#just know that avian dinosaur is me as well

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Your post about dinosaurs and birds was very interesting and I like feathered dinosaurs and I think it's cool that birds are dinosaurs but what really annoys me is when people say "birds are dinosaurs" to be pedantic and tell you that you're wrong for saying dinosaurs are extinct ?? Maybe this is not something that's happening broadly lmao but I've had people tell me birds are dinosaurs specifically to correct me when I mention that dinosaurs went extinct. Isn't it obvious that im talking about t rexes and brontosauruses when I say that and not chickens ? Am I just being dramatic ? I'm being silly with this ask but am also genuinely curious

well, that's the thing. dinosaurs aren't extinct. and when you say they are, you're just perpetuating a very incorrect worldview

like, it's a clear correlation. Thinking of dinosaurs as extinct, first and foremost, stems from that outdated idea that (classical) dinosaurs were sluggish evolutionary dead ends doomed to die, and that we mammals (especially humans) just naturally took our place when they went extinct

when what actually happened was dinosaurs were extremely successful animals, and a large portion went extinct because of a freak space accident, and some of them still survived

and are now doing better than ever - better than mammals by leaps and bounds

so, yeah, sure, it's obvious what you're talking about. but people correcting you are doing so because the words we use matter, the way we talk about things matter, and continuing to distinguish between mesozoic and cenozoic dinosaurs (or, worse, "nonavian" and "avian" dinosaurs, which isn't even a real distinction) just upholds these old ideas of the supremacy of cenozoic life, etc.

like, the life that currently exists wasn't destined to be here. we all got ridiculously lucky - both to survive that asteroid, and to exist at all.

also, even if YOU know that there are still dinosaurs, tons of people don't, even though it should be common knowledge at this point. so there's that level of sheer irritation to consider as well.

[birds--daily]

welcome to birds daily!!

this is my blog where i draw a bird every single day! the idea was completely ripped off from one of my best friends of all time, @fish-daily !! please go check him out :0)

my name is sunny and i'm a wildlife biology major and art minor from michigan. i'm 21 years old and i use they/them pronouns!

i'm here because i love birds so much, and i'm assuming if you're following then you do too!!

IMPORTANT INFO BELOW!!

what to know before you request

please check if i've drawn a bird before you request it! if you don't want to scroll through everything, all my birds are tagged by order. don't know the order of your bird? look it up! the IOC world bird list has a great resource for this.

i tag them by name, but some birds have multiple common names.

i also have a spreadsheet of every bird i've done so far! but i can definitely see myself forgetting to update this, so it's best to double check.

any avian dinosaur archaeopteryx-and-beyond can be requested! many ornithologists consider avialae to be the cutoff for "modern" birds.

i can't guarantee full-accuracy of prehistoric birds as i'm not very well-versed in paleontology.

please keep asks to only one bird! feel free to send multiple asks though. if you include multiple birds in an ask i'll just pick one. when i answer the ask to post it, the other birds will be gone forever...

i will prioritize requests in the order i received them in, but a couple times a week i might draw a personal pick instead.

not accepting duplicate birds doesn't mean you can't request a different version of the same bird, which leads me to…

sexual dimorphism and seasonal plumage!

yes! you can request different plumages and sexes of a bird i've already done! want to see a female ruddy duck? of course! want the breeding plumage of the willow ptarmigan? absolutely!

i have sex, maturity, and plumage recorded on my spreadsheet, but i'm bound to make some mistakes on there. once again, double-checking my blog is your best bet to getting accurate bird info!

if you don't specify anything, i'm going to assume the basic mature male with breeding plumage that you come to expect from a bird.

breeding and non-breeding plumage can also be called summer and winter plumage. some birds also have special names for their plumage forms. just to keep things consistent i'll be referring to it as breeding and non-breeding!

final notes

my main blog is @eggpathy if you're interested in any of my other art! i forget to post there a lot. most of my art is on my twitter under the same name (trying to move here though)

i'm a full-time college student with a job, so some days i won't be able to get a bird out. sometimes i might even have to take a few days to a week off just to keep my sanity. this doesn't mean i'm not having fun and enjoying drawing birds! it just means i'm busy and maybe need time for other things

i'm also still human. this means i WILL MAKE MISTAKES! i have not finished my degree yet and i'm still learning! one of the big reasons i made this account was to help myself learn my birds! i take extra time out of my day to find facts to post with my birds, and sometimes those are wrong. if you see me post misinfo, please kindly correct me with a comment, dm, or tag!

any post that isn't a daily bird will be tagged #not birds. any post that is a daily bird will be tagged #birds.

please feel free to add extra fun facts, info, and generally any other silly comment in the tags. i love reading them and they make my day!

asks don't have to be request-related! feel free to ask me anything :0)

thanks for reading! peent!

[pudding-parade]

One of the games I bought while in isolation was Prehistoric Kingdom. Which is basically Planet Zoo, only with (accurate! Don't get me started on the fucking Jurassic Park/World movies/games!) non-avian dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals like mastodons, woolly rhinos, and cave lions.

The game's still in early access, but I've read that much of it is functional, so I bought it on sale. I just fired it up tonight to see what it's about and figure out how it works. Which was a little bit difficult because the recent major update of it broke the tutorial, so the tutorial is currently disabled. But as it turns out, at least in terms of landscape sculpting and building stuff, much of it works an awful lot like Planet Zoo -- only with added (and awesome) scaling functionality, not to mention being able to turn off the grid and to paint entire swaths of trees/shrubs instead of placing things one-by-one -- so between that and the in-game help, I could figure out most things.

And then I bred myself some psittacosaurs, shown in the pic, because they're among my favorite non-avian dinosaurs, and plopped them in a habitat....and....Well, a bit of nerding ahead. But before I get to that, I give the game a thumbs up so far, and it has tons of potential ahead of it. I'll probably put the game in unlimited, creative sandbox mode and just check out and build for every dino species in the game before going back and actually playing the game in its challenge mode, where you have to unlock stuff and don't get unlimited money.

Now for the nerding. My psittacosaurs promptly escaped from their habitat because I didn't bother with any natural barriers to block the invisible fences I laid. LOL But that's OK because I just wanted to see what they looked like in the game, given that we actually know a lot about what they looked like in real life in terms of soft tissues and pigmentation and such.

And it turns out that they did a pretty good job with the psittacosaurs! They got the dorky bristles at the base of the tail and the bizarre-o head correct. And they got the countershading right! That is, darker on top and lighter on the belly, which is typical for animals that live in dense forests. We know that psittacosaurs had this because there've been some specimens preserved with soft tissues, which included skin which included preserved melanosomes, so we could find out about the coloration of these buggers. So, the devs got the countershading as well as the subtle stripes/spots correct. I'd say they still look a bit too shiny/plastic-y, so they probably need to crank down the speculars a little, but otherwise? Pretty damn good.

I'd read that the developers of this game were trying to be more scientifically accurate, as opposed to...you know what...but I'm still pretty impressed. Can't wait to see if they did a similarly good job with the dilophosaurs, which are my favorite non-avian dinos. (Fucking Jurassic Park...Dilophosaurs are not tiny, venom-spitting frilled lizards, for fuck's sake, and yes, that was well-known in the early 90s, so there's no excuse!)

[itsyourearthtoo]

Dinosaurs are not extinct.

The fact that Dinosaurs, the rulers of Mesozoic earth are extinct is not at all a 'news' to you, right?

Yeah, I mean considering you or your distant cousins belong to the Holocene earth and actively taking part in this Anthropocene, you have been technically taught right since your childhood, that YES! DINOS, THE GIANT LIZARDS ARE EXTINCT. And, even if I write something on this, won't make a big deal. But what will make quiet a big deal is, if I write and actually go onto claim that NO! DINOSAURS AREN'T EXTINCT! Now this is what that sixth grader would say, "Yes, I want more of this... go on I'm listening."

