Teleidoscope

Wed, May 28, 2008

Shadow Unit Season 1 Finale

Posted at 9:24 pm MDT to Media

The Shadow Unit creators are uploading their final "episode" for this season in "real time": the chapters that were uploaded yesterday describe events that took place May 25 through May 27, 2008. The chapters that were uploaded today describe events that happen today. This is going to continue for the next three days, with the finale of the finale scheduled for uploading on Saturday.

This makes quite a contrast of five-part Memorial Day stories. There have been seven previous episodes uploaded at two-week intervals. Five of the off weeks have had uploads of sections of a story about a potluck picnic held Memorial Day 2007 (the WTF BBQ).

The upload time is 7 pm Central time, 6 pm Mountain time. I was late reading today's chapters because I had a massage therapy appointment.

The Shadow Unit folks are also now selling mugs and teeshirts and such through Cafe Press, and one of the fans is setting up an order for FBI-style windbreakers with WTF on the back.

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Azhdarchids

Posted at 4:29 pm MDT to Current Events

Azhdarchids were huge pterosaurs: as tall a giraffes when they were standing on all fours. Darren Naish, who writes Tetrapod Zoology, ones of my favorite blogs, has just published a formal article about how Azhdarchids lived. He has blogged about it, but the formal article is also available on-line, for free, at PLoS ONE, which is an online open-access journal.

It has free pictures, which is great: the articles co-author Mark Witton, is one of the best current dinosaur artists. Who has a great Flickr site with lots of his paintings and commentary.

They got written up in New Scientist. Also the Sun, a British tabloid that tweaked their human vs. azhdarchid size comparison drawing to have the human be a recognizable (I assume) British soccer star.

These critters weighed 250 kg and were able to fly, but Naish and Witton believe they did most of their hunting walking around like storks.

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