Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Aug 9

Once they rally around the chosen talking points the final number will be 100%.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jul 19

It's ok, I forgive you you.

The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · May 3

The Curious Case of Benjamin Zuckon.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Apr 18

You mean their bones are still mostly cartilage?

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Mar 30

I recently read Mockingbird & enjoyed it immensely. It prompted me to read The Man Who Fell To Earth, also by Walter Tevis & recommended.

I listen to ~100 audiobooks/year & the best in quite some time was Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin. It's not one of her best known works but easily my new favorite.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Mar 10

A tweet by Donald Trump dated November 6th, 2012 that says "If the Dow drops 1,000 points in two days the President should be impeached immediately!"

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Mar 8

Sloth feet! #FossilFriday

Fossil foot of the ground sloth Megatherium americanum.

Fossil leg and foot of the ground sloth Mylodon.

Fossil foot of the ground sloth Scelidotherium

Fossil foot of the ground sloth Lestodon armatus

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 25

"interesting new pterosaur soft tissue bits" might be the six loveliest words in the English language.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 21

The Koala Lemur, Megaladapis edwardsi. This adorably goofy squatty body was by far the largest lemur to ever exist. They were likely driven to extinction a mere 500 years ago on a rapidly changing Madagascar. On display at the Paris Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy. #FossilFriday

A skeletal mount of Megaladapis, climbing a tree limb in an upright posture

A human male standing next to a mounted Megaladapis for scale. The Megaladapis stands about 3 feet tall.

A Megaladapis skull in frontal view, showing the side facing orbits and long upper canine teeth.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 17

🪿 Animal #567 🐜
I figured it out in 9 guesses!
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟩🟩
🔥 2 | Avg. Guesses: 8

metazooa.com
#metazooa

Metazooa

Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!

metazooa.com

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 15

Mighty Marlin. The largest and best preserved Marlin fossil in the world, found during expansion of the Panama Canal in the late 2000's. At the Biomuseo in Panama City, Panama #FossilFriday

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 8

Majestic Moropus elatus, a chalicothere from the early Miocene of Nebraska, on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science #fossilfriday

The front half of a skeletal mount of Moropus. Other skeletons of prehistoric mammals are visible around it.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 2

I made it across the pond for Tet Zoo 2019 and got a signed copy of @deepfrieddna.bsky.social's excellent The Missing Lynx. For anyone who enjoys Twilight Beasts, there's a whole book full of the same goodness.

Title page from the book The Missing Lynx, signed by the author "This way to the Pleistocene ->"

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 2

And this post by @deepfrieddna.bsky.social is one of my favorite pieces of natural history writing ever. I reread it when visiting the auks at the Trinity College Zoology Museum in Dublin and not gonna lie, it made me cry. twilightbeasts.org/2018/05/18/u...

Under the boot of man

Working in a museum I come face to face with life’s extraordinary diversity every day. Specimens a few hundred years old tell us of the richness of life right beneath our feet. Older specimens prov…

twilightbeasts.org

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 2

Can't wait to see the surprise! Visiting Kika is on my bucket list because of this article. twilightbeasts.org/2019/07/29/i...

Interview with the mammoth

Archaeology brings you some strange and marvellous places. They never told me that in the prospectus. I’m currently writing this, away up north in Kikinda, in the Banat province of Serbia, a region…

twilightbeasts.org

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Feb 2

In an age when seemingly everyone on the planet had a blog, Twilight Beasts still managed to rise to the top. Thanks for creating it and for reminding me to go back and reread them!

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 31

Tapuiasaurus, Cretaceous titanosaur housed at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.
#fossilfriday #SVPOW

Skeletal mount of the sauropod dinosaur Tapuiasaurus.

Closeup photograph of the head and neck of the sauropod dinosaur Tapuiasaurus.

Isolated bones of the sauropod dinosaur Tapuiasaurus.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 24

They're wonderful. Here's a wee little one I have.

A small blue gray fossil desmostylid tooth.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 19

a man in a tie is talking to a woman in a store and saying `` it 's a pizza party '' .

ALT: a man in a tie is talking to a woman in a store and saying `` it 's a pizza party '' .

media.tenor.com

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 19

Well, it's Shantungosaurus.

a man and a woman are shaking hands and the man is saying i was way off

ALT: a man and a woman are shaking hands and the man is saying i was way off

media.tenor.com

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 16

Republican Senator: Mr Hegseth, name a country that starts with 'A'.
Pete: Actually, ...
Republican Senator: Bravo!!!

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Jan 11

I finally deactivated my Facebook acct this week, but over the last year I unfriended casual acquaintances, blocked major advertisers, deleted lots of photos & all personal info, and unfollowed/unliked nearly everything. If you must use it, those seem like the best actions to at least demonetize it.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Dec 29

Deleted my account the day Musk bought it. Either your principles matter or they dont. This shouldn't even be a tough call.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Dec 22

In more great news, Lucy said she's going to hold the football for Charlie Brown this time.

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The Grim Raptor @thegrimraptor.bsky.social · Dec 22

"Magnanimous" is a bit of a giveaway.

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