“friends Don’t Look At Friends That Way” Yeah Maybe You Should Stop Automatically Assuming Something

okay so @sevdrag asked for neat things and here is mine:

I FOUND A FOSSIL FOSSILS!

me back in september, driving across the Mojave Desert and camping under the stars to avoid all humans, meeting my parents at their condo in St George, Utah: I wonder if my poking around on geology and paleontology blogs and websites and documentaries and books and online courses has taught me anything yet.

*stumbles across the street in 100 degree heat and peers at some Rocks.*

Huh.

Well now THAT's fuckin odd. It's not like an intrusion of molten something or other; parts of it are just a crust on the surface, but parts are embedded. And it's PARTS.

And that's sandstone behind it. But not dunes, because there's no crossbedding. I think maybe water put it here. There's flowy bits.

Horseshoe crab tails? But some are too big. Plant stems? Again, some seem a little large. Or just some weird rust discoloration from ore, or a very odd sort of mineral that grows like a crystal without being quite regular in shape? But growing in sand/silt? instead of a fluid-filled cavity? Can that happen?

And then there's this. Small tracks on either side of a tail drag? Or a rolling pebble with water ripples on either side?

Fas t forward to May 2021. Vaccinated. Return to St George to meet parents. Visit St. George Dinosaur Discovery museum, which has some of the best-preserved dinosaur tracks in the world on ancient silty mudflats, including a bona-fide dino butt print where a dino sat down on its haunches and then wandered off.

I show my photos to a paleontologist working the desk, and she says, "Oh, that's just petrified wood."

Just. Because it's common in this part of the southwest.

So we go home and I show Mom the rock face. While we're standing back, she points out they're part of an entire fucking TREE lying on its side, branches fanning to the right, partly embedded in the cliff, partly eroded out of it leaving a light imprint in the siltstone.

That dark horizontal bit above the right side of the yardstick is the petrified skin of a treebranch (debarked, I think; there's other places that show a bumpy bark imprint whereas the brown petrified wood bits are smooth.) I think the "tail drag" mark might be a conifer twig with needles.

So I posted THESE to Twitter's #fossilFriday, and the curator of the museum spotted it and said he'd come by to document it, although I don't think he has yet because it's not in a very good state of preservation. Quoth he:

I agree with your identification as a portion of a tree with branches, and trees are very common in the Late Triassic Shinarump Member of the Chinle Formation buried in braided river systems some 230-225 million years ago. Unfortunately, from what I can see from your photos, most of the fossil is missing and I can't make out anything identifiable.

— Dr. Andrew Milner

Which means it just barely postdates the last survivors of the Permian die-off, my buddy Lystrosaurus, but not by much! (wrong part of the world, anyway; this isn't Gondwanaland.)

And after that email exchange I kept searching the cliff and found at least one more tree fossil as well. It's very definitely fossil treeroots from a tree that's lying on its side, but unless the top broke off and is not lying quite at the same angle, it's probably a second tree. It's behind the edge of my parents' neighbors' yard, so hopefully it's well-protected.

More bits of petrified wood from the first tree.

[Most photos May 8-9 2021]

And I'm just stoked, you know? I'm not a geologist, although there's lots of scientists in my family, and my maternal grandfather taught geology at a junior college. I've just gotten interested in this as a hobby of the past 10 years.

And there it is. An honest to gosh fossil tree, maybe one of the first to grow tall again after the end Permian extinction, shading the silty flats of a wide river down to what became lakes or the inland seaway. The first dinosaurs trotted past it, leaving tracks in the silt. That's a real tree that lived for decades or hundreds of years, and it moved in the wind and felt the rain, hundreds of millions of years ago, when the animals and insects that scurried on its bark were almost entirely different from today.

Fossils are amazing.

WHY THE TRIASSIC????

What the FUCK is so WEIRD about the Triassic?

Well I will TELL YOU! 