By now, you might be thinking that this is a big statement I have made. But what if I tell you, go and ask this same question to a paleontologist or maybe some evolutionary biologist. Trust me, try it out and you'll see, it's not much of a shock to them as it was to you. Dinosaurs are not extinct, they know it. But do they say it? NO (and this is what this blog is all about)

You see, in the world of Paleontology or (to be more precise)Dinosaur Paleobiology there are two very vaguely defined things. And by saying, 'very vague' it's actually quiet serious. I mean if at least one of these two would have been crystal clear to us, I wouldn't have been writing this blog today.

First, the very meaning of the word Dinosaur! yes... it literally means "A Giant Lizard" (as you all might already know). Why Sir Richard Owen, why did you do this? I mean there's a whole different story to this though, but yeah the great paleontologist of his time could have come up with something more better and clearer.

Now, if you are that average sixth grader wondering what's actually wrong with A GIANT LIZARD, well let me shatter your childhood learnings and say that, dinosaurs are related to lizards but not that related enough to actually call them lizards!

Avoiding, scientific stuffs here (you'll get bored otherwise) let me get this straight. Assuming you are aware of a phylogenetic tree, look at this below -

Just look at where Lizards and the group of Dinosauria or Non Avian Dinosaurs are! In our planet's great evolution story (with regards to Geological Time Scale of course), lizards and dinosaurs both went on to follow separate paths of development.

Now the sixth grader might argue, "Oh cmon! but they do have a common ancestry at some point right, like mentioned here as Diapsida?" Well its true, but going with this, it all comes down to that one single-celled microorganism or maybe that RNA molecule made of just proteins from which life eventually began and the fact then becomes, YOU are also a lizard or fish or any insect. Not so happy with that ain't you. Trust me, my brain's okay digesting this but you or an average sixth grader won't be proud calling themselves a disgusting house fly :)

This is what I call 'A Game of Perspective'.

Perspective, to actually define events with regards to our evolutionary history. This is... what I feel, the most difficult thing to do in paleontology, apart from the fact that you define something one day and tomorrow you dig something out related to your newly defined 'thing' which actually makes you rewrite the whole definition, previous day going in vain.

Hence, the giant lizard, based on the above phylogenetic tree, does live. It's not at all extinct. Komodo dragon, take this for an example if you aren't satisfied with your house lizard. Now, this obviously doesn't bring back the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex or Velociraptor right? They are indeed extinct. But, if you are attentive enough to actually see 'Birds' in the above phylogenetic tree branching out of the Dinosauria group, ask yourself, "Is the chicken, that I love to eat from KFC extinct?"

The answer is an undebated NO and this is where the 'second vague' thing comes in - Where to draw the line and define birds as a whole separate species?

Look at a closer division of Dinosauria in the above figure and you will see that 'Aves' has actually branched out from 'Theropoda', which itself has branched out from 'Saurischia'. Aves, is what you might already know, refer to the birds. Now the main point of confusion is at what point in evolutionary history did a chicken become a chicken from its theropod descendants. The game of perspective comes up here, and we look into the definition of birds with regards to theropods (group of Dinosauria), because we know that they are their evolutionary successors. (look at the above figures again if you still don't believe)

Birds as Archeopteryx and all of its descendants.

Pretty cool right? I mean if you follow paleontology to some extent you might know that Archeopteryx is the missing link fossil between a bird and a dinosaur. But is it a bird or a dinosaur?

More precise - Is Archeopteryx a bird or a theropod?

The issue here is, recent studies have shown that Archeopteryx is more related to Dromaeusaurids (a small clade of feathered dinosaurs) than modern day birds.

2. Birds as feathered dinosaurs.

As good as it may sound, feathers! It is the most confusing body part of a Dinosaur, because more and more fossils show that they had feathers attached to them. Even your favorite T-Rex is now believed to have it! (Note - Jurassic Park is just a movie, there's a whole lot more to dinosaurs than to just get chased by them in a park)

3. Birds as flying dinosaurs.

Again, it is difficult to determine exactly which dinosaurs were capable of flying (as opposed to simply gliding). Also from a modern perspective, penguins for instance don't fly. But they are birds!

4. Birds as crown dinosaurs, meaning the last common ancestor of all extant birds and its descendants.

This is somewhat the most favored definition by paleontologists till date, but the problem here is, it ignores many feathered and flying dinosaurs that are more closely related to modern birds than to Archaeopteryx as birds.

Just look at how the highlighted region fades as we go from modern birds towards Archeopteryx and so on.

So, YES... saying that the Ornithischian group of dinosaurs is extinct, isn't wrong at all. Even the Sauropod group of Saurischian dinosaurs are extinct. But the Theropods, the same evolutionary line of Tyrannosaurus Rex isn't extinct, unless paleontologists can actually draw the line to separate modern day birds from them.

Paleontologists are still trying to figure this line out and believe me, this is quite challenging. I would like to quote here, studying what's underneath is much more difficult than something just above your head. You see, your goal isn't far in paleontology... it's hidden and that's what makes it more difficult.

Now, is it even necessary to actually draw this line. I'm afraid it is, otherwise blogs like this will come up more and disturb the already disturbed lives of paleontologists, dinosaur paleobiologists out there.

And... till the time this line is drawn, respect the chickens that you eat as they are your living dinosaurs. (I mean, I am not promoting veganism here, but just respect them, yeah... can't think of anything else)

Figure References - Figure 1 (in order) taken from Macroevolutionary patterns in the evolutionary radiation of archosaurs (Tetrapoda: Diapsida) by Stephen L Brusatte | September 2010 Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101(3-4) Figure 2 (in order) taken from www.opengeology.org | Image by Callan Bentley Figure 3 (in order)taken from Dino101: Dinosaur Paleobiology 200/201 University of Alberta | Modified from Hackett et al.2008

If you have made it this far, thanks a lot. Feel free to ask me any dumb thing. Trust me, dumb questions often lead to great discoveries!

Anyways, this is it for my first blog.

For the love of Earth Science :D Byeee

[gx-gameon]

Gx rewatch - school duel arc

Episode 20

The introduction of the school duel.

And the introduction of Blair. (Or Rebecca 2.0) And her crazy stalker tendencies

Syrus is already worried about being replaced.

Jaden being willing to keep Blair’s secret as long as she duels him. “A duel always reveals the truth”

Not the first time we hear Avians voice is him being in love for Blair’s card

Not Sparkman to!!

Zane roasting Syrus for having a crush on Dark Magician Girl.

Jaden is very lucky Burstinetrix is either A) loyal to Jaden only. On B) that she’s not a lesbian. Also he calling the boys pathetic is a mood.

Jaden not making her tell him her secret because “I learned everything g I need through your duel.”

Oh thank you Alexis and Zane for letting the kid down easy.

Not her leaving with a crush on Jaden.

I know in the dub she’s 8 but in the sub she’s 11 and that feels a lot better considering she comes back in season 2 (12) as a student in year 3 (13)

Episode 21

It’s announced that North academy is using a 1st year and Zane nominates Jaden to be their competitor. Everyone agrees but Crowler (of course) who wants Bastian. (Not like their are several other obelisk students who could do it)

Love the friendly rivalry between Jaden and Bastian.

Not the reporter dressing up as a Slifer and getting disrespected. Jaden calling him old right off the bat. (Au Jaden knows this is a spy/reporter as soon as he sees him and keeps him close so he can’t mess with Oto-San’s school)

Oh no he’s got beef with Skyscraper.

Jerad is such a mess.

I love Chumley saying that he got good at dueling because he started hanging out with Jaden and Syrus.

Jerad asking about missing kids and Jaden almost giving everything away before he catches himself.

