Absence

Guess who's getting hitched on New Year's Day?!

I've had a busy, wonderful time away from the blog. Thanks, everyone!

Extra, EXTRA thanks to Mr. Popular for the AWESOME gift!

...and 1/1/11 is an anniversary date even my crappy memory won't soon forget!

CC'd Dino Bits

Once again, another head's up from Mr. Popular, who's on a Roller Derby Drawin' Tear recently (Go check out his new drawings!):

My goodness.. if I had the stand-up talent.. and could pull off "surly and argumentative" (I can't), this would be my routine.

BONUS:



Mmmm.... I like it!

Not as weird as you think!

(Thanks, man!)

EDIT: Both the video and the picture are from SuperPunch. I need to spend more time there.

You got your dinosaurs all over my derby!

So Mr. Popular just finished the poster for our next bout, which, if I'm not mistaken, he will be attending. And staying with us while he's in town. Check it out:

I like to think that the otherwise unexplainable dinosaur motif is something in the way of couch-sleeping compensation. Lord knows it confused the derby girls...

Great job!

T-Bone

This kind of immediate personal recognition seems to only happen when I watch television made for people 25 years younger than me. Usually cartoons.

This is me.

I'm off to Eugene, Oregon for another TVR Roller Derby bout. Man, I'm liking the travel perks that go along with this gig!

We're not expected to win, but we'll give 'em a showin'!

Oh, and it's spring break at BSU next week. I may get less lazy and post more often!

No promises. I'm lazy.

Sometimes, you need a push...

Yep.. still feelin' lazy.

(But busy)

Sorry guys.

Panel from Delgado's new Age of Reptiles: The Journey, which is *awesome* if you.. well.. like dinosaurs.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hugs 'n Kisses!

Still Here...

Just unbelievably busy. Some things have to be put on hold, I'm afraid.

You would not believe the year I'm having...

Anyhoo.. here's a funny from my favorite daily web comic, SMBC:

Seriously, this guy has an amazing sense of humor...

Laters!

I've Done This. I Have the Toys to Prove it

No time to post - I had a long meeting followed by an equally long interview.

Keep your fingers crossed.

So.. here's some Nazi Dinosaurs instead.

Germany Gets Me

Lieber Saturn auf Deutschland...



Well done.

My Haul

Well, part of it anyway. The blog-relative stuff. I got other, more personal things, too.

I must've been very very good.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Couldn't be better

I'd just like to mention that last night's episode of the utterly fantastic new cartoon series Batman: The Brave and the Bold was an entire story where Batman and Plastic Man teamed up to fight Gorilla Grodd and his Apes in the Savage Land to save all of the Caribbean from evolving into simian mind slaves.

And there was a scene where Batman and Plastic Man fought laser gun totin' apes riding Pterodactyls.

And at one point, Batman became BatApe.

So, yeah. They got my letter.

I am so very very impressed with this absolutely fun li'l cartoon! I dare you not to smile while watching it!

Blatent Rip-Off Monday

Hmmm.. wonder what they were going for here... Li'l tyke seems awfully familiar...

Last Month...

Ah.. memories!

That reminds me.. I really need to write to my brother. Do they allow comics in county?

And why did Pat's mom keep her birth control in the kitchen cupboard?

A: 'cause in 1956, that's where her place was!

(B'dum, Ching!)

I keed, I keed...

EDIT: Hey! Check out what Mr. Popular drew over at Daily Sketch today!

Grimlock bringing me a fruit pie == teh awesome! (Is that how the kids are saying it?)

Thanks, man!

Memories...

I've gotta go and score a Derby bout in about an hour (and yes derby ladies .. I can be bribed!), so here's a quickie.

But, not just any quickie ... just the Best. Single. Comic Strip. Ever.

(at least, I think so!)

Click for Biggie
And the bestest part?

That dude already has two kills! And cool shades!

Man, I so love this strip. And miss it. I know we all do. Watterson was the best ever, and for me - this was my favorite.

On the Birds and Bees, Plants and 150 ton Sauropods

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm off to romp around in the snow... but before I go, I thought I'd reprint a little essay I wrote back in the day when I was a young wannabe Paleontology student. I usually dust a version of this thing off every year and make a story out of it for the kiddies.

Yeah, I'm a dork.

---

On Birds and Bees, Plants and 150 ton Sauropods

Evolution's a funny thing. Like crop circles and Seurat paintings, it reveals itself only when you step way back and look at the generalities. Up close, cracks start to appear, but - taken as an overall, evolution teaches us a lot of fascinating lessons about how we can look at the world. It works really well if we have a unbroken fossil record (for the most part) over 150 million years long.

150 million years ago, the flora did not look like it does today. That probably seems obvious, but the differences were huge. There were no flowers. There was no fruit. No berries. No oaks, no elms, no hardwood trees, really. Nothing we could call a crop plant. No real bushes. Fact is, if you look outside your window, 99% of the plants you see did not exist at that time. And, I don't mean that particular bush you're looking at wasn't there - I mean that bush's entire family didn't exist.

What did exist were mainly softwood ground plants. Some just happen to be tall enough that you could call them trees, 'cept they weren't. Just big-ass ferns, really. Swampy plants. Cycads, Ginkos, Scrub, Vines, Pines, etc. You've probably seen recreations. It's all pretty uniform and uncreative, plant-wise, but then again, plants were just starting out. We'll cut 'em some slack.