Okay so first of all, the Triassic is SUPER DUPER OLD. In the grand scheme of the Earth, sure, it happened relatively recently, but working on the scale of the entire geologic time span of the Earth’s existence is not exactly fair: 

I mean, animals that we can recognize today didn’t show up until that line in the Phanerozoic (Hadean is the oldest stuff), so like, it’s smack dab in the middle of THAT 

Look, basically, here’s what happened: 

- The earth Formed. Life Appeared. Chaos reigned (4,600 million years ago until 4,000 million years ago) 

- Life began to become more complex. Some life began to stick its blueprints inside of pockets so they’d be safer. They then swallowed other life forms that were better at getting energy, but kept them around like a buddy inside of them. Some of these guys could make a shitton of oxygen. This made the earth cool and a lot of shit die out super duper quickly. Extinction rate unknown. (4,000 million years ago until 2,500 million years ago) 

- Climate change and fluctuating oceans allow life to start to group up together into SuperLife aka Multicellular Things. These multicellular things got more and more complicated. Some became animals and started moving around a lot. Some plants went on land. Some things were super weird looking and mysterious. LOTS of experimentation by life. Things start to change and a lot of these early experiments go extinct. Extinction rate unknown. (2,500 million years ago until 541 million years ago) 

- Animals can suddenly burrow underground and go absolutely apeshit and diversify faster than you can say “wait a second whAT THE FUCK IS THAT”. Ice Age causes Death, 85% of species die out. (541-444 million years ago) 

- Fish suddenly have a chance to be weird too and some of them decide, what the heck, let’s crawl onto land. Why not, right? Some other animals decide to join them. Plants make everything super cold, 75% of all species die out. (444-359 mya) 

- Land-vertebrates start to diversify. They try out a lot of new things, but there aren’t a lot of them yet. So there’s still a lot of experimentation in body plans. Mammal-relatives are actually some of the most diverse ones. Reptiles are fairly rare. A GIANT MASS EXTINCTION CAUSED BY A GIANT LAVA FIELD EXPLODING KILLS ~95% OF LIFE ON EARTH. (359-252 mya)

- NEW animals get to try to diversify and do lots of crazy shit in the wake of SO MANY JOBS IN THE ENVIRONMENT GETTING CLEARED OUT. Reptiles diversify so fast you don’t know what the heck is happening. Other animals also take this opportunity to do new and weird shit. VOLCANOS EXPLODE, KILL ~80% OF LIFE (252-201 mya) 

- Dinosaurs finally get to do fun things now that other reptiles are no longer being weird. Modern life starts to show up. (201 mya-today). 

BASICALLY: 

- Land Animals had only just started to diversify and try out new funky things with their bodies in order to cope with the challenges of terrestrial life 

- Then a giant mass extinction killed everything. Mass exinctions are bad news for a lot of shit that’s specialized for the environment that’s been destroyed, BUT it allows things that make it through to have a chance to try out new shit to fill all those empty jobs in the environment 

- So, generalist reptiles, who hadn’t had a chance to do jack diddly squat before, now suddenly had the whole planet to play with. And the other animals around them, from mammal-cousins to amphibians to fish to insects to other invertebrates, also got to try out some new stuff in this new world 

- AND THEN ANOTHER MASS EXTINCTION HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER THAT RESET THE CLOCK AGAIN

This means that the TRIASSIC has some of THE MOST UNIQUE ANIMALS TO HAVE EVER EVOLVED IN EARTH’S HISTORY. Experiments were tried, rapidly, and MANY were lost RIGHT AWAY. It’s not like the life that evolved after that, which was honestly similar to what we see today - or those that evolved after the end-Cretaceous extinction, which was even more like today. These were weirdos that appeared and were wiped out before they could continue on to today 

And, because this was a rapid evolutionary period, we see the starts of many of today’s modern groups of animals, and they’re super weird, too! 

Honestly, the only weirder period in Earth’s history is the Cambrian Explosion, when animals first started doing anything notable at all 

On top of THAT, the ENTIRE EARTH was ONE GIANT SUPERCONTINENT called Pangea! Everyone could go everywhere! There were no terrestrial barriers to movement! So many creatures spread all over the globe. It was a HOTSPOT of biodiversity and a major turning point in Earth’s History

But, because the dinosaurs that evolved in the Triassic were kind of Meh, it doesn’t get enough press!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So, we’re going to cover the Weird and Wonderful animals of the Triassic - we have a carefully curated list of Weirdos ready to take Tumblr by storm, and we hope you’ll enjoy learning about these amazing animals right along with us! You’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see them, though - don’t want to give away the surprises! 

GET! PUMPED! 

IT’S TRIASSIC TIME!

I just have to imagine there to be some kind of petting zoo part in it as well

I’m just saying that maybe it wouldn’t have turned out quite as bad.

my parents aren’t teaching me life lessons.

