of rock full of Utahraptor fossils just waiting to be extracted and studied. There are at least six raptors in there ranging from babies to adults, hinting at the presence of a family group or even pack hunting behavior, and potentially other animals and new discoveries too – but the main roadblock for this project is lack of funding.

The paleontologists involved have turned to crowdfunding to attempt to raise enough money for essential equipment and the services of a professional fossil preparator, but they’re still only at about 10% of their goal.

So this first week of April is #UtahraptorWeek in the paleontology community, raising awareness of this fascinating giant raptor and how close we are to finding out so much more about it. Spread the word, and if you’re able to please consider helping out the Utahraptor Project on GoFundMe.

[funky-vg-beats]

electric toothbrush
jet set radio ost

[mugglibus]

The last one.

I am dead.

TOS Novel #32: Chain of Attack

[startrekreviews]

TOS #32: Chain of Attack by Gene DeWeese

TW: Suicide

Book Jacket’s Summary:
     “While mapping a series of gravitational anomalies, the USS Enterprise is suddenly hurled millions of light years through space, into a distant galaxy of scorched and lifeless worlds… into the middle of an endless interstellar war.
     With no way back home, the crippled starship finds itself under relentless and suicidal attack by both warring fleets! And Captain Kirk must gamble the lives of his crew on his ability to stop a war that has raged for centuries – and ravaged a galaxy…”

Yeaka’s Notes:
    Despite the title and bookjacket, this story leans heavily on Star Trek’s roots of true exploration. It begins with a scientific survey, progresses into being caught impossibly far from the Federation, falls into more space exploration, and finally into trying to initiate peaceful contact with incredibly warlike aliens. The main command staff, mostly Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty are center stage, handling their stranded situation as well as Janeway. However, they have a Federation civilian on board who uses every opportunity available to ruin everything. He’s wildly foolish and villainous, but as he’s so clearly meant to be taken that way, he provides the reader with more comic relief than tension. There are a few times where it seems like he’s going to destroy everything, but Kirk can handle him.
    Kirk can handle a lot of nonsense. There are three separate sets of new aliens and all of them are difficult, two borderline impossible. Everybody shoots first and doesn’t bother asking questions later, but Kirk is steadfast good-hearted and does his best to push for communication. It’s an enjoyable read for that aspect—Kirk insisting things work out despite awful odds, and his crew fully behind him. The plot is smooth and develops well, with new mysteries cropping up often despite the relatively low page count. A few parts are predictable, but most isn’t, and the combination of things is new. For that continuing adventure and the likeable characters, I quite enjoyed this book.

Noteworthy moments:

• Ch2/p27 Chekov has a friend in the environmental section who wants to help him lose his accent
  
• Ch5/p66 An ensign fresh out of the Acadamy is upset with the way their peaceful mission’s gone awry and Kirk’s decisions, despite idolizing him before, and an civilian passenger plays politician and takes advantage of that to encourage dissent against Kirk
  
• Ch10/p122 Contemplating mutiny, a civilian dismisses the rumours of Kirk being “a ladies’ man” but happily thinks Bones and Kirk hate each other and it’ll be easy to coax Bones and Scotty to mutiny; Bones, Sulu, and Chekov disagree with Kirk, civilian openly challenges Kirk at phaser point
  
• Ch14/p166 Kirk doing calisthenics on Bones’ insistence
  
• Ch19/p215 Through a remote mind meld, Spock feels Kirk’s pain over losing Edith Keeler (TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”), Bones’ pain over losing Natira (TOS: “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”), and his own pain over Pike
  

[historical-nonfiction]

The Tale of Sinuhe - one of our finest examples of Ancient Egyptian poetry

[stickyfrogs]

Hello! 😊🐸
Gumby sends you both a kissie!
You can find some posts with some information about these question on the Stickyfrogs’ FAQ page stickyfrogs.tumblr.com/FAQ 🐸🐸

whiskeycravenraven-deactivated2 asked:

if it makes you feel any better, i only saw good intention in that comic. the only thing regarding donating a ratty sweater that went through my head, as a thrift shop employee, was that we'd wind up baling it (compacting it into a big Clothes Cube for transport) to send it to be recycled rather than putting it on the sales floor. Donating torn or slightly stained clothes isn't necessarily bad - Value Village recycles everything they possibly can, for example.

shencomix answered:

Thank you for the info! :]

As soon as I read “Clothes Cube” I new tab + googled image searched.

How sick is this?? It’s like bales of hay, but with clothes instead of hay. I had no idea this was a thing.

[stickyfrogs]

How to help with dinner! By Gumby and Voigt!
(Gumby will help twice!)