#Uncle Julio's

[knackerman]

[johnjhalseth]

My sisters at Uncle Julio's in Ashburn VA. Celebrating my birthday. They were kind enough to buy me the best Mexican dinner I've had in ages.

Uncle Julio's on Thorndike St | Mexican Food Near Me in Ashburn, VA (unclejulios.com)

[southernmidwestgeek]

Last night was a great evening out and about with my Queen.

My darling wife suggested to try Uncle Julio’s Mexican was no disappoint by a long shot.

The service was on point (Thank You Ariel H…you did the THANG), my food was was delicious, my Sexy’s food looked heavenly. #unclejulio #internationaldrive #dinnerwithmyqueen #mexicanfood #beautifulevening

[dostoyevsky-official]

Vice presidential candidate Victoria Villarruel (La Libertad Avanza, LLA) criticized human rights organizations and families of victims disappeared during the last dictatorship who protested outside the kindergarten where she voted on Sunday. Speaking to the media, she said that a mural painted there in remembrance of the disappeared was “as out of place as painting [a picture of] Barney the bear [sic] in a cemetery.”  In her comparison, Villarruel was actually referencing a dinosaur from the children’s show Barney & Friends. [...] “We’ve had terrorists and children of terrorists as public officers before,” she said, repeating an accusation made by some opposition sectors against politicians who were activists in the 70s and were themselves victims of kidnapping and torture. The same claims have been made against some children of disappeared victims who have entered politics. [...] Villarruel made several denialist claims during the electoral campaign. She has said that there was “a war” in Argentina between guerrillas and the military government during the dictatorship (1976-1983). Those claims are part of the “two demons” theory, also known as “dirty war,” which states that the Argentine military committed “excessive” abuses of power to end political violence that armed groups had initiated. This theory suggests that these were two equal and opposite forces. Julio César Strassera, the prosecutor of the 1985 trial against the dictatorship’s military commanders, rejected it. In his closing arguments, he stressed that there was “no war,” dirty or otherwise. [...] Villarruel is the leader and founder of Civil Association of the Victims of Argentine Terrorism (CELTYV, by its Spanish acronym), an organization with strong ties to the military sector. She is known for meeting repressors who have life sentences for crimes against humanity in jail and advocating for their freedom. Villarruel’s father and uncle were military officers who took part in repressive actions before and during the dictatorship.

(x)

[iluminaru]

random daily td headcanons

Sierra is very close to her grandparents, she flies to Germany about 4 to 5 times a year. She rathers not to talk about her mother anymore.

Heather's grandma can "see through a person", and was just like Heather when she was young. Now she's just a sweet granny :).

Alejandro is mixed, his mum is from Spain and father is from Peru. Even though Alejandro was born and mostly raised in Spain + had an amazing relationship with his mum, he likes his Peruvian side of the family more, especially his uncle Julio, with whom he's living in Canada.

DJ's mum was abandoned pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, furthermore she has never seeked a new lover, instead, dedicated her life to DJ. She is as much of a world to him, as much he is to her.

Courtney has serious control issues and a fear of failure. Both of them were caused thanks to her parents.

Blainley hates her entire family, aside from her precious niece Julia.

[real-total-drama-takes]

we as a fandom need to talk about small trivia qnd details mentioned in things like character biographies or one off lines in confessional etc etc. some favorite examples of mine are alejandro's hypnotist uncle named julio, harold contracting 300+ diseases, trent actually being fairly smart, the game that noah hacked and tried to fix when he was like 6, etc etc. silly things like that

.

[madrigaljail]

Sedaverse Fankids

Because why not. Note all of this is subject to change because I don't care all that much. Anyway, in order of appearance:

Julio & José "Pepe" Madrigal - identical twin sons of Dolores and Mariano, named for their great-aunt Juieta and...abuela Josefa, great-uncle José, and great-grandmother Josephine, respectively. Gifts are flight and superspeed, also rspectively. They both take after their dad physically; Julio is ironically more grounded and Pepe is a bit of an agent of chaos like his uncle Camilo.

