Scorpion. I was of course a Sonya Blade fan though, and was always her when we played. My brother was sub-zero so he would just play like an asshole and freeze me non-stop knowing that I couldn’t do anything to defend myself because I wasn’t all that good at the game. Eventually I did learn forward-forward-left would shoot a pink thing - later stolen by that bitch Kira.

Before I start this installment of my prehistoric animals I would like to share with you all an e-mail question that I received in regards to the science posts. “If you want to be considered a read science blog why do you link to blogs hosted on Seed’s science blogs? They don’t even accommodate for ID, you want to be associated with such bias?” To answer…Yes.

name: megalograptus meaning “giant writing” in greek
pronounced: meg-al-oh-grap-tuss
animal type: Chelicerate eurypterid arthropod
size: 1 m long
diet: carnivore
lived: 460 - 446 mya
fossil:

…A sea scorpion related to the horseshoe crab. They were hardy and could survive in pretty much every climate that was thrown at them - including fresh water and land environments. It was actually a lot like modern day scorpions. It would moult its shell when it had to grow revealing a new softer shell which would take several hours to harden. This would obviously make them more vulnerable so they would come together in groups to moult their shells. Group moulting! (strongly discouraged by RAs.)

When it wasn’t moulting…it could defend its self really well with a thick protective shell and arms that were covered in spiky deals. It would swim along the sea floor, using its tail and legs to propel itself, grabbing at other little fish and trilobites. The only thing it would really have to fear was its own kind and the cameraceras. These two were pretty much the bullies of the waters until jawed fish came swimming on in.

But while their shells were soft they took this opportunity to get their groove on. The females could store the males’ sperm for months while they waited for idea environmental conditions for pregnancy.

The megolograptus was one of the first animals to start dragging itself onto land, fossils of the drag marks have been found in numerous locations, but why they made this little trip to land is completely unknown considering the lack of life and activity that was happening on land. Maybe we’d be mermaids if it hadn’t of gone up there.

Fossils for sea scorpions have been found world wide with the average size being 10-70 meters, but other such as the pterygotus would grow to be 2 meters long. All of the sea scorpions are chelicerates - an ancient arthropod group dating back to 500 million years ago. …It might seem logical that the megalograptus and other sea scorpions would have led to the evolution of the modern day scorpion - but it’s actually pretty controversial.

Im getting pretty anxious to get to the dinosaurs. But hey! we’re on land now! (although i have more fish coming…)

T isn’t the only one who missed this whole Blogroll Amnesty Day thing… I most definitely did too. (But that could be because I try to slink around smaller blogs who don’t give a shit about trivial blog-war things - and instead write about things that are interesting, and actually matter! WHOOP!)

Anyway, while taking a walk in a northernly direction along a creek I found a post all about this Blogroll Amnesty crap. People are getting pissy left right and center about being taken off of blogrolls, not being on them in the first place, and blah blah blah.

Well I have one thing to say to you people… If you are so sad about getting bumped off of Kos’ blogroll how do you think I feel about THIS?!

My old blog:

• Rank: 6,854 (1,686 links from 440 blogs)
• URL: http://liberal-debutante.typepad.com

And then this new blog of mine:

• Rank: 380,023 (73 links from 12 blogs)
• URL: http://www.liberal-debutante.com

Yeah…That’s right assholes. So when you go through a blog change and lose 1613 links THEN I won’t mind listening to you bitch.

No matter how bad of a day I’ve had… No matter how horrible of a radio show I’ve done… No matter how many assholes I run into…
I walk past this incredibly uncreative piece of graffiti at the public school that I cut through to get home and giggle to myself. Because it’s just so darned funny.

This is by far the funniest video I have seen in a really, really, REALLY… long time.

Will you please hang up your boa.

Yesterday I was running on very little sleep, 40 minutes even. And if you’ve ever spoken to me about my roommates, you know this isn’t exactly the right house to be in if you want to fall asleep around 9 pm… you’re bound to be awoken by something or someone. I need to find things to do to keep me occupied until around 11 or 12 when I can actually go around and say “shut up” to everyone and not feel like I’m being unreasonable. So last night I watched Jurassic Park (a common pass time for me) and it reminded (is it reminded? I feel like it should be “remound” but that’s definitely not a word) me of an article that Gordo had sent to me a few days ago about an exhibit debunking dinosaur myths. (to actually read it, you’ll have to sign up.)

In Jurassic Park they say that they had clocked the T-Rex at about 32 km an hour.

Recent research suggests T. rex more likely moved at speeds of 10 to 25 m.p.h.—faster than its prey, but probably not as fast as the speeding jeep in “Jurassic Park.” Though the 5- to-7-ton dinosaur had massive leg muscles, the effort required to move those huge limbs likely slowed the animal down.

…

The Field has long been known for its collection of dinosaur specimens, including Sue, the largest, most complete T. rex skeleton ever recovered. The new exhibition aims to complement the museum’s permanent “Evolving Planet” exhibit by moving beyond what fossils tell us about evolution.

…

Makovicky cautioned that comparisons to modern-day animals can be tricky. Sauropods, gentle giants with long eel-like necks, were often thought to move like giraffes, reaching their necks high to snap leaves from trees. The idea was so widespread that museum exhibits used to display dinosaur skeletons in such poses.

Computer simulation research by Kent Stevens at the University of Oregon, however, shows that sauropods could not have craned their necks upward; their vertebrae simply didn’t allow it.

If only I could see this exhibit. OH! Wait a second! I CAN! Wooo. It’s at the Field Museum from March 30 - September 3. The Field Museum is in Chicago… Where am I going to be in August? Oh yeah… Chicago. So those of you traveling to Chicago for the Kos Convention this summer - we’re making a stop at the Field Museum to fill my dinosaur needs. Checking out the highlights of the exhibit already got me super excited. What seems really neat about it is that there will be lots of new information for someone like me, an avid dinosaur lover, but at the same time it seems to be easy enough for kids to understand.

I say that because under “food” for the tyrannosaurus it says “other animals”. I’m guessing if they were trying to keep it geared towards adults and people who knew a thing or two they would have just used “carnivore”… But you know, kids love dinosaurs, so it’s cool that it’s being inclusive. If you’re going to be in Chicago, you really should check this thing out.