Jerad you are a full grown man don’t sneak up on Alexis (14) at the abandoned dorm in the middle of the night with no one around. I don’t like this at all. Like I know he’s just looking for his story but this situation makes me very uncomfortable.

Zane Simms it up best. “Instincts vs Intelligent”

“We teach the Slifers well when they don’t skip class”

Again why couldn’t we have more chemistry dinosaurs from Bastian’s deck? Maybe it’s because I love chemistry and have a special interest in dinosaurs but I want this.

Bastian dealing Jaden’s fusion card is such a good move. What a way to shut down Jaden’s deck.

Episode 22

Not the reporter hacking in to find the missing students

Zane being impressed by Bastian and repeating Syrus previous statement “fusions are how Jaden wins all his duels” the brother really are more a like then they think

Jaden excited for the new challenge of finding a new way to win. Love the positive attitude buddy

The reporter having second thoughts about ruining duel academy because Jaden got into his head

“You make your moves at home I make mine in the field” Jaden I love the confidence.

I forgot about his carbon and diamond card. Yugioh give me more chemistry cards!!!

Jaden getting out blade and using skyscraper to help out. I love the strategy! (Also him giving the reporter war flashbacks

I forgot how fun this duel is. It’s a good back and forth I love how Jaden is still having fun.

Not Jaden winning with a hyper specific equipment spell. Only in the anime would you get the hyper specific equipment card with the particular monster.

I love Bastian’s respect as a duelist.

Not the reporter falling in love with dueling again. And giving Alexis the info about the missing students.

Jaden is representing the school.

I know au Jaden had told his dads about the match before hand. The probably steamed it and watched with the whole family/friend group. Joey and Tristian were cheering. Serenity Téa Mokuba and Mai are cheering but not as obnoxiously as the prior two. Seto, Yugi Atem, Duke and Bakura are all discussing strategy and how well both Jaden and Bastian are doing.

They are all thrilled about Jaden completing big the school duel. (Maybe Kaiba will have to schedule a trip to watch the school duel in person this year. It’s his school after all)

Maybe in the au Jaden tell his Zoro-san about the reporter and Kaiba picks him up. He’s original going to pay the guy off to stay quiet but because of his passion to find the missing students he lands a job with Kaiba Corp. (I’ll have to see if the reporter pops back up, I don’t remember)

Episode 23

I love everyone offering their favorite cards to Jaden to use in the school duel. Very classic yugioh. But could we not phrase it as “you have to win or you’ll embarrass the school.” And phrase it as “we’re here to support you, you’ve got this.” Like Jaden’s obviously feeling the pressure already. Don’t compound it.

It’s an obvious difference between DM and Gx in DM in a scene like that they would offer Yugi the cards and build up his confidence and reassure him, they believe in him. But in Gx they remind him of the pressure and how he can’t fail. It makes them offering their cards feel more like they want credit for helping him win and not because they genuinely want to support him.

Although “I want to help you be alone.”-Bastian and “you can’t be alone all by yourself.”-Alexis are iconic

Belowski! He can see duel spirits and speak Kuriboh which is great.

I love that he starts talking about how the colors are just the man’s way of keeping them down and Jaden is over it so fast. “Whatever let’s just throw down.” Aka please stop talking (about my too-san’s color system)

Is Belowski using ‘shadow powers’? Since his Moki Moki cab makes people sleepy.

I love how annoyed Jaden is with his friends fawning over Moki Moki and how great the other duelist is

“Who are you rooting for?” - Jaden “isn’t it obvious Moki Moki” - Bastian

Honestly that has to hurt. To have all of your friends root against you for seemingly no reason.

Love that Jaden realized that their weird behavior was caused by Belowski

I’m sorry but the kid was left at Duel Academy as a baby? This school is less than 10 years old how does that work? Is that the back story in the sub?

He is the first duelist who can summon real monsters in this series which is very cool. Not loving that he lives in a jail cell on campus

Au Jaden has so many questions for his Oto-san. Why is this kid kept in a cell for the same ability Atem and Yugi have?

Love that Jaden is the only student not affected by Moki Moki powers. I’m going to check it up to his own powers. Jaden is the supreme king and user of the Gentle Darkness. I think he has more power than Belowski. I also love that Belowski is surprised by this.

The explanation that Jaden loves to duel so much he just got ramped up he couldn’t sleep. No. Dark powers.

Episode 24

It’s the Chazz episode!!!

He is stranded in the ocean and he imagining Jaden with a pink and floral background? And a rainbow background? Incredible

Him falling into the ocean and blaming figment Jaden

It’s the intro of Ojama Yellow!!!

Not Chazz getting rescued. The ‘rescuer’ dumps his cards in the water the ruin them and then starts asking about Jaden. How does he know about Jaden? Chazz talks about him in his sleep.

I’m living for figment Jaden.

“Talk is cheap.” “Ya well I’m rich!” You go Chazz live up to Kaiba’s crazy rich boy talk

Dude just tried to drown him, shot him out of a submarine into a frozen wasteland. Are you trying to kill this boy?

The answer is yes as they send him in a quest through the tundra to get 40 cards

Not Chazz trying to buy the cards.

Like is the the best way to teach Chazz that money isn’t everything? No they are trying to kill him. But it is effective. He’s going to learn to cherish his cards.

Chazz found 41 so that he could give the old guy the extra. He’s a sweet heart. Though he did try to get ride of Ojama Yellow. Love this duel spirit.

“I have two brothers who are lost!” Love the set up also the reflection of Chazz’s own family. He is one of three brothers as well, but his brothers don’t treat him well. The ojamas really are the brotherhood Chazz could have had.

Oh no he only had forty! What a sweet boy. Figment Jaden “when you do nice things nice things happen to you.” And Chazz getting his last card from the ground.

50 man duel gauntlet! Chazz isn’t even fazed. Oh that’s all?

Also him winning against 50 duelist with a deck he cobbled together with cards he found in the tundra is mad impressive. Not to mention taking on the top 5-2 duelist at the same time to prove a point.

Chazz finally respects his cards!! And is talking to duel spirits!

Chazz as much as you say you don’t like Jaden you sure think about him a lot. He’s literally your inner voice.

Not the Chancellor saying he never liked his top student Czar

Is there only 50 kids at this school? Or is that just the freshman class? Or is it just the dueling gauntlet

Episode 25

Chazz it up! Chazz is up!

Love him getting not only his iconic black coat but also the ‘best deck’ from North Academy.

Love Jaden just summoning his monsters because “I have the best monsters!” Yes king I love how much he loves his deck.

Runs right in up to the two chancellors. “Where’s my opponent?!?” He’s so excited.

Chazz came with a squad “I transferred when I stoped getting the respect i deserved!” He’s read for a verbal smack down and is ready to be king

Jaden over here “I think the match is sold out.” “Oh are you the referee?” “Wait when did you switch school?” The whole grudge has flown over his head. He’s just happy to be dueling and to see Chazz again. They are here for two very different events

Au Jaden sees the helicopters fly in and thinks “my Dads are here? I hope uncle Joey doesn’t blow my cover.” The. He sees Chases brothers and is confused but sure we’ll roll with this.

Then they tell him they are live streaming the duel. And in cannon he’s excited but in the au he’s so stressed. He spent most of his childhood abounding being on camera. What if someone recognizes him and puts together he’s the Prince of Duels? Play it cool Jaden. Play it cool.

The Princeton brothers suck. Not them calling Chazz a slacker and putting all this stupid extra pressure on him. And throwing a deck at him he’s never played talking about how it’s expensive so it will win. Good sirs he already has a deck and strategy he’s been working on the whole way here and you want him to change it last minute? That’s not how you win.