Paloma Alma Madrigal - Dolores and Mariano's first daughter, more shy reserved than her older brothers. Her gift is temperature control.

Pedro Madrigal II - Mirabel and Lupe Herrera's (...you don't know who he is, don't worry about it) son. Charming trainwreck. His gift is mimicking other gifts, up to three at a time. Knocked up an American tourist at age 20 and that's how we got Bruno 2.0.

[Dolores and Mariano's third son]

[Mirabel and Lupe's daughters]

Zoe Madrigal - Dolores and Mariano's youngest, technomancer, literally an unused character from the movie. Jacked-in hacker type.

Bruno Madrigal - Pedro Jr.'s son with *checks notes* Erica Sullivan. Gift is psychomancy because of course it is. Appears in the epilogue of A Prophet In His Own Land

That's it that's all I've got.

[lethal-amigos]

Sketches of young Julio and Liliana (Chepe's parents)

So Julio comes from a farming and ranching family and in the beginning he was illiterate. Liliana comes from an educated family and shop owners. Her family owned a book shop and a general store. When she was older she worked in the local library. She loved books and poetry and modern reading. Her uncle travels a lot and brings foreign literature and magazines from places he does business and travels to. One day she got a hold of an American magazine and saw hairstyles she has never before seen. She liked the bobbed hairstyle of the 20's and tried to copy that. When she met Julio he was kind of a jerk, but she saw right through him. She knew he had a softer side in him and was always a hard worker. He noticed her because of the short hair and he would often visit the place she worked which was the public library. He didn't know how to read so he would pick random books and pretended he did. She knew he couldn't read because he picked out a nonfictional book (like book on taxes or something lol) or a dictionary. She would eventually teach him how to read and that is when they will bond and fall in love.

Her family did not approve her marrying a farmer since that life is not fit for an educated woman, but she didn't care.

[courtney-deserved-better]

Hi pj! I love your fanfics, super inspiring!

I had a question, In most or all alenoah fic, when writers talk about Carlos they write him as the older brother who left the family and/or was disowned. Who is also kind and see the family flaws. My question is…..did you start this trend? Or was it always a thing? I’m trying to think to all the fics I read to see if we’re this came from. But I realize that you’re slippery slopes fic kind of had a hand at reshaping the alenoah fic genera…(compliment!!)

this question isn’t a attack on your or your writing! I’m just curious about this little habit I seen in other fics.

thanks, that's an interesting question! i doubt that im the first person to ever headcanon carlos as having distanced himself from the burromuertos and seeing their flaws, but i didn't really have anybody else's headcanons in mind when i wrote his role in slippery slopes.

i really like the idea of alejandro having two sides of his family - the main part, where he and his brothers were raised by their successful parents, which is rife with pressure and high expectations and reaps financial and social success and influence - and the outside part, which involves carlos as a soccer player who cut contact with his parents, his uncle julio the hypnotist, and (delving into oc territory) julio's wife anita, who runs a gender neutral goth clothing line, and alejandro's younger sister luciana, who enjoys making puppets and was raised by julio and anita. this side of the family is a lot less notable and doesn't have the same kind of wealth, power, or good reputation that the main part has, but in turn they are a lot kinder, expressive, honest, and quirky in their interests.

i like to think that despite being raised in the main part of the family, carlos ended up striking out on his own (perhaps he had disagreements with his parents about his career, if they wanted a more businesslike career for their first son and he wanted to be an athlete) and unknowingly set an example for alejandro much later on down the line. i was originally going to have julio, anita, and luci reunite with alejandro in addition to carlos in slippery slopes, but that ended up being too complicated and i stuck with just carlos. but i do think that alejandro and carlos will eventually reconnect with these other burromuerto outsiders and feel like they have a supportive, loving family for the first time

[erisluna35ocblog]

Last one for this set! It's my OC Keagan! Now this guy presented another challenge: hands. Because this style is supposed to keep line art to a minimum, I had to rely on shading to get his fingers detailed out. And of course, that spiky hair. It was tricky to figure out how it works. I need to map out his hair flow before I could render uuuugh.

