Well, you know, some bathroom graffiti offers insight.
Red marker handwriting on a bathroom wall. Text reads:
“Boss made a dollar Granddad made a dime But that was a poem From a simpler time.
Boss made a thousand Gave pa a cent But that penny paid the mortgage Or at least it paid the rent
Now Boss makes a million And gives us jack Smugly blames the workers For the labor that he lacks.”
And the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.
every so often I remember that whales molt
I’m not sure why I feel this way, but imo this is the most cursed marine mammal fact I have ever heard
THAT’S RIGHT AND THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME SO I CAN INFLICT THIS ON EVERYONE AT 1AM!
Mammals normally shed their skin in small flakes all the time when their skin cells die off, but because whales are living in the ocean -AKA, Bacteria Stew- flaking off like that would cause microabrasions (really tiny cuts) that would mean the whale is continually fighting off infections. So, when a whale needs to replace it’s dead skin cells, it preps it’s new skin underneath, then sheds all it’s dead skin cells at once, like a lizard:
but not having hands makes it hard to remove this gross film, so molting brings many whales clsoe to shore where they can roll around on rocky/sandy coastal seabeds to scratch it off. Here’s a bunch of Beluga coming in for a mass scratch:
And THIS is what a chunk of Sperm Whale Molt looks like, floating in the water before it’s devoured by pelagic microfauna, because you take what calories you can get in the open ocean:
Nature is Amazing!
wish it still held in one big piece like a snake though. Wish you could be swimming in the ocean and you see a huge empty whale billowing like a balloon. like a latex glove a hundred feet long. imagine getting tangled in that. what if you died cause you got caught in an empty whale like it’s a big blanket
Amidst the enigmatic enclave of El Tigre in Mexico, archaeologists have unearthed the skeleton of a young, sacrificed Mayan with a large jade ring buried inside a jar.
what th
I’VE BEEN TRYING TO find this again for THREE YEARS but once Free! came out I couldn’t google ANIME SWIMMING CLIP ANYMORE
This is such a god damn amazing piece of animation
This is a perfect example of why we need things designed for a variety of body types. Far too many plus-sized clothes are skinny clothes just made bigger, which rarely (if ever) have the desired effect. Not only do things not look the same in this context, it’s fair to say they were not designed (or redesigned) to look good on these different body shapes. The options are often mumus or things not really designed for you.
This man has come up with a variety of amazing outfits that look fantastic on his body. We need more of this.
I love you sir. You are gorgeous and we should say so.
if u american hozier fans like butchered tongue may i direct your attention to
Why Hawaii needs a break from tourism — perspective from local resident palanichang on tiktok
some of these gilgamesh drink rhymes are losing the thread a little. like these are just regular drinks now i'm seeing
4/5ths vodka and 1/5th cranberry makes you forget you were ever angery delicious so good it makes you drunk vodka cranberry giglemesh ut makes you drunk
Chow mein cookies; 1968
as a child I used to eat those exact noodles with peanut butter, it was my favorite snack; I stopped after I got bullied to absolute hell and back for it at school. feeling retroactively justified
Completely broke after the events of this summer, but the kitchen is pretty barren and my cellphone bill went unpaid. If a few people can spare like 5-10$ (or just reblog this post) then, maybe we can afford to hit the grocery store or even reactivate my phone- pretty important for the job search
Ok back on my croc stuff, today discussing Baru. Like most the other crocs I've been talking about, Baru was a mekosuchine, a member of an endemic radiation of crocodilian native to Australasia. Baru is easily among the largest of this group and among the most robust, with massive curved teeth and almost inflated looking jaws. Left my interpretation of Baru darrowi, right the illustration by Willis et al. from 1990.
My reconstruction differs subtly in some regards, obviously the jaw material shown is from Ristevski et al. 2023 and elements of the posterior skull are based on the older Baru wickeni. My mandible also turned out slightly different, tho the quality of the images in the original description is not great so that is not guaranteed.
Anyhow, this head likely sat atop the body of what was a decently large crocodilian, with estimates suggesting four or even five meters in length for both currently recognized species Baru wickeni and Baru darrowi. As you can see below, I went for the lower estimate (which is the one given by proper publications), which still renders an immense animal all things considered, certainly holding up with many crocs of today.