Not Jaden think about how he should have brushed his hair. Or shower. Hah to be empty headed

Not Chazz having a panic attack and break down and Jaden just watching

Cannon Jaden might be starting to understand why Chazz is the way that he is but Au Jaden understand right away. He also feels pressure to succeed but his family never puts it on him. It’s all internal. Chazz is getting it externally and it’s crushing him. Too-San doesn’t talk about his childhood but from what Jaden’s leaves together from Uncle Mokuba Seto was in a sillier situation growing up

Crowler get your fake butt out of here. “I love both of these duelist.”

Chazz really does know how to work a crowd. And I’m glad the North academy kids respect him.

The armor dragons are here!!!

“I’m sorry Burst. My bad.” Not Jaden apologizing to burstinetrix I love this.

He also just got Yeeted and laughed it off. Your doing great Jaden

It took his brothers THIS long to realize Chazz isn’t using the cards they gave him.

Jaden being giddy at how great their duel is. Chazz repeating his brothers’s mantras is so sad. Can’t wait until til you learn to be silly

Chazz I love you but “you go bye bye” isnt as threatening as you think it is

Episode 26

Winged Kuriboh is here and so is Ojama Yellow!

Love Jaden immediately asking about Ojama Yellow.

Chazz you just yelled about a spirit and chasing it all over the stage in live tv. You’re not doing a great job hiding.

Jaden you shouldn’t be talking about people being weird for talking to themselves. But way to put it together that Chazz’s brothers suck.

He just wants to show Chazz that dueling is fun.

Chazz just trashed Jaden and mocked him on live tv and Jaden just laughs and talks about how much fun he’s having even though he’s losing and that Chazz should have fun to since he’s winning.

Not them cutting the feed when Chazz loses

Not Chazz’s brothers publicly disowning him. And roughing him up in front of both schools!

Way to go Jaden! Stand up to these guys.

And the whole crowd cheering for Chazz! I love this

Au Jaden is so over these two. He’s grown up around the best siblings of all time (the Kaiba brothers and the wheelers not to mention Yugi and Atem.) he knows how siblings should act. And while all the siblings he met at Duel academy so far are all crazy and different (I’m looking at you anti-Kaiba bros the Trusdales) these two are a new low.

He knows his Dads watched the duel. He’s sure he can reach out and explain somethings about the situation.

He still stands up to them and tells them off for Chazz.

But he also reaches out to Oto-san and questions how quickly they can buy their whole company. (The answer is very fast) He makes sure it won’t negatively affect Chazz before he unleashes his over protective Oto-san/#1 big brother Seto Kaiba on them.

I love Chazz deciding to stay and he was so polite talking to chancellor Sheppard.

“See you next year!” And we never see them again

Ahhh Chazz got dropped down to Slifer

I love how casually Jaden and Syrus mention the cockroaches and rats in the dorm.

“My new family is already difunctional” Chazz I love you.

Over all the school duel arc is pleasant. I’m glad we will know have silly Chazz and I have a tone of ideas for my future fics.

The DM cast were absolutely pumped for Jaden taking place in the school duel. They flew out to watch him duel. None of them were impressed with the Princeton brothers b it they were impressed by Jaden and Chazz.

Jaden sneaks away from his friends to go celebrate with his family after they get Chazz all set up in his room.

Chazz it up!

[midileduwang]

Looking for a collaborator for a fanfic!

Salhoytations Monsieur-dames! It is I, the parrot screaming nibbling at your window since last Sunday.

I'm searching for someone who could help me write a Rayfrog/Ramfrog fanfic, specifically, I'm looking for someone who can deeply understand & or relate to Bullfrog so that I can portray him convincingly. If anyone here is willing to help or just wanna shoot the shit, we can talk in the dms, however, you'll first have to answer 17 basic questions. Those questions you must answer in private, I just don't know what else to do by write it here by this point, but if there is a better way that does work, please inform me. 1. [A very crucial one] Do you love writing & by extension poetry?

2. Do you have experience with writing & or Poetry? [I don't need much, just to know if you wrote something on your own terms once.]

3. What is your favorite dinosaur [avian included]?

4. What are your favorite animals? [say dino ditto if you mentioned it in the dino question]

5. What is your favorite flower?

6. Are you a tea person, a coffee person, a hot cocoa person, neutral, or only drink cold stuff?

7. What's your favorite taste?

8. What are your favorite foods? [please specify favorite fruit as well]

9. Are you into theater? Are you a theater nerd?

10. What are your favorite art pieces? [movies, shows, plays, games, paintings, ect.]

11. What are your fictional crushes? Which fictional characters do you admire/see as a role model?

12. What's your favorite music genre/what kind of music do you listen to?

13. What sort of subcultures are you into?

14. Do you have autism? [important cuz I have autism & I need to know if we can communicate properly.]

15. Are you introverted or Extroverted?

16. How tolerant are you of noise? [can you realistically live with a parrot?]

17. What is your favorite color?

[veliseraptor]

What Dysfunctional Gods and Ghost Kinks character/Sad Queer Cultivators Show character would most enjoy having a dinosaur companion? Doesn’t have to be in a Dinotopia type scenario where that kind of thing is run of the mill, per say, though cultivators who live forever with giant lizard bffs is fun too.

Corresponding type of dino being at your discretion, of course 😉

okay well immediately off the bat I thought of this fic which features (among a lot of other really good stuff) Xiao Xingchen bringing home a baby dinosaur. and because of that fic my immediate answer was "Xiao Xingchen, give Xiao Xingchen a dinosaur companion" and you know what, I stand by it. I also feel like, if we're not calling this a regular thing in universe, Xiao Xingchen is the kind of weird where he could show up with a dinosaur and it would just be a thing that wasn't terribly surprising to anyone else, which I kind of enjoy.

it should definitely be some kind of avian-type dinosaur, though. because I said so. I like the idea of it being insectivorous. Xiao Xingchen is a friend to bugs but his dinosaur doesn't have to be

other characters who I think should also have dinosaur companions, though, and the dinosaur/dinosaur type I bestow upon them:

Xue Yang gets a velociraptor because he is my favorite, and velociraptors are also my favorite, yes, but "small, intelligent predator" also feels like the right choice and I think he'd be into it. it'd be a problem for everybody else, but. Wei Wuxian should also have a dromaeosaur but I'm less attached to a specific one for him. I think it should be bigger, though, more toward the Utahraptor end of the scale. I want a-Qing to have a small egg-thieving dinosaur. no bigger than three feet long max, preferably smaller. I mean fuck maybe I just give her Archaeopteryx or some other similarly early chicken-sized bird-dinosaur.

trying to think who else in MDZS should get a dinosaur...Jiang Cheng feels less imperative but I'd give him a parasaurolophus. don't ask me why, it just feels right.

as far as TGCF my only really strong feeling is that He Xuan gets a mosasaur. not technically a dinosaur but obviously he needs some kind of huge prehistoric marine creature and mosasaurs are particularly large and terrifying. the plesiosaur type was tempting because aesthetics but mosasaurs are ultimately bigger and scarier so

I feel like someone deserves a Therizinosaurus because they are so gloriously weird but I can't decide who would. maybe Xie Lian. I feel like Xie Lian could have a Therizinosaurus, but I'm kind of just saying that.

this is all very serious and scientific of me. but the most important thing here is that Xiao Xingchen should get to have a dinosaur companion and I think everyone can agree with me on that.

[boba-beom]

"get to know me" week 1/4 (1/8 - march 9th edition)

what mythical creature(s) do you think/believe is real? or what extinct species do you believe still exist?

i, for one, believe in genies (who live in a different realm similar to us) and dragons (more like an extinct species of reptiles' ancestors cause i started to believe that dinosaurs are more avian from the t-rex to chicken similarities)

whilst for extinct species, i still believe that the megalodon is real tbh or like other humongous sea creatures cause the deep sea is not as well explored as outer space...

lissie!! sorry I didn't get to answer it last weekend but I have this scheduled for weekend of the 16th and 17th!