Introducing the reverse world's closest thing to a Ladyblogger, Keagan Gerald Aurelio-Ashworth! Much like Reverse!Alya, he gets an undershave... and that's pretty much it. I guess the gold accessories and the sunglasses could be taken as a stronger referrence to Chloe as being the rich mayor's son has more emphasis in this AU. He's not exactly based on anyone from canon when he's like this, his design is based on making him as opposite to his og design as possible with very mild referrences to akumas and his og akuma form, Scorch, embracing the power the butterfly grants him rather than being averse to it. He's not exactly a reporter, he hangs around the upper echelons of society hence the semi-formal design instead of his og counterpart's more down to earth casual wear. Next to Fiona, he's like the second most altered compared to how he normally looks.

Why is he like this?

The short answer, it's cause the Supreme has his family under their thumb.

It started with a bad deal, his uncle died trying to dig their family out of it, his aunt Lorelei and cousin Leo ran off, and being overprotective with what family he had left, Mayor Julio Aurelio had Keagan locked up in their castle for his safety... And now what's left of the Aurelio-Ashworth Family are stuck under the Supreme's thumb. They're a political puppet and a goldmine rolled into one.

Keagan is not the sort to keep his head down. He's aware of what's happening, try as his family might to hide it from him. He still developed his hacking skills and had eyes and ears everywhere. He knows how fucked they are. For the longest time, Keagan felt so untrusting of everyone new... Never know if one of those people are under the Supreme's influence. He's heard they're eyeing him and his elder sister for their potential in wielding a Miraculous, and he's seen what happens to underage wielders after a while. Their life expectancies aren't that great, but that's why they use kids for it. They're easier to control. Sooner or later, it'll be Keagan's turn. Try as he might to find a way out, he couldn't find any. The most he could do was disrupt whatever dealings he could find - honestly, he doesn't want the same thing that happened to his family happen to anyone else. He was a minor annoyance at best. For the longest time, he felt trapped.

Then one day, his cousin reached out to him through a butterfly that landed on his watch. He wants him to join the Resistance as an insider. Through butterflies, Keagan can relay what he learns of the Supreme and in emergencies, they can either give him the power to transform or call out for a hero to save him. All he has to do is continue to play the fool and keep his ears up. His cousin heard his rep, the hedonistic party prince. While it wasn't a complete lie, he fools around to forget he's in deep shit, it wasn't the quite true either. It was the easiest way for him to be as disruptive as possible. But now, with his cousin as his life line, Keagan went from a minor annoyance to a potential back door for the Resistance. There's finally some hope he can pull him and his family out from under the Supreme's thumb.

Eventually, he met her.

He didn't think much of her at first, just another rich girl from new money. She's pretty fairy tale princess cute, he'd give her that. Her father was desperately trying to climb the social ladder... And was gonna fall for the Supreme's scam. As expected, they were hella annoyed with his interruptions but what else could he do to save them? Keagan knows this isn't necessary, when there's more effective ways to put a middle finger up at the Supreme, but he can't help it. Keagan just had to save them, even if neither of them would see it that way.

The girl was persistent. To Keagan's genuine surprise, she wasn't chasing him cause she's mad at him, she was following him to warn him that the Supreme goons are gonna mess with him for disrupting one too many deals that night. Aww. He's touched. Really. That's why he was covering her head with his jacket so the Supreme wouldn't target her too. He hopes his cousin heard all that and sends someone to save their butts.