Currently, there's two recognized species, one unnamed species and one that has been reassigned. The older of the named species is Baru wickeni, which was found in the Lake Eyre Basin and Riversleigh World Heritage Area during the late Oligocene. Like I already said, it was approximately as large and robust as the later Baru darrowi, but did differ in some regards. The skull had much more prominent crests, the nasal bone extended into the opening for the nares and importantly, the cutting edges of the teeth were smooth.
During the Miocene, Baru wickeni would be replaced by Baru darrowi, known from younger strata of the Riversleigh and the Bullock Creek fauna. Baru darrowi had less prominent crests, but in turn slight serrations on its teeth. Also the nasal bones did not extend into the nares. Baru darrowi is the species shown at the start.
The other two are then the unnamed Baru species from the Alcoota fossil site and "Baru" huberi. I talked about the latter before and how it is now thought to be something else entirely. Which leaves us with the Alcoota form. Generally regarded as a distinct species, fossils of the Alcoota Baru have been found from 2000 onwards near Alice Springs and appear to represent an animal more robust than the other known Baru. Below you can see a skeletal mount on exhibition at the Megafauna Central in Alice Springs (image by Aussie Bucket List) and a skull held by Adam Yates, an important researcher of this animal.
A little side note I want to mention is the name Baru. As you might have guessed from the etymology of various other mekosuchines (Kambara, Mekosuchus, Quinkana, Kalthifrons), the name actually ties into the native People of Australia. Specifically, Baru is a figure in the mythology of the East Arnhem Region, which describes him as a sort of totem crocodile that brought law to the lands he named. Baru also had a fight with Jarkitj (Willy Wagtail) after stealing fire for himself. Sadly I couldn't find much about the mythical Baru beyond a brief summary written up by George Pascoe Gaymarani you can read here.
Returning to the animal, one would suspect that the robust skull meant that it didn't quite hunt like modern crocodiles, especially considering the serrated teeth found in the younger species. Well, tho nothing concrete is known Willis and colleagues speculate that this might have been an adaptation to shallower waters. While modern crocs tend to ambush prey, grab it using a strong bite and conical teeth and then proceed to drown it, Baru may not have had that option. A modern croc can just drag a zebra for instance into deep water, weaken it and let go to adjust its grip without the risk of it getting away. In shallow waters, this may have been too risky and lead to prey escaping. So Baru's robust head and curved, sometimes serrated teeth were built to inflict a lot of damage upon prey when lunging, securing the bite and incapacitating it. Willis estimates that it may have taken prey as heavy as 300 kilos.
There's also the interesting tidbit of Baru wickeni coexisting with a diverse croc fauna, yet being conspicuously absent from more southern regions of Australia despite entering the respective drainage basin. I go into more detail while talking about Australosuchus, but the jist of it is that Baru was likely not as cold resistant as Australosuchus and thus not found as far north.
Alas, as with other mekosuchines, not much art of Baru exists aside from this absolutely fantastic piece by @knuppitalism-with-ue
As per usual, this deep dive is brought to you as part of me redoing the wikipedia page of this genus, which resulted in a major size increase. The image below is just to show the difference, but if you want to read it here's the link: Baru - Wikipedia
Love the contrast between the Americans’ “Apollo” and the Soviets’ “Sputnik.” You got the Americans naming their rocket after a Greek god trying to communicate the grandness and importance of this rocket. And you got the Soviets naming their rocket “fellow traveler.” Like a friend you go on an adventure with together. This rocket is our little friend lol
And they were gay for each other
And they were gay for each other.
DHCJCNDBJWJDJk3@2
HANNIBAL and SUPERNATURAL are TRENDING TOGETHER. I am rewatching DOCTOR WHO. On that note DAVID TENNANT IS EVERYWHERE and he’s also THE DOCTOR AGAIN. HOZIER released a NEW ALBUM. I am seeing SHERLOCK ACTORS everywhere. IGAF EARLY TUMBLR IS BACK AND IM HAPPY AGAIN. NATURE is HEALING.