#i need some adults to TEACH ME SHIT ABOUT LIFE

Misconceptions of an INFP

1. They are super emotional.

I personally find this to be vague, but I’ve read and heard this a couple times. Just because we make our decisions based on our feelings does not make us “emotional”, at least in the bad sense of the word. Our “logic” can still be logical. Its from a different perspective. Besides, we can be quite cold and unemotional when we want to be or are extremely stressed.

2. They don’t plan.

We may be a P, but that does not mean we don’t plan. It just means we probably don’t have a plan. But when we do plan its about something we deem important enough.

3. They are shy.

I’m not saying I can speak for all INFP , because we do have different background, but I think the word “reserved” is far better used to describe us. We have to think your worth talking to before we do talk to you, when we decide your fine then there probably wont be a problem.

4. They live in their own fantasy world.

Now I find this one funny because, in a way thats true. However, this does not mean we cannot see reality. We know whats going on. However, we would rather believe in an ideal world. We try to make the fantasy a reality. If we don’t, well then we really may just try to live in a fantasy world and shut ourselves off from everyone.

5. They aren’t motivated.

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever met an INFP that wasnt motivated to do something. What they are motivated to do or what they are motivated by may look different than what may seem normal, but INFPs always find their passion. Its a part of their “whats my purpose ?” function and they dont truly rest until they find it.

6. They see the best in everyone.

We do see an ideal world and wish to see the best in people. However, we are not blind. We will not sit by while someone does something that goes against our core values. We have a strong inner sense of what is morally correct. Even if we are a bit off or incorrect in our belief, we will feel the injustice of someone going against them. Most likely, we will slowly remove ourselves from being around that person. However, if its injustice towards our close dear ones we will find a way to confront the person.

7. They cry a lot.

I read this somewhere and was surprised. INFPs rarely let other people see them cry. Most likely you will see an INFP cry from frustration before you see them cry from sadness. They dislike showing others their emotion because of their introverted feeling. They would rather remain calm, especially if another person with them is angry or sad.

8. They are emotionally tortured.

I also read this somewhere. It feels weird reading that , but I guess I can see why it may seem that way. If you ever talk to an INFP about personal things, you will see a pattern of them being in situations where they get their heart broken or hurt or even them going through a dark time of their life. However, INFP s are resilient. They can get knocked down quite a bit, but they most likely will always get back up. And they will have learned so much from these experiences that each time they will be smarter and stronger because of it.

Anyway, these are the few I could think of. Thanks for your support! It makes me want to write even more INFP stuff!!

A CROW TRIED TO GO IN OUR CLASSROOM AND HE HAD A PEN

infp secret #38

i hate change, and i’m afraid to fall in love.

i hate watching my friends, my siblings, my cousins become a different person, and leave behind the people that used to be enough. i watch once stoic and independent people become whiny and clingy. i scroll through their instagrams that used to be filled with the adventures we used to take, and now it’s filled with their selfies of them and their “boo”.

they tell me “oh, just wait until you get a boyfriend!” well if that’s the cost of finding love, i don’t want it. people that i’ve let in close, let them see the real me– i’m not abandoning them for a boy! who do i fall back on if i desert the only other people besides my family that have stood by me? they are my family! 

maybe that boils down to commitment issues. i’m not really sure. i know, at our cores, infp’s have to be true to themselves, and the thought of me sacrificing the person i’ve become and all that i am for the sake of a boy horrifies me. 

i guess that’s why i’m still single.

I feel rage (respectfully)

This is the last thing, I promise. Because, well, I want to spend my fandom time having fun and NotW is not that.

Beau DeMayo during his Q&A:

The books on which The Witcher Netflix is based (that the writers are meant to have read, absorbed and adored):

Bare in mind, Geralt was younger than five during all this, according to Netflix.

Elaborate, DeMayo? We shouldn't have to. You and your producer are being paid to know this.

has aro tumblr ever talked about how being aro can put you more at risk of unhealthy/codependent friendships from either desperation and fear of abandonment or just feeling like you need to fill the void of romance

at the very LEAST i think there’s a point to be made about amatanormativity encouraging unhealthy codependent behaviours, in romantic relationships or otherwise

Well, we'll see...

reblog and make a wish! this was removed from tumbrl due to “violating one or more of Tumblr’s Community Guidelines”, but since my wish came true the first time, I’m putting it back. :)