That night was also the first night he properly met the Resistance. To his surprise, his aunt Lorelei decided to let the girl be the new Ladybug. If anyone asked him, he wasn't too thrilled about it. This girl had nothing to do with the Supreme nor the Resistance. She could've been free... much like he wished he was. Yet she chose to wear the earrings.

Contrary to his expectations, this is where the girl truly blossomed. The pretty princess turned out to be more of a knight in shining armor. Maybe she could save him.

[blueiskewl]

Roman Coin - Gold Aureus of Caligula C. AD 37-38

Obverse: portrait of Caligula. Reverse : Portrait of Caligula's mother Agrippina. Unlike his predecessors, Caligula lacked military experience. His coinage placed heavy emphasis or his family instead.

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter. Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Although Gaius was named after Gaius Julius Caesar, he acquired the nickname "Caligula" ('little boot'), the diminutive form of caligae, a military boot, from his father's soldiers during their campaign in Germania. When Germanicus died at Antioch in 19, Agrippina returned with her six children to Rome, where she became entangled in a bitter feud with Tiberius, Germanicus' uncle. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. In 26, Tiberius withdrew from public life to the island of Capri, and in 31, Caligula joined him there. Following the former's death in 37, Caligula succeeded him as emperor. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, though he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant.

While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself, and he initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the empire annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania as a province. In early 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. However, the conspirators' attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted. On the day of the assassination of Caligula, the Praetorians declared Caligula's uncle, Claudius, the next emperor. Caligula's death marked the official end of the Julii Caesares in the male line, though the Julio-Claudian dynasty continued to rule until the demise of his nephew, Nero.

[ibuprofen-exe]

WIP Introductions Part One

Hospitality is Hell

I thought I would introduce some of my dearly beloved original characters so I could talk at length about them in the future. 

Warning: The post below the cut has mentions of death, tobacco, suicide, and war. There isn’t anything particularly graphic, but please be safe.

Status: outlined, on a break

Medium: script

In an industrial, capitalistic interpretation of Hell, work is scarce and agonizing in poverty is commonplace. Victor Chen, recently laid off from his unforgiving factory job, finds work at the mysterious Grand Motel, run by its shrewd owner, Hilbert, and he must endure the suffering of working in hospitality.

Characters:

Victor Chen, bear (he/him), gay, disabled (post polio syndrome and autism), Chinese American, Catholic (1919-1950)

Kerosene by Bad Religion Once a drug racketeer and restaurant waiter, Victor was murdered trying to escape his life of crime. He works as the bartender of the Grand Motel, though he would rather not work at all. Fact: Victor was orphaned at a young age, and spent most of his childhood in his uncle’s restaurant.

Barbara Hilbert, agender (they/them), aroace, disabled (OCD), Black American, Baptist (1903-1942)

Paint Me Black Angels by Eartha Kitt Once a bootlegger, Hilbert lost their life to a fatal case of influenza. They work as the owner of the Grand Motel, taking great pride in completing a dream they could not in life. Fact: Hilbert loves fashion and often goes on long shopping trips to buy anything with sequins, shoulder pads, or loud prints.

Donovan Sandoval, bigender (he/him, she/her), gay, disabled (ADHD), Salvadoran American, Catholic, (1955-1990)

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard by Paul Simon Once a telemarketer and scam artist, Donovan killed himself after being forcibly outed as a gay man. She works as the accountant and bellhop of the Grand Motel, struggling to handle multiple positions. Fact: Donovan has had a terrible nicotine addiction ever since she was a teen, and would often tell her mother she would quit when she was dead. That has yet to happen.

Sachiko Fujimoto, butch (she/her, he/him), bisexual, disabled (NPD and congenital amputation), Japanese, Protestant (1952-1977)

Ue Wo Muite Arukou by Kyu Sakamoto Once the leader of a girl gang, Sachiko died during a freak diving accident. She works as the receptionist of the Grand Motel, much to her irritation. Fact: Sachiko has adult braces from years of ignoring her dentist as a teenager. She hates them.

