u/-Damballah-

So, I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, but, well, what if? For the record, I hate AI, think it has no place anywhere near art that should be made by human artists, and seems to only be a hindrance as new AI features are pushed to us on all of our devices that we never asked for and don't need. AI has it's uses building certain types of databases, helping with coding, and a few other things related to technical fields of work, but even then you have to validate the work because it's still just a frakkin toaster.

But, back to the subject at hand, would an AI made Battlestar Galactica video be blasphemy or providence? I'm sure it would be awful, and I'm not asking anyone to go do it (one, it's probably already been done, two, we don't need to give more reasons for those shitty data centers to exist), I'm just curious what everyone's thoughts are here. Would we get the lost tales of the Lords of Kobol, or the Lunacy of Baltars worst off screen fever dreams?

I have heard a few people say they don't like Mark Wittons Pterosaurs 2013 novel, but I for one highly enjoy his style of writing. Some scientific writing, although interesting in itself, is so fucking dry I could make a martini with it.

If you're looking for something a little different, even so Wittons 2013 book is a little dated, it's a helluva read. Quite the deep delve into Pterosaurs, with lots of additional reading references.

Speaking of such, back I go to chapter 22.

Enjoy your studies, whatever they may be.

🥃

I told myself I wasn't going to join the LEGO post parade... but this set is incredible. First time building LEGO in 30+ years (aside from a little with my Stepkid), and this set really does have a lot of attention to detail.

From the bug in the floor, to references to a lot of episodes (the map of Antarctica gave me a chuckle), to the sunflower seeds in the file cabinet even. Pretty fantastic. I also love the way the bookshelf is constructed. So much attention to detail in the office.

Can't wait to find the time this weekend to finish this!

My wife and I have been doing our first rewatch since The X Files first aired, and tomorrow is Fight the Future. Perfect film to watch while we continue the set. 😃

The year was 3304. I had just finished my first trip to Sag A* around the same time Beyond Chapter 4 released, and I was amazed alongside every other CMDR with the new system for Exploration, the fact that all my exploration ships had a spare free size 1 module (due to FSS integrating into all ships), finding cool new things like Brain Trees and Stellar Phenomena, and just enjoying the game in general, 60 LY's at a time or so in my Krait mk II, *Pinus Contorta*.

Eventually, I made a loop behind Sag A* and shot towards Colonia, absolutely flabbergasted that I had finally made it to this famous region of space. I would spend more than a year here (some of that time away from Elite entirely) and buy the exciting brand new combat ship, the Mamba, fully engineering it to take a break from exploration.

Eventually I bought a Krait Phantom, transferred most of my engineered modules to it, and left the *Pinus Contorta* at Jacques Station.

It took me a *long time* to wander home to the bubble from Colonia. It felt like quite the task.

Today, I made it from the bubble to Colonia in about 144 minutes or so. I honestly couldn't believe it, and my time is "slow" compared to most. Two hours and change to do what used to be considered a feat. How times change.

Now, I'm back in the *Pinus Contorta,* only this time I'm delivering commodities as opposed to finding exciting new things.

It feels good to return to Colonia after so long. Feels like I never left...

🥃

Apologies if this is most certainly old news, but after getting lucky enough to find a cheap and interesting Edmontosaurus annectens partial caudal vertebrae specimen with tendon ossification, I stumbled upon an intriguing article about fossilized tendons and their implications for the preservation of soft tissue from 2023:

https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/198/3/747/7076280

The article is quite in depth, and even involved the use of ossified tendons from modern Turkeys as a sort of control specimen. The conclusions seemed to be that ossified fossil tendons indeed exhibit soft tissue preservation. The study was even able to determine geologic conditions at the time of ossification/fossilization millions of years ago.

It's about a 20 to 30 minutes read, but I highly recommend it.

Enjoy!

🥃

So I finally decided to try out Merit Mining, and I know I'm likely sub-optimal at it thus far (so rusty at core mining, just sticking with laser surface for now) but I decided it was a good excuse to finally give the Type 11 a spin. Holy shit, what a fun ship!

I'm only pulling in 6000 merits per trip, but I'm still seeing more rank ups than I have in a *long time*. I'll have pack hounds in hopefully a week of casual play or so.

If you haven't tried a Type 11 yet, give it a go. Definitely a fun little ship!

May your ventures be successful CMDR's.

🥃

Haven't gone mining in a while, figured it was time to dust off my ole annie, *Saul Tighs Lost Eye.* Those Packhound's aren't going to unlock themselves.

After spending so much time delivering cargo for the CG (and doing a *lot* of Colonization) I forgot how therapeutic mining can sometimes be.

Enjoy your ventures CMDR's, whatever they may be...

🥃

Curious if I'm the only one that sees the first two images as a potential Metacarpal IV from a Pterosaur.

