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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah! I recall seeing some actual ~fairly complete Deinosuchus skulls posted from a collection on Twitter a few years ago, but of course can't find that anymore.

It's a shame that this is pretty much the only thing you can get, even now.

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Reposted by Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 13h

So this AMNH Andrewsarchus display from the 60s is sick as hell, allowing for the outdated reconstruction and all that.

Museum display with a long-snouted, toothy skull in front of a mural of an awkward, dog-like creature.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7h

Still really upset that I had to decline the invitation to submit a manuscript in this issue - more than once (and once in person!).

Just not easy for someone not in an academic position anymore to put together. Even if there are things sitting around waiting to be done (or just to be published)

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 11h

The diversity and disparity within just Vombatiformes is enormous!
Once marsupials 'got' to eat plants, they went evolutionarily gonzo.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 13h

Nitrocellulose ages almost immediately, and does so in response to the player’s body and habits.

Polyurethane does not. At all. Ever.

Now people have to pay for “custom shop faux-relic” finishes if they want a guitar that looks (and feels) like it has been played.

Mike McCready’s 1960 Stratocaster on the left, showing over a half-century of idiosyncratic wear. New Fender “relic” Stratocaster on the right, mimicking the natural wear that no longer happens on all but the highest-end (and thus, nitrocellulose-finished) guitars.

Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 13h

@dieworkwear.bsky.social This is really similar to guitar manufacturing.

Used to finish them with nitrocellulose lacquer, which is expensive, difficult, toxic, and fragile.

Now almost all are finished with a polyurethane coat, which is cheap, easy, and lasts like tank armour.

Problem is ageing…

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 15h

Vintage Rolex watches were made with radium or tritium lume that aged to a soft, creamy yellow, and aluminum bezels that faded beautifully over time. Modern versions use Super-LumiNova or Chromalight lume and scratch-proof ceramic bezels, which will always look the same.

An old Rolex GMT with a faded bezel and creamy yellow plots.

A new Rolex GMT with no signs of wear or age.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 17h

It is always mind-boggling when I encounter the (even recent) diversity of sloths.

Doesn’t matter how often it happens.

It’s similar to when I get into recent diprotodontian diversity and disparity. Just bonkers.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 17h

SIX!? 😧

Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 2d

Absolutely 100%

Trying to do ANYTHING outside of work and upkeep feels like clawing at the air. There's just not enough time or energy.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 2d

So cool! 😎
And I wouldn't worry too much; unlike guitarists, a good bassist is worth their weight in gold!
No one needs another below-average guitarist making noise over their grooving rhythm section. 🤣

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 2d

I've been trying to reclaim hobbies killed by the PhD etc. Getting back into music, back into playing, has been really fun.

It's also really tough to find people to play in a band with when you are a middle-aged dude in a place you have almost no social connections in.

youtu.be/YTyG5E7Wp1s

Alice In Chains: Them Bones

YouTube video by Douglass Rovinsky

youtu.be

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

Love when bands can successfully pull off multiple sound-shifts through their career.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

This is so good!

And so different than 'Fall Children' haha 😁

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

That's just sad.
I LOVE stylized palaeoart (and - to be frank - it holds up better over time than 'realistic' art tend to).

People are the worst.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

Utterly gorgeous

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

Your pterosaurs are so stunning!

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 6d

This was a hilarious show. Loved it, not least because the 'main' noble character is a dead-ringer - both in looks and general gestalt everything - for my Polish-American in-law. 😆

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks! Obviously one of my faves, too.
Was a very bittersweet experience working so closely with their remains; I've personally handled the remains of around 200 individual thylacines. Each one is an object rooted in sadness and frustration.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7d

The common ancestor for a red fox & thylacine is the same common ancestor for you and a kangaroo! That's how far back (and fundamental) the split is.
We are talking sometime back in the early Cretaceous at least, maybe even late Jurassic!

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7d

But for aliens... we have to assume evolution is a constant everywhere. Maybe even DNA (or similar).

BUT

There is no reason to assume 'human-shaped' is best for anything. It's only happened in the one lineage here!

Judging by my back, shoulders, and knees, it's a pretty shit shape to be...

3/3

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7d

The big assumption is the similar selective pressures. Our lineage is weird; it's the only one that's evolved quite like this, as far as we know, in Earth's history. What were the pressures that early apes faced, and what were the pressures early hominins faced?

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 7d

For a humanoid reptile, it technically wouldn't be so difficult, assuming similar selective pressures; we both have all the same parts, which helps!
It wouldn't be easy at all for, e.g., a bird or a dolphin to become humanoid; reduction tends to canalise evolutionary plasticity.

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 8d

And of course there's tons still to unravel. Why is the front and back half of the thylacine skull so different in signal? What does that mean? What about the lower jaw, or (shock-horror) the rest of the skeleton? What about its extinct relatives - are they similar? Different?

Go exploring!

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 8d

Knowing what those differences are - and knowing what they mean - is an important part of the data collection.

If you are trying to reconstruct the ecology of an extinct animal, closer to the Real Thing is better than non-as-close, even if both are better than farther away!

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Douglass S Rovinsky, PhD @dsrovinsky.bsky.social · 8d

Further on that (and this is silly to say) but the modern comparatives - and all those differences in their diversity - need to be understood.

E.g., Grey wolves are ecologically, behaviourly, and morphologically different than Ethiopian wolves or maned wolves.

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