But about 75 million years ago, that suddenly changed. And by "suddenly" I mean to say almost overnight, evolutionarily speaking. After this great awakening, pine cones started to make room for fruit. Flowers shared space with the ground scrub. Different trees started to create new forests. What happened? What forced plants to so dramatically change in such a short period of time?

(You people who know me already know what my next word is going to be...)


Dinosaurs!

See, the period we're talking about here is the Mid-Jurassic, which is the era of big dinosaurs. Dinosaurs in general are pretty big, I know - but this was the age of the giants. These dinosaurs were massive. Never before or since did this planet have such a vast amount of the largest animals ever - the sauropods.

Sauropods are those huge four-legged, long tail, long necked, little head plant eaters. Brachiosaurs and the like. You know that seen in Jurassic Park where they come over the hill and see that huge animal for the first time eating leaves from the treetops? The one that sneezed on the kid later in the movie? Brachiosaur. Nothing has ever been bigger.

(One particular fossil we've found was reconstructed into a critter well over 130 feet long. 130 feet. Imagine that. A creature that would be cramped in a football field. It was named Seismosaurus, because surely, when it walked, the earth quaked.)

Having so many huge herbivores lumbering around made it a bad time to be a plant. Epically when your means of reproducing was basically wind-driven and sporadic (hah! pun!) at best. Something had to be done to ensure new plants were coming along faster than the old plants were getting gobbled up. A new method of reproduction had to happen.

Hey! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Why not make the critters work for us? Soon, seeds were stored in fruit and offered to the giants who could (ahem) deposit them in new places. About this time burrs and sticky seeds started to appear. And, why just pick on the big guys? There are insects, too! Flowers began cropping up everywhere.

The landscape changed. By the end of the dinosaurs age (they still have another 75 million or so to go) plain, swampy greens and browns were replaced colorful fields and exotic flowers. Forests changed, too - trees became sturdier to better withstand the giants within. It must've been like when Dorothy landed in Oz and film changed to color. Except, it... um.. took longer.

So, while you're enjoying your Christmas Poinsettia, garnishing with cranberries, enjoying your fruit-of-the-month-club gift membership your aunt Petunia sent you, or - heck - munching on your fruitcake this holiday season - be sure to take the time to give a little thanks to our favorite big-ass four legged herbivores - the Sauropods!


Have a good holiday, everyone. May you find your lives immersed with the season.

Pass the Eye Bleach, Please...

Okay, okay.. why the hell not...

I know, I know. I scare myself sometimes, too...

But you gotta admit.. that's a darn funny cover. Well worth your 2 bits just to see what happens inside!

(That Dino cracks me up...)

Happy 4th!

Well, I just finished work and now I'm off to take full advantage of my vacation! I don't think I'll be posting again until Monday, but you never know - it's going to be 100+ degrees here through the weekend and I might get a little sick of camping and head back before then. Or if a dog passes out. Or I run out of beer. And bourbon.

In the spirit of the holiday, I thought I'd leave you all with a reminder of what makes America great:

Yes. American Dinosaurs. Kinda brings a tear to my li'l patriotic eye...

*sniff*

Enjoy the holiday, kids!

More than meets the summer box office receipts

'Plosions! Yay!

With much respect to Ryan over at (the fantastic) Dinosaur Comics. Meant well. Honest.

This movie going to have a fantastic opening weekend. Even if it sucks.

(Guess where I'm off to tonight?)

EDIT: Yes, I mispelled "Bey's" name initially. Fixed. Once. Second one is Grimlock's insult.

Bonus Update: Mesozoic Mind!

Wow. And I mean... WOW! I totally forgot about this one...

Seriously, if you don't smile at this at least once, you're in trouble, kiddies!

That's good 80s Dino-Cheese, right there..

(tee hee!)

Dinosaurs Make Everything Better

LOLLERSAURS!




LOLLERSAURS!!




LOLLERSAURS!!!




LOLLERSAURS!!!!




LOLLERSAURS!!!!!



Lollersaurs. I iz ginuz.

Tuesday Already?

Boy, that was a fun vacation! Not that I actually did anything, but I certainly had fun doing nothing! Well, not nothing, per say... but... um let's just say that I probably won't be frequenting a certain bar again anytime in the near future.

(Psst! Wanna know the warning signs that you've probably overdid it a bit? When your "Oh, just for a few hours" bar trip turns into a 2-day incident involving three cops, two bar fights, 4 dogs, a $125 bar tab, 3 strange women doing very strange things, a couple of hours where you forgot where your car is parked - but it's probably for the best that way, telling a perfect stranger that sure, you'll bail him out of jail - and knowing there's no way in hell you're going to do it, repeatedly calling one girl "Squiggy" because you can't remember her real name - and it seemed to suit her somehow, and waking up to learn that you had crazy-glued little plastic dinosaurs on the ceiling above your bed. Oh, and throwing up on the dog. Twice, I think. S'hard to tell, really.)

(FYI: No incident involving police, jail, or bar fights had anything to do with me. But it was fun to watch the drama of them all.)

Anyway, now that vacation's over, what's the first order of business?

Yikes!

umm.. can I take away his credit cards?

Whelp, still recovereing, so we'll make this one a quickie. For now.

(Above panel is from Lois Lane #4 (1959), a comic that I simply must own, and is quite possibly the first time the word "blog" was ever used.)

(And many thoughts, prayers, and good wishes to Adam, who lost a very close friend over the weekend. You did good, man. From the moment you first set eyes on him, you did good.)