Sandeep D’Costa, cisgender (he/him), aromantic gay, disabled (enucleation and PTSD), Indian, Catholic (1917-1946)

Vera by Pink Floyd Once a soldier on the African front of the Second World War, Sandeep lost his life during complications in surgery. He works as the resident musician of the Grand Motel and takes great pride in his piano skills. Fact: Sandeep received his musical training in the church choir, but he dreamed of being on the radio.

Settings:

Paradise

Welcome to Paradise by Green Day The premiere vacation city of any well-to-do individual looking for a reprieve from Hell. Vibes: neon lights, vices, pink stucco, novelty dining, astroturf, distant smokestacks, and the smell of rot

The Grand Motel

Hotel California by The Eagles A budget location on the outskirts of Paradise owned and operated by Barbara Hilbert. Vibes: tile pools, peeling wallpaper, the smell of cigarettes, wrought iron balconies, art deco roofs, and carpeted bathrooms

Thanks for reading (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

[margridarnauds]

top three period dramas?

Not counting musicals, because it would be a rigged game then:

(1) I, Claudius. Yes, it's inaccurate. Yes, its portrayal of the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty is undoubtedly sexist, not helped by the fact that Robert Graves was a massive sexist. Yes, it's based on something by Robert Graves, who, as a Celticist, I am professionally obliged to have a strong hatred for.

But it's also well done, the actors are all phenomenal, I quote things from it every day ("WHERE ARE MY EAGLES?" "Don't eat the figs, dear" "You may kiss me and go" "Uncle CLAAAAAAUDDDDDIIIUUUUSSSS" "IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGGGHHHHHTAAAAHHHH"), and for something that was made with a limited budget, I think they actually do a good job of showing the intimate world of the dynasty in a way that a lot of more recent series (Rome) failed to do with bigger sets, and the scriptwriters deserve credit for dusting off Graves' incredibly dry prose and making an adaptation that's crackling with wit in just about every scene for all of its six episode run length.

(2) Pride and Prejudice (1995). Such a shame that there hasn't been one made since then, but I can't blame them, given this set such a high standard. As a child, me and my mom were up to 2 AM watching it because we had no idea how it was going to end and we kept going "just one more episode!" until we'd reached the end.

And sharing third place: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and Ladyhawke (1985) -- Both of them were formative for me. The Man in the Iron Mask is very much putting multiple experienced actors together and letting them ham it up alongside Leonardo DiCaprio alongside gorgeous sets and costumes with a great score by Nick Glennie-Smith. It has next to no accuracy to the OG novel, it's wildly historically inaccurate, but my god it's *fun*. Ladyhawke, meanwhile, is probably one of my favorite depictions of the Middle Ages, specifically because it doesn't go into either the extreme of the Dung Ages or the extreme of, say, the 1950s where everyone is looking absolutely pristine. I think it's a nice compromise between the two of them. The plot itself, of two lovers forced to change shape, always together, never apart, by the machinations of a wicked bishop, reads like something from a medieval romance, even though I know, logically, that it isn't, just because it really does capture the *feeling* of the era. (And I will not hear a bad word against the soundtrack.)

Bonus round: Brennus, Enemy of Rome. This film is not good, but it IS the only film adaptation of Brennus' Invasion of Rome to date and...believe me, it being good would ruin the fun of it. ("KILL THE ROMANSSSSS ARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH" Best introduction to an antagonist ever.)

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

The second-most awkward dinner party ever

So I was looking up the Julio-Claudian Clusterfuck, as one does, and I noticed something odd.

Marcellus? That Marcellus?

It’s him! The fucker who shut down peace talks in the Senate in 50 BCE and tried to get Pompey to attack Caesar!

So Octavian’s mom was Caesar’s niece and his brother-in-law attempted to start a civil war against Caesar. Maybe his dad helped keep the peace between--wait, no, Octavian’s dad was long dead. And his stepdad was Lucius Marcius Philippus, who--

...Who apparently married his daughter to Cato??