ᡣ𐭩 get to know me ᡣ𐭩

for some reason in the back of my mind, I have this thought that fairies are real— and in the filipino culture we have these 'mythical creatures' called 'dwende' which is kind of like an elf/goblin. I connect both elves and fairies together — lmao I sound crazy

omg for sure there’s a possibility that the megalodon could still exist. who knows what’s in the ocean…

I think there is a dodo bird out there still, perhaps one or two. I just can’t believe that kiwi birds are a thing! :0 small flightless birds with tiny tiny wings 🥺

[an-apocalypse-of-magpies]

It is unfair for me to say that the avian dinosaurs thing is a communication barrier in palaeoblr?

Like, so long as we’re not talking in a scientific context, we all know what a bird is. We all know what a dinosaur is, as a lay description of a group of animals. And while birds are part of the dinosaur family, the insistence on referring to modern avian birds as avian dinosaurs exclusively just comes off as confusing and just a little pretentious.

Tasting History with Max Miller did a video recently on Sir Richard Owen’s dinner in the Crystal Palace dinosaur statues, and I left a comment with an interesting nugget of information about Iguanodon - namely, that it features on the town heraldry for the town of Maidstone in England, making it one of very few official heraldries with a dinosaur on it. Someone came forward, some nerdlord pushing up his glasses as he lays the truth bomb that, well actually, all birds are dinosaurs, so dinosaurs are actually very common on heraldry. But I guess if mean non-avian dinosaurs ...

Buddy, I know that birds are avian dinosaurs. It’s not some arcane secret granted only to the ancient sages. But also, I was sharing on a platform that probably doesn’t know a huge amount about palaeontology. If I’m referring to a dinosaur, I mean the big stompy fellas from millions of years ago. Nobody who read that comment would feasibly believe I was not talking about non-avian dinosaurs at the exclusion of modern avian dinosaurs.

Because if you’re going to be that exacting/pedantic, then stuff it. All terrestrial tetrapods are a kind of fish. Oh, I’m sorry, do you mean avian fish? Except fish doesn’t even work, because there’s no such single group as a fish. Everything branches, dudes. You’re allowed to refer to the trunk without having to check off every branch that comes off it.

[queenlucythevaliant]

🧬🦕

Is it cool if I get a little personal? Let me tell you about one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do: two summers ago, I got to see the Archaeopteryx fossil at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, which is also the only specimen on display in North America.

Trust me when I say that the stock clip art that I chose to obscure myself is 100% representative of the face I'm making here. If anything, the smile isn't big or goofy enough.

Here's a close-up and a diagram to show up-close what I'm actually looking at. Note the impressions of wing and tail plumage!

Diagram source

You've probably at least heard of Archaeopteryx: it's a transitional genus dating to the late Jurassic and the earliest example of what we could consider a "bird" which retains many ancestral "reptilian/dinosaur" characteristics.

Now, "bird" and "reptile" are kind of arbitrary words here because reptiles are a paraphyletic group. DNA tree-building models and sequence alignment evidence demonstrate that there's simply no way to define "reptiles" which does not also include birds; the definition of a "reptile" is a sauropsid that is not a bird. Thus, we know that all birds have a reptilian common ancestor because they arose as a branch within the sauropsid clade. Archaeopteryx is an ancient sauropsid with both avian and reptilian features; this is what we mean when we call it a transitional genus. 

But why did this transitional fossil make me smile so big that my cheeks went numb? There are several reasons, I think:

Despite its transitional characteristics, most scientists consider Archaeopteryx the first bird in the fossil record. It was also the first direct evidence that birds evolved from reptilians (the first Archaeopteryx specimen was discovered just three years after On the Origin of Species was published). Just on a basic, fundamental level, this genus is of immense scientific and historical importance and standing next to it felt like meeting a celebrity.

The particular specimen that I got to see was super cool! Unlike most Archaeopteryx fossils, which tend to be preserved on their sides, this one is preserved on its stomach with its head in three-quarter view. Thus, it's the only specimen in which the palate bones are clearly visible, and it's tetraradiate (as in non-avian theropods) rather than triradiate (as in other avians.) The palate is one of the most important features in terms of saying, "yeah, we consider this a modern bird."

Its feet are also really well-preserved! The specimen I saw clearly demonstrates that Archaeopteryx didn't have a reversed toe, but does have a hyperextendable second toe. This means that unlike modern birds, it probably had limited ability to perch; instead, it had tearing claws like a dinosaur. 

But even in contrast with other important transitional fossils - say, the Archeoceti of Wadi al Hitan in Egypt, which are amphibious ancestors of modern whales - Archaeopteryx is something special. There's a certain romance to the idea of the first bird: feathers that actually enable something like flight! (Like Buzz Lightyear, Archaeopteryxes' wings were probably used for "falling with style.") But still, there's beauty in Archeopteryx that we don’t see in other transitional fossils. In his poem "The Archeopteryx's Song," Edwin Morgan captures this glory far better than I ever could:

I am only half out of this rock of scales.

What good is armour when you want to fly?

My tail is like a stony pedestal

and not a rudder. If I sit back on it

I sniff winds, clouds, rains, fogs where

I'd be, where I'd be flying, be flying high.

Dinosaurs are spicks and

all I see when I look back

is tardy turdy bonehead swamps

whose scruples are dumb tons.

Damnable plates and plaques

can't even keep out ticks.

They think when they make the ground thunder

as they lumber for a horn-lock or a rut

that someone is afraid, that everyone is afraid,

but no one is afraid. The lords of creation

are in my mate's next egg's next egg's next egg,

stegosaur. It's feathers I need, more feathers

for the life to come. And these iron teeth

I want away, and a smooth beak

to cut the air. And these claws

on my wings, what use are they

except to drag me down, do you imagine

I am ever going to crawl again?

When I first left the crag

and flapped low and heavy over the ravine

I saw past present and future

like a dying tyrannosaur

and skimmed it with a hiss.

I will teach my sons and daughters to live

on mist and fire and fly to the stars.

And like, that’s it, right? Obviously no Archaeopteryx could possibly have any concept of bird or dinosaur. No fifteen million year-old creature could have dreamed eagles or pigeons or penguins. But God did. 

God knew from eternity that a creature called Archaeopteryx would exist. He knew that it would have a dinosaur’s sharp teeth and bony tail and yet wings and feathers to glide with. He alone could imagine a world in which creatures sharing a close relative with Archaeopteryx would have more feathers for the life to come; that the lords of the skies would be in the next egg’s next egg’s next egg.

He knew that Jesus would tell his disciples to look at birds when they were worried; that Gerard Manley Hopkins would write a poem dedicated “To Christ our Lord” in which he extolled “My heart in hiding/ Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!” God knew that the albatross, so like and yet unlike Archaeopteryx, would live its life on the wing, flying over oceans ten thousand miles at a time, and that Samuel Taylor Coleridge (a devout Christian) would write a poem in which an albatross was Christlike, and that C.S. Lewis would write a book in which an albatross was Jesus and whispered courage to a little girl in the dark. God knew that one day, in the summer of 2021, I would stand beside this fossilized evidence that Archaeopteryx really lived, staring and squinting to see all its features, grinning like an idiot and thinking, “Do you imagine I am ever going to crawl again?” 

[atherix]

New story? 👀👀

-🍂

mm 👀 So spoilers under the cut for the album, but the album that has given me these brainworms is a rock opera concept album called Broken Bride, consisting of 5 songs that tell a story. Each song is in a different style. **A bit of a warning, the album does contain religious imagery (the endtimes, not redemption or salvation or damnation) as well as descriptions of mild gore and suicide.**

Broken Bride from Ludo shares a similar story to The Time Machine film, where the plot is driven by the death of the protagonist's partner (thus the Broken Bride).

I want you to know I started rambling IN DETAIL about each individual song holy shit I stopped myself and started over because I was getting. Way too into it.

