Thursday, August 25, 2011

Mesozoic Miscellany 43

Sorry for the lapse between roundups! They may come more sporadically now that school's in session, but I aim to keep sharing sweet links regularly. Onward!

Dave Hone invokes the Prime Directive, in a way: Is it best for scientists to engage directly with a curious public in web forums, or to let enthusiastic budding scientists mature and come to the literature on their own?

Are calls for accuracy in paleoart and animation attempts to shackle artists to one's own narrow view of what ancient life was like? How much leeway should enthusiasts give artists who have to do their work under prohibitive budgetary constraints? A vigorous discussion is occuring at ART Evolved. Start here, then check out the subsequent posts under the Philosofossilising header.

Speaking of which, Pete Von Sholly says "lighten up! Dinosaur Revolution is going to rock socks!" (that's a rather liberal paraphrase) at VonShollywood.

Glendon Mellow conjured up this splendid take on Avimimus, showing off an impressive headdress.

Need more feathered theropods? Check out Eric Scales' 'toon raptor.

Call it sacrilege, but I think I'll take Andrey Atuchin's ceratopsians over just about anyone else's. He revealed a stunning Nasutuceratops WIP this week. I hadn't even heard of this beast until seeing Andrey's work. Apparently, Nasutuceratops hailed from Campanian Utah, and was described in a thesis by Eric Karl Lund last year. Therefore, it is, in my limited knowledge of the ICZN, a nomen nudum until published in the peer-reviewed literature.

At Chinleana, Bill Parker shared the last two pages of Susan Drymala's field notebook from this summer. See his "rules of the field," as well as indispensible advice for aspiring scientists. Emulate Kirk. Hang out in the crapper. Pack granola bars. It's a life!

Trish has been writing about The Humongous Book of Dinosaurs, which she reports is billed as "''more fun than a barrel full of velociraptors!' though I would think most things are."

Haven't had the chance to see Dino Gangs? Victoria Arbour has a review at Pseudoplocephalus.

You know you want more Aussie ichnology action. Tony Martin's gonna hook you up.

And just because we haven't had enough Star Trek references in this post, let's play a game. Smok: Klingon delicacy or rauisuchian? Maybe you'll figure it out with help from Chinleana and Dinosaur Tracking.

Finally, to celebrate gleeful inaccuracy in dinosaur illustration, I present... Velocirapper, by Jonah Block and Jorge Garcia.

VelociRAPPER

How did this fail to get enough votes to be made into a shirt at Threadless? Priorities be jacked, yo.

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