Wait, wasn’t there a whole thing with Cato and Marcia where he divorced and remarried her? There was! So Octavian’s other brother-in-law was Cicero’s old frenemy Hortensius!

(Nobody asked Marcia’s opinion of all this, did they?)

So imagine: it’s 49 BCE. The republic is teetering on the edge of civil war. Philippus is hosting a dinner party, featuring:

Marcellus who tried to get Octavian’s great-uncle declared an enemy of the state

Cato who is flirting with his ex-wife Marcia, possibly while drunk

Marcia whose husband just died, Cato

Bibulus, Cato’s son-in-law and possibly the only person who hates Caesar more than Cato does

Atia, Octavian’s mom who is very carefully not mentioning she’s Caesar’s niece

17-year-old Octavia who keeps trying to change the subject to something non-political

And 14-year-old Octavian who was mostly raised by Caesar’s sister, and would rather be anywhere but here

[sinosauropteryx--prima]

Life in the Permian

(top row: Estemmenosuchus, Coelurosauravus, Cotylorhynchus, Goniatites; middle: Moschops (top), Procynosuchus (bottom), Inostrancevia, Dimetrodon; bottom row: Dvinia, Edaphosaurus, Prionosuchus, Helicoprion)

Art by:

Goniatites - Christian Klung et al., Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 61(1):1-14 (2016).

Dimetrodon - Mark Witton

Edaphosaurus - Walkling with monsters, BBC

Cotylorhynchus - Sergey Krasovskiy

Moschops - Gabriel Ugueto

Estemmenosuchus - Ntvtiko

Inostrancevia - Julius Csotonyi

Procynosuchus - Nix draws stuff

Dvinia - DiBgt

Coelurosauravus - Charlène Letenneur

Prionosuchus - Vitor Silva

Helicoprion - Julio Lacerda

It‘s been a while since I started this little series on the geologic time periods - both because it has been about 250 million years since the Cambrian explosion, but also because I have been on vacation and just generally didn‘t feel like doing anything (sorry about that). Nevertheless we have finally reached the last part of the Paleozoic, the Permian (we will talk about why it‘s literally the end of an era).

The Permian was the first time synapsids took over. Sometimes referred to as “mammal-like reptiles“, this group includes big herbivores, saber-toothed predators, everyone‘s favorite “that‘s-not-actually-a-dinosaur“ dimetrodon and - eventually - us. We are synapsids. So who were these early cousins of ours?

The first synapsids appeared during the Carboniferous, shortly after amniotes became a thing (amniotes are terrestrial vertebrates that lay eggs). Back then those amniotes split into two lines, the synapsids on the one side and the diapsids on the other. In the beginning these two groups wouldn‘t have looked much different from each other: both were small lizard-like creatures. The big difference between them, and what is usually used to tell them apart, is the number of holes in their skulls. When you think about holes in skulls the first thing that comes to mind are probably eyes and nose, but there is another type of hole called the temporal fenestra. It‘s less visible from the outside, but you can feel it behind your eyes and above your jaw, and when you look at pictures of skulls you can usually see it. Synapsids like us and all other mammals, have one of these holes. The diapsids (reptiles including dinosaurs and birds) have two.

During the Permian the synapsids became diverse and dominant. The first group that split off of the synapsid family tree were the Pelycosaurs (although that term isn‘t used anymore, but for the sake of simplicity, I‘m going to ignore that). Pelycosaurs were very reptile-like: They had a sprawling gait and were most likely cold-blooded. They are however closer related to us than to any living reptiles, your great-great-great uncle, if you will. The most famous ones were the sail backed Edaphosaurus, one of the first herbivorous tetrapods, and Dimetrodon, a 3.5 m long apex predator. As impressive as those two are - most Pelycosaurs did not have sails. Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus were just weird.