So the story is the protagonist is driven by obsession for fifteen years to try and save his wife who died in a car accident, by going back in time and keeping her from getting out of the bed that morning. It turns out time machines are hard to control and he ends up propelled back to the age of the dinosaurs, where he's driven into a cave by pterodactyls. It cuts to the far distant future at the endtimes, with a conversation between a young boy and the mayor of a city. The mayor states there's nothing he can do about the families suffering outside, denounces god (real smart move at the endtimes huh) and praises their king before shooting himself in front of this kid. The boy has seen some shit by now so just steps up and rallies the people not to just pray for saving, but to fight. Back to the past, the protagonist reminisces on the days he and his wife spent together, and how after she died no one could help him or convince him to move on, and he reaffirms that he will save her. He makes a run through the swarm of pterodactyls and gets to the machine, only for the machine to malfunction and send him- you guessed it- to the endtimes. He witnesses firsthand what is happening here, learns about the king who is fighting against god. The dragon of the endtimes rises and the protagonist is watching so many people die, and in that moment he realizes he can't change what has already happened but he can change what could happen. He sacrifices his time machine, saying "I've got dragons of my own," indicating he brings the fucking swarm of pterodactyls to the future to fight the dragon, the machine blows up and kills him but the endtimes are stopped with the fall of the dragon. He is confronted by god or angels, not sure which, who praise his sacrifice but notice despite saving them, he's still suffering. He requests one more day with his late wife, just long enough to say goodbye as he's realized he can't save her. They grant this and he goes back to his home the morning she died. Instead of trying to keep her home, knowing he can't change what happened, he gets in the car with her. The accident still happens, only this time he's with her. (I assume for paradoxical purposes that this had no bearing on reality and he was only there in spirit, since he was already dead? Idk lol)

So. The story in my head that this album has shoved there- obviously we’re replacing all the religious stuff with Minecraft stuff, I’ll probably use my Pantheons stuff and the Ender Dragon. So yeah.

Just a warning- this contains Major Character Death as well as canon characters in antagonistic roles.

So obviously Mumbo would be the inventor. He and Grian, an Avian ofc because I’m me, have known each other for a long time, and been together from nearly the beginning- think “as soon as they were old enough to date.” Like highschool sweethearts, maybe even middle school sweethearts. They were the It Couple, deeply loyal to one another. It was not necessarily a healthy relationship, the depths of their devotion to each other, but they were happy and they took care of each other.

One day there’s a tragic accident in which Grian unfortunately does not survive, which naturally drives Mumbo to the brink of madness. He dedicates himself to building a time machine to try and stop the accident, and he successfully builds one after years and years of trying only to end up stranded throughout time- he meets new and interesting people in different time periods he gets thrown into, and maybe has a little run in with a Wither and maybe even a Warden along the way. Ancient Cities in flesh and blood, long-dead kings and queens- he sees it all. 

Until one of the time periods he gets thrown into is the far future, where the Ender Dragon is destroying everything and the world is under siege of the undead. Everything has gone wrong- think Blood Moon in RLCraft, only all the time. He meets Scar, an Elf who works for the King (Ren) to try and fight the Ender Dragon and save their world. Mumbo is separated from his time machine by Ren, who is going a bit mad now and is slipping, and Mumbo’s trapped for months in this apocalypse under Scar’s watch. The two of them bond over this time, and Mumbo learns more about what happened; the end of the world started when Scar was a child, he’s lived his entire life under siege of the dead and the dragon. He became involved with the king’s court when he was barely a teen, when he stopped asking for help and started helping others instead, fighting off the hordes of undead and trying to save as many people as possible. He is now one of the most respected warriors, though he wants nothing more than to be able to put down his bow and just create. 

Of course, there’s undertones of Redscape during this time but Mumbo is still deeply devoted to the long-dead Grian and can’t bring himself to move on. Scar, after Ren goes off the deep end and starts supporting the End, breaks Mumbo out of the castle and gets him back to where the time machine is hidden away, telling him to go back home and live his life in peace, thousands and thousands of years before the End Dragon breaches the unprepared Overworld.

Mumbo has started to realize by now that he can’t rewrite the past, as it’s what makes up his present- who, what and where he is now. These are all things that are going to happen, no matter what he does; it’s already witnessed and already written. What isn’t set in stone is how this war ends, as it has not been witnessed or written yet. So, knowing now that he can neither save Grian nor live happily without him... he makes a choice.

And that’s all I’m going to say :) I won’t say it’ll have a sad ending but it is a very bittersweet one. It’s not a 1:1 with the song but I don’t want to say what it would be hjghjjk

[thegoldenshi-shi]

OH NO! I WAS TOO DISTRACTED SQUEALING TO EVERYONE TO ACTUALLY THANK YOU FOR THE MECHS IN DRESS CLOTHES. I AM SO SORRY

They are bootiful, and I wuv dem, and gods damnit I need to clear off enough space on my desk so I can doodle them too. Also, I am happy to see steadily more and more people popping up to compliment Sides, he deserves to be in the spotlight. Sunny may have traditional beauty down, but Sides is that handsome boy next door whom spends their entire youth as an outdoor-playing sort of "dirty", and then cleans up and all of a sudden every girl within a five mile radius suddenly does that one spongebob meme of "Oh no, he's hawt!". And he deserves to be recognized for it, hehe. Even if both mechs are far too confident to get blushy from compliments, which is a true crime, tbh, cause both need to be seen hella positively flustered.

Also! I took Friday off of work because the jerkweed at my job was insistent on buying us lunch as a bribe, and I have too many complex feelings about people giving me things to let myself feel like I owe him. So I got to hang out with my dad, and we're gonna be sealing up my ladybug leaking window today after work. In other news /dun dun/ I was goofing around playing modded Ark: Survival Evolved (specified, cause I talk to a lot of people who don't know what that is, its about dinosaurs) and said mod was hybridization. So I made a manta omanite abomination monster. Twas chthulu, but as a bird. And I love him. I am naming him Flappy when I get home.

On an even different note, cause I've been doing my coloring books again recently, I've been debating on posting the progress of my books onto tumblr, cause I bought a one-sided-page book simply for the express purpose of being able to take the pages out and gift them to friends, so I thought it would be cool to have a visual timeline of what I have done, and how far along I got with different pieces. It would also mean I can take my watercolor pencils to the page the way I wanted to, without worrying about ruining the next page. Downside, I am terrified of posting stuff online, because I internalize everything negative people say about me, whilst simultaneously disregarding all the nice things people say. I am working on unlearning that, which being slightly more active in the interwebs would help with (exposure therapy, whooooo....)

Did/do you celebrate easter?

~Smooch 💜

Hehe, you are very welcome Smooch.

I'm glad you liked them. Sideswipe is a growing favorite I've noticed, and it really is a lot of fun to watch happen. Sunny is still probably the most popular of my designs, but his brother is coming on fast hehe. I REALLY want to draw some more robots soon, despite my other projects. I'm the mood for Mirage and Tracks atm, so we'll see what happens hehe

While the circumstances were not ideal, it is good that you got to spend time with your dad. And I guess congratulations are in order for your avian Cthulu lol Also congratulations for finding time to do your coloring books again. Coloring books are supposed to be really therapeutic(so I hear).

On your possible tumblr posting: I too like to have a timeline on some of my projects just as a record/checkpoint. Tumblr blogs are really good for that I have to admit. Your downside is my downside as well. It's hard to accept compliments and even harder to deal with negative nancy barking up your notifications. I still get nervous over pieces I post, particularly my original works, so don't feel bad. I admit that exposure therapy HAS helped me, but if you feel like it won't help you, then don't do it. But unfortunately, you won't know until you try.