Last three images from the Longrich Study for reference.

Thanks for any assistance.

Hello. So, I'm trying to determine if the specimen in the first three pictures of this post is a humerus with a deteriorated Deltopectoral crest of a Pterosaur, or if it's another limb bone, or something else entirely. Specimen is from Khouribga, Morocco.

The images 4 thru 8 are taken from the Longrich Pterosaur study of materials from Morocco, Khouribga.

Longrich study referenced: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5849296/#pbio.2001663.ref002

Are images 1 thru 3 likely a Pterosaur humerus? Or am I humerus for humoring all of you?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I'm curious if I'm the only one who thinks that this fossil is a Pterosaur humerus with a deteriorated Deltopectoral crest. Unsure what the other bone is on the top right of the matrix. The first three images are from the specimen in question, the other two are examples from similar finds with other bones for comparison.

I am attempting to learn how to ID individual Pterosaur bones, and this one is a bit difficult.

Thanks in advance for any potential input.

I'm curious if I'm the only one who thinks that this fossil is a Pterosaur humerus with a deteriorated Deltopectoral crest. The first three images are from the specimen in question, the other two are examples from similar finds with other bones for comparison.

Thanks in advance for any potential input.

From Icy planets to Water Giants, I have really enjoyed getting back "out there" again. Putting my colonization projects on hold again, I wonder how much exploration data I'll need to unlock Pack Hounds from my power...

Safe travels CMDR's.

🥃

Terrain in the way? Frak it. Frutexa on a cliff? Frak it. Fungoida in mountainous areas some SRV's might have trouble with? Frak it. Can't find the last specimen? Oh! There it is! Growing IN the Nomad!

The Nomad: Get Anywhere because frak physics!

😎7

I was in love with the Caspian before, but the Nomad is absolutely incredible. I liked it so much, I splurged on some extra ARX to decorate the interior.

As someone whom had often argued against ship interiors, I still argue that bug fixing, server stabilization, and new features and feature improvements should still be prioritized, but if they sprinkle in little things akin to how the Nomad works from time to time? I am totally all for it.

1. You can't "experience" the interior while piloting the ship. This is a good thing as the meat and potatoes of ships in Elite Dangerous are best experienced from the Cockpit.

2. Didn't notice anything buggy about entering and exiting the landed ship beyond occasionally needing to hop/jump to get in.

Also, although currently interior extras are ARX only, perhaps some can be earned in game in the future separately from ARX purchases?

If game loops are added while ships are landed, that could be fun, but otherwise this seems like a fun way to implement ship interiors.

The Nomad is incredible for Exobiology, but I honestly hope they get Operations and the new lighting implementation fixed soon...

So, like everyone else, I logged in and decided to get the Nomad, test it out a little.

I was *very* surprised to see my Caspian already had a "vessel bay"equipped. A little bit of digging, and even the flavor text of ships had noticeably changed all instances of "fighter bay" to "vessels/vessel bay."

I'm probably just a dingus for not reading the patch notes. Guess I'm just thankful we don't need a SRV, Fighter & Vessel Bay to bring "everything" on a long journey.

So, I ended up with this awesome small chunk of Allosaurus fragilis Metacarpal, and it was classified as "gembone" but I am curious, what part is classified "gembone?" Is it the gray section? The pink mineral in the middle? Is it the rough back, simply unpolished and a bit gritty that doesn't look like other bits of gembone I have seen?

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I know gembone refers to fossils that have had parts replaced by various minerals over time, and im just trying to learn a bit more about that, particularly with this neat little fragmented specimen.

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Thanks in advance for any knowledge that you might pass on.

So, I just saw [Dead Man](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/?ref\_=mv\_desc) (1995) with one of the craziest casts of characters I have seen. Definitely trippy to hear that unmistakable voice of Dawes in a western.

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Jared Harris only plays a small part, but he shares a scene with Billy Bob, Iggy, Depp and badass beltalowda Gary Farmer.

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This film even has Lance Henricksen, John Hurt and a small cameo from Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers.

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Beltalowda looking for new flick, this one is muy güt, sa sa ke?

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Morrison Formation, Skull Creek, Colorado, Late Jurassic

So, I noticed Master Replicas was running low on Modern Basestar models, and I finally pulled the trigger on that and the Galactica. I've always loved the Modern Basestar design, and the Modern Galactica is pretty damn well painted, scars and all. Fraking fantastic, so excited! My little mini BSG display is now complete.

Picked this piece up recently. The seller didn't have a lot of information on it, but I thought it was pretty cool. When viewed with a loupe you can really see the cellular structure which is pretty nuts. Nature rules.

Edit: Nevermind, this is Cady Mountain Agate. Still a nice piece, definitely not Gembone.