More “advanced“ synapsids are called Therapsids. They again include us, other mammals and basically everything else that isn‘t a pelycosaur. Some of the Therapsids that were around during the Permian were the Dinocephalians (“terrible heads“). They are very fittingly named if you consider that the weirdly horned Estemmenosuchus and thick-skulled Moschops (that maybe head-butted like goats) were some of them. Another group are the Gorgonopsids, including the saber-toothed predator Inostrancevia. I just love the fact that synapsids were doing the “saber-toothed cat thing“ for pretty much their entire existence.

Towards the end of the Permian (don‘t worry about the end of the Permian, it‘ll be fine), a group of therapsids that was even more “advanced“ appeared. They were called Cynodonts (“dog-teeth“) because they had different teeth for different purposes. You for example have incisors to bite of a piece of a sandwich and molars to chew it up (and other types of teeth, I‘m not a dentist). This is something that differentiates us from many other groups of animals like reptiles and earlier synapsids. The cynodonts also had their legs under their body instead of sprawling to the site, they most likely were warm-blooded and probably had fur. They weren’t true mammals yet, but if I saw one, I’m not sure I would be able to tell the difference between them and a modern rodent on first glance.

The synapsids were the main players during the Permian, but they were of course not the only bizarre creatures around: There was the amphibian croc-mimic Prionosuchus that could reach sizes of 5 to maybe even 9 m (although to be fair, there were no crocodiles around yet, so technically crocodiles are Prionosuchus-mimics). There were the first gliding vertebrates like the small reptile Coelurosauravus. There was the shark-cousin Helicoprion, whose name translates to “wheel-saw“ and describes its terrifying dentation. Andy many, many more.

To say that all these animals were doing great might be a bit of an overstatement. The Permian was not an easy time to be alive. The warm and wet coal swamps of the previous Carboniferous disappeared as the climate got much hotter and dryer. All the continents of our planet had collided into one giant landmass, the roughly C-shaped supercontinent Pangaea. The interiors of this land were so far away from the oceans that rain very rarely reached them and they became almost inhabitable deserts. Closer to the coasts there might have been seasons with extreme monsoons and heavy rainfall.

The animals would have withstood all of this, dealing with their surroundings, just like animals do. That was until the very end of the Permian. You guessed it - it is mass extinction time! And the end-permian mass extinction is not any silly little mass extinction, it is one of the Big 5. But not only that - it was the worst one in the history of our planet. Worse than all the ones that came before and after it (although we as a species are working very hard to make the current extinction event maybe even worse, which is terrifying). It was way worse than the one that killed the dinosaurs. The End-Permian Mass Extinction was so bad, it is referred to as “The Great Dying“: Depending on the source, between 75-95% of life disappeared.

The reason was most likely vulcanism. It wasn‘t the cute “covering Pompeii under a layer of ashes“-vulcanism though. It wasn‘t even the “Indonesian eruption causes a Year Without Summer even all the way over in Europe and leads to Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein“-vulcanism. It was lava fields that covered an area bigger than India. All kinds of toxic gases were released, but the deadliest of them all was CO2. Millions of tons got into the atmosphere and, much like today, caused an extreme increase in temperature, maybe up to 8° C. All of this didn‘t happened over night - but rather during a couple 10,000 years, but it still happened way to fast for most animals to cope with it.

At this point, approximately 250 million years ago, after we saw the weird creatures of the Cambrian, the first plants taking to the lands, shortly followed by insects and other arthropods, after fish crawled out of the waters and our synapsid-cousins started to rule the earth - after all of that, the Paleozoic Era ends.

It‘s almost a bit depressing. But don‘t worry: The life on our planet is resilient. It will bounce back. The Mesozoic has just begun and it too will be filled with many fascinating creatures.

(PS: all my sources are just straight up wikipedia. I know that‘s not a great source but it‘s not like I‘m writing a peer reviewed paper or something)