And yes, I do celebrate Easter hehe. I play piano for my church so that's one of my busier times of year outside of Christmas (dear Lord at the Christmas carols…). I even dyed Easter eggs to give out to the kids at church this year, so I really got into it this time. It's also the time of year I get together with some of my extended family, so it's fun (and kinda tiring hehe)

[talkingwithghosts555]

Massage-Conversation with the Avian, Roth

My guide, Roth, is from the ET species of “Blue Avian” and while I understand that there are many star people that guide those of us on earth, I also know there’s been a lot of conversation about disclosure and aliens, so I’d like to just introduce him as Roth. He’s lived, mostly, in ancient civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis…he’s telling me now, “when dinosaurs roamed the earth” and it’s in a joking way. Let’s just say he’s old old old and I had to do a lot of shadow work and come to a place in my spiritual journey where we could connect…again to be able to sit and have chats with him to share with all of you. Here’s Roth.

R: Ah. See now. All is right with the world.

K: O…kay. (He’s very casual and lighthearted this morning. Usually, he’s a bit of a grump.) Good morning to you too. How are you?

R: Very well. I’ve been waiting a long time for this. Shall we begin?

K: Did you have a topic in mind?

R: No. The topics of discussion are up to you.

K: Groovy. Sometimes it’s pretty easy to come up with them but other times, it’s not.

R: And if it’s not easy to come up with a conversation topic to discuss with…energies that are not human but can understand humanity and the human spirit, then it is best not to push an agenda and make space so that topic ideas and suggestions that come up in your day to day, can rise into your mind as an idea.

K: Huh.

R: Huh?

K: I’m going to have to get used to you.

R: We’ve done this many times. You’re in the throws of remembering which excites me. I am a patient…(grins) man.

Roth is a blue avian and as I’m channeling this message, I hear a blue jay outside my window. I love how I get validation.

K: Nice touch.

R: I try.

K: Okay, well I was interested in hearing someone’s views on a topic that I was chewing on for the last couple of days. How well do you know the human species?

R: I am familiar with the human species having lived as one many many years ago. You are aware.

K: Years or…centuries ago.

R: (smiles) It’s been some time.

K: I thought I would ask about massage.

R: (Shifts in his seat to get comfortable. The leather chair returns. Very cool.) The bit of massage or these therapies…modalities that people use to feel better or become…aligned with.

K: Sure.

I look at Roth for a moment. I appreciate that he comes as “human” and I know that it’s just for show but when he comes in as the Avian, I get distracted. So, he comes as he looked when he last lived as a human being…I guess when he lived as a “Starseed”.

R: They’re very good. Very good. The body holds so much information however, the information that is held is sometimes trapped within various parts of the body. It can be held in the bone, the tissue, the fascia, the nerves. DNA that is termed the junk DNA, is not just held in one place. It is held in many areas of the body. So, one day, an individual may have pain or discomfort in the eye. Yes, absolutely, it is important to get these things looked at by a physician. We are not saying that because one has pain, it is always because of spirituality or energetics…quantum things of this nature.

K: Of course.

R: But to some degree, even if it is quite minimal, there is activation going on. But that is always something to look into after the initial exam by a healthcare professional which…is changing rapidly at the moment.

K: I feel like healthcare…more because of red tape and government, is falling apart. At least I feel that where I am.

R: Yes. But what falls apart comes back together always…in an evolved way and will grow to incorporate much that people won’t recognize today. There is a lot of studies going on in gene therapy and so on and this will uncover that quantum aspect and healthcare will progress far more rapidly than it has been because it will be able to incorporate quantum and physical as one whole and complete being.

K: I’m going to get into a little bit of conspiracy.

R: That’s alright. It’s entertaining to me.

K: Is that because the contracts with the “reptilians” and the various ETs that are up to no good…it’s over so the whole light and dark battle is working itself out and there can be progress where the whole “dark races” have kept us in a frequency holding pattern? Now we can really evolve because it’s like…we can’t be held back anymore since the frequency of the planet has changed?

R: To put it plainly, and I realize that this sort of topic is of great interest to people that would like answers about these beings…yes. They are one frequency. Earth has evolved to another. Think of it like this… (leans forward and clasps hands on his knees, thinking) and I will speak of them in a menacing way…(winks) the “dark forces”. They lived in a frequency of one (shows finger) to five (shows fingers). Now, they can live in frequencies of six through twelve however, it is very difficult to keep hold of that. Humans are now living at six and will progress through twelve…being an example only. If I were to use other language, I’m not sure it would be understood so we keep it simple.

K: Yes.

R: Frequencies of six through twelve are free. They are big and expansive. They don’t feel as if you are being weighted down or tied down. The body changes in these frequencies and everything that has been weighted down can now be let loose. The physical body cannot do that all at once and sometimes, the physical body requires assistance to free these things that the soul has taken with them through their travels as a spirit…which is what these wholistic modalities can achieve. They can assist in freeing these frequencies…these energies.

K: Got it.

R: Why?

K: Why?

R: Why do you ask?

K: For the past couple of years, I have been going very heavy on the massage, chiropractor and acupuncture. Like…really heavy. I go all the time because I’m in a position that I can afford to do that.

R: Absolutely. Which is why we’ve been able to find each other.

K: (takes a breath to register what he said) Wow! Really???

R: The work you do reveals much that has been buried until the time that it is released. Connections like me or the ones you have been introduced to cannot happen or cannot be reunited until the human comes to a point that they have done the work to shine their own light on parts that they have chosen to hide away because the combination to that lock is very deep shadow and soul work using the light that one has, that one experiences.

K: Because, I have to say, since using these modalities, the spiritual work has been heavy and not easy but then it’s like, I get these times of direction and purpose and…letting go of this…thing that I was trying to achieve is way easier than it was before. I also don’t take things too seriously anymore, but the emotional triggers are just one after the other for real.

R: Yes. Well, I will explain something that might make it easier for you.

K: What’s that?

R: The human liver is a very spiritual organ. It does not just detox the physical. It detoxes the emotional as well. People assume that the heart does a lot of the emotional work, and it does. But the liver does a lot of the detoxing of the…lower vibrational states of the human…if you would like to think of it in those terms, however, I am well aware that those types of words do not resonate with you.

K: No.

R: But for simplicity’s sake, let’s go there.

K: Okay.

R: So, while the human is being massaged, adjusted, energized by tiny needles…not only does the liver have to detox what’s being released…on a physical level but it also must detox what is there at an energetic…vibrational and quantum level.

K: Wow. That’s actually really cool. So, all these random emotions of frustration and anger…they’re completely natural and nothing to worry about…really. I mean, I can’t go off half-cocked to anyone if I’m detoxing stuff from different lives or experiences as a part of heaven.

R: Yes. You’re good. Nothing to worry about.

K: Very cool.

R: But it does not give anyone permission to treat people like a whipping post because someone cannot gain control of what their triggers are or how they are feeling. That is the process of levelling up…as one would say.

K: For sure. Absolutely because as we…the humans…are detoxing…so is the world around us so if we can hold our center than that’s sort of catchy, and the world can sort of hold its center too as it does it’s detoxing.

R: Yes.

K: Does the Earth have its massage therapists and acupuncturists…those would be some rather large needles.

R: For example…crop circles, are not just messages. They are a modality the earth uses as a healing tool.

K: No…way…

R: Yes. Crystals, placed in the earth, can be likened to acupuncture needles. The crystals that are mined are allowed to be mined. If they were not allowed to be seen, individuals would not see them when they dig their holes.

K: This is crazy. For real. It’s like it’s all very controlled…it seems even though, through my eyes, I see a lot of chaos.

R: Just as there is a lot of chaos in the individual that is paralleling the detoxification within their own physical form.

K: You know what?

R: What?

K: I’ve missed this. I learn so much from these conversations. Thank you.

R: You’re welcome. It was nice to sit with you this way. I do enjoy writing the story and being able to support your remembrance through that, but this is good too. This is very good.

