Geobulletin alpha

Mysterious Rocks: Part Seven: Final Chapter 

         At this time I think I need to address the relevance of my findings and try to convey as  to what this could mean to furthering the study of Our favorite topics; Dinosaurs and Paleontology. I’ll start in a chronological order and try to show the simple conclusions that led to the most profound

Praying for Oklahoma is worthless 

I’m dismayed at the news yesterday out of Oklahoma – the violent storm that ended lives. This morning on Facebook, I noticed that many of my pious friends were letting the rest of us know that they were praying for Oklahoma, or more specifically, for the victims of the storm. At the same time, the hashtag #prayforoklahoma is trending on Twitter with all sorts of people dropping that phrase into

Party with the planets this Memorial Day: See the closest gathering of any three planets until 2021 

As you celebrate this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, take some time to appreciate an interesting sight in the sky — the gathering of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter low in the west-northwest at dusk. Right now, you notice Jupiter setting in … Continue reading

More on that recent sensitivity paper 

Now I'm embarrassed at my naivety...it is all as clear as day. The story goes as follows: Way back in the mists of time (well, about 2011 or so) the IPCC authors agreed that the "likely" value for the equilibrium climate sensitivity was 2-4.5C. They then wrote the first draft to match, which was easy enough as they seemed to be unaware of most of the recent literature on the matter, and

Preparation, predation and a missing quarry 

I’ve already mentioned that my time in Canada involved a short trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park with Darren Tanke, but we were also out with Mark Graham, a preparator at the Natural History Museum in London. Mark has kindly written up a guest post on the trip and the hunt for the lost Spinops quarry.

Bullseye! 

Earthquakes and tsunamis are great motivators, as are the pursuits. These are the reasons why a lot of time and resources have gone into studying the seismic, geodynamic, and hydrothermic systems in the Pacific Northwest. read

Taking My Time 

Whenever I travel I want to allow myself the gift of time. What might take three hours takes me six. What might take two days takes me five. There is so much to see along the way, so much scenery and history to absorb in this beautiful country of ours, that it would be a shame to pass it all by with the unrelenting goal of merely getting from point A to point B. Bear Lake Valley For the past two summers I have taken that gift of time as I travel from southern Utah to northwest Wyoming for [...]

Dear PLOS ONE: time to sort out your multiple review tracks 

Here at SV-POW!, we are an equal-opportunity criticiser of publishers: Springer, PLOS, Elsevier, the Royal Society, Nature, we don’t care. We call problems as we see them, where we see them. Here is one that has lingered for far too long. PLOS ONE’s journal information page says: Too often a journal’s decision to publish a paper

Tyrrell tyrannosaurs 

And so to the Tyrrell. Well, there’s really quite a lot to come here, from the setting of the buildings, the collections and of course the galleries. As with the Carnegie, it’s going to take quite some time, and so I really do hope people don’t get sick of it, but well, for those who

My 2013 Canyonlands River Trip - Part IV 

After traveling down the length of Stillwater Canyon and exploring the confluence area, it was time to begin our descent through the rapids of Cataract Canyon. The river picks up speed and narrows considerably.Here the raft is entering Tilted Park, an obvious name given by the Powell party. The tilted block is a huge slump that has attempted to fill in the void made in Cataract Canyon. The toes of such slumps constrict the river and makes rapids.Capsize Falls, the site of many a ruined day in [...]

A Skull Reconstruction for Daemonosaurus 

Recall my earlier post on Daemonosaurus chauliodus. At the time, I thought this was a pretty silly dinosaur to provide a reconstruction for, since for the most part I agreed with the authors’ reconstruction, it matched the skull as i … Continue reading

The Battle of the Oyster Farm in West Marin 

Sad, but typical. I patronize the oyster farm up in Marin.  It's where I learned to love BBQ oysters.  They are delicious and every year I have made sure to get some to roast and smoke and slather with BBQ sauce.  This is sad and typical of the extremes taken today.  No common ground.  No way to compromise.   I'm all for environmental restoration, but at the same time, this place

ESP Student Craves Career in Sustainable Food Systems 

In a career that has already spanned the roles of farmer and corporate sustainability professional with ARAMARK; current MPA in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA-ESP) student Kendall Singleton knows that her niche in the sustainability sector lies in designing and implementing sustainable food systems. As her time in the MPA-ESP program comes to a close, Kendall will apply her project management experience and her quantitative and analytical skills to whatever role lies in

Tools of the Trade 

It is already May!! Crazy. Everyone in the department is incredibly busy right now trying to get all of those things on their winter to-do list checked off before it is time to head out to the field once again and re-fill the to-do list for next winter with sample prep, analysis and some interpretation.

No Exascale for You: Why We Will Not See an Exaflop System by 2020 

The link to the presentation is in the title (like always).  All of you who have been reading my blog for some time have noted that I am anti-Singularitarian.  I think the entire bit is bogus to the extreme.  I've talked about the 'Heat Death of the Singularity' and I have talked of the eye rolling Charlie's Accelerando (note: work is the distillation of the fantasies of the /.

Google Earth Engine 

Google now has a website that uses satellite images to document landscape changes over time. With it you can see lakes shrinking, cities expanding, glaciers retreating and mining activities

The Thecodontosaurus that Didn't 

This was originally conceived around this time last year as my entry for Bristol Dinosaur Project's Thecodontosaurus Illustration Competition. Sadly (though perhaps predictably), I failed to make the competition deadline.Thecodontosaurus (with sphenodont). Sepia ink on Saunders Waterford hot pressed watercolour paper; 150 x 280mm. I've decided that her name is 'Thesis'. Yes.Details. Unfortunately, this illustration suffers somewhat from reduction, though it seems to withstand considerable [...]

Carbon Dioxide Has Reached The Level Last Seen 800,000 Years Ago: 400 PPM 

On May 2, after nightfall shut down photosynthesis for the day in Hawaii, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere touched 400 parts-per-million there for the first time in at least 800,000 years. Near the summit of volcanic Mauna Loa—where a member of the Keeling family has kept watch since 1958—sensors measured this record through sunrise the following day. Levels have continued to

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Dinosaur Dream 

In my last-but-one Vintage Dinosaur Art post - about three years ago now - I reviewed a book entitled Dreaming of Dinosaurs. While some commented that it wasn't very vintage, others (on Facebook, mostly) noted how its title reminded them of a different book that they treasured as a child - Dinosaur Dream. Well wouldn't you know, I've only gone and procured that one too! And no, as it's from 1990, it isn't very 'vintage' either. However, hopefully this will be forgiven on the grounds that it's [...]

Summer In My Neighborhood 

Its been a blazing week with temperatures over 100 deg F. Pune this past few days has been as hot as I can ever recall. Time for ice tea and cool stewed mango drinks. Evenings are very warm too. We are giving our rugby kids water breaks every 10 minutes. But walking through the small lanes near my house are sights like this one: Summer can be glorious too. And the alphonso mangoes and