K: And I usually try to keep these conversations or writeups short because of attention spans.

R: (chuckles) Hhhmmm…I seem to recall a child with the attention span of zero.

K: Ha ha. I’m not that little girl anymore…or living that existence anymore either.

R: I’m aware. Go. Be on your way. I enjoy the little bread crumb…dangling carrot conversations that opens doors for people but I do also respect that you have much on your plate today so I will end this call and speak with you later.

K: Thank you. I appreciate that. I have to get the boy moving if he wants a ride to the gym.

R: (chuckles) He is his father’s boy.

K: You’ll have to tell me about that some time. I never really wanted to dive into that life a lot.

R: Oh, I will. Go. I’ll talk to you soon.

K: Thanks. See you, Roth. Love you.

R: I love you. Be well.

Gone.

[theherosreturn]

????: Grah!

That call was a herald of backup, with V gaining aid from Emir. The result? The pest bots being crushed by a dinosaur dragon bike.

Bradley: …well, I’m not looking this gift Chocobo in the mouth.

More roars would also herald several more beastly allies…Eunie could be heard from here practically screaming “WHAT THE SNUFF?!?” the moment she saw Shift seemingly appear out of nowhere and steal vital components from the massive slug without harm

*After the components were stolen along with Emir getting rid of the last of the pest bots, both Weapons finally let loose Optimized Ultima when the weak spot was exposed...The metallic beast would soon fall to the earth and into a massive lake*

Ross: Holy s***! I guess I "can" scratch that off of my bucket list of killing a giant slug!

Diana: Thankfully that thing couldn't do whatever it was designed to do since it was dangerously close to the planet's surface...Almost like it was attempting to crash into the planet...

(Meanwhile within the massive lake)

*What the heroes didn't know was that Code Stringer had a contingency plan in case the Omega Solver Slug failed its task at assimilating the planet...The underbelly of the beast soon burst open as thousands of metallic slime creatures slithered their way out and all splitted off to various random directions...All except for one Epsilon Slug and one Upsilon Slug who noticed the blue haired Metarunner wandering about in these strange lands...They both began to stalk but wouldn't strike until the time was just right...*

(Meanwhile within Cosmic Sam's fortress)

*One of the many scouts for the God of Cosmic Corruption had arrived with a very special trinket that both fascinated and interested Cosmic Sam with how much spiritual energy lied within this avian skull looking mask...It's as if the soul that resided in the mask refused to move on...*

Cosmic Sam, as he slowly began looking through the trapped soul's memories: Well now...It appears I'm going to need to look deeper into "Who" you are and what goal drives you so much, you refuse to pass on until it's complete at last...*He soon finally got the name of this soul along with a few of its memories*...Well now...Perhaps once I'm finished looking into you, I can free you from your tomb and allow you to join me in this quest for power...Ravenbeak~...

*The eyes of the mask of the fallen Chozo Warrior had flickered red for but a single moment...A foreboding sign of what's to come...*

[bearberrythief]

The whole thing adinosauraday went through the other day with people arguing that yes birds are dinosaurs but also not really has me thinking about my thesis. One of the things I noticed while I was writing it is that the idea of a dinosaur as a cultural object does not neatly overlap with scientific consensus of what a dinosaur is to the point that people feel confident arguing with an actual paleontologist that no, birds aren't dinosaurs actually. In my thesis I ended up saying that the dinosaur as a cultural object is "big, scaly and extinct" and that there is a refusal to confront that dinosaurs exist outside that description, even too the point that paleoartists had to convince audiences that dinosaurs were animals rather than monsters. I mainly dealt with how dinosaurs were understood at the turn of the nineteenth century, but I think there's an argument to be made that the dinosaur as it exists a cultural object has more in common with that nineteenth century understanding of evolution and dinosaurs than current scientific consensus. Plenty of it is down to a lack of science education and literacy, as well as a lack of curiosity, but I think some of it has to do with the life of images and the way people negotiate categorization. Most people don't know how to read a phylogenetic tree, but they can look at a Charles Knight painting or the crystal palace sculptures or the land before time and absorb that image.

There's something to be said about anti science beliefs here as well. I spent a lot of time in my thesis looking at how the category of dinosaur was not always placed with the category of animal, and how that got in the way of (and continues to get) in the way of understanding them as living and once-living beings. A lot of pre-darwinian approaches to categorizing living things relied on rigid, fundamentally hierarchical systems of orzanization, and I think that rigidity is still persent in many ways down to an outright rejection that the categories of bird and dinosaur overlap. And a lot of that rigidity comes from a deeply Christian understanding of living things as discrete beings made by God, unchanging and neat.

There's a reason why evolutionary theory met and continues to meet so much resistance from conservative and Christian places, and it's that it threatens the hierarchies those systems are interested in preserving. If that hierarchy of rigid, discrete categories, of men over woman, of white supremacy, human over animal, mammal over reptile, living over non-living is threatened, so are all the systems of power we deal with. The rigidity and inflexibility of holding birds and dinosaurs as separate categories (despite the scientific evidence!) Has an awful lot in common with the reluctance to break down the imaginary line between human/animal, white/black, man/woman.

But to take this back to birds the thing is, images of birdlike non-avian dinosaurs aren't new. Huxley proposed an evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs in fucking 1869, and scientists like E.D. Cope picked up that idea and used it! Insert Charles R. Knight Leaping Laelaps 1897. There are images of non-avian dinosaurs looking and acting fairly birdlike from the nineteenth century! They're just not as well known as other artworks. And there are a plethora of images of birdlike non-avian dinosaurs being produced right now, but they're being produced alongside things like the latest jurassic park movies that use an outdated, inaccurate image of dinosaurs. The cultural object of a dinosaur is in conflict with what scientists know about dinosaurs, and that is a problem.

As well as an issue with scientific literacy, I think there is an issue with art literacy. This is where I get out my big everyone should learn visual analysis and get an art education sign. One of the first things we in art history teach our students is to remember that a person made every image you see, and they made desicions about what to show and how to show it. Paleoart is an amazing educational tool, but I don't think the average person is necessarily comparing it with that cultural image of dinosaur=big, scaly, extinct beyond a casual glance, or aware of its limitations as an artwork. And they should be, just as the average person should have an understanding of evolution beyond a hazy idea of Darwin's finches.

I dunno, this is getting off track.

TLDR; birds are dinosaurs, the great chain of being haunts us to this day. more scientific literacy needed, more art literacy needed.

[chirrups]

Okay but as a fellow bird obsessed person I NEED to know if you have a passing fixation on prehistoric raptors because that happened to me reccently where I went "man I learnt so much about birds...I need more" so I just started looking at beta birds fhdjsvjs

YES! SAME! but bro it was very much NOT in passing, i've been a theropod nerd since i was like seven years old.

i've been on the "MORE DINOS" propaganda juice for a while lmao. it's a pretty pervasive thing in my hermitcraft grian design (and by extension most other "avian" designs as well) because early raptor anatomy is just so much easier to blend with humans than modern birds

but yes! the entire saurian family tree is WILD. avian dinosaurs are popular ones but there are some fun relatives like toothed seabirds (pelagornithids) and the "opposite birds" (enantiornithes) that are just so fascinating.

they recently started reorganizing the troodon taxon too (as it was basically used as a catch-all for any raptors that didn't fit existing families and genus), so we might get even more prehistoric raptor groups in the future

i've just been latching onto PBS EONS videos for my avian dinosaur fix so far. but holy shit if you haven't, go watch Dead Sound's Dinosauria series and Making of follow-ups. he's an incredibly talented storyteller and is a god at integrating scientific fact with fiction. while he does cover all dinosaurs, not just avian ones, he's very knowledgable about the paleontology scene and i learned so much by just hearing him talk about the dinosaurs he was covering