Dinosaurs

Okay, if you're into paleontology at all, even just as a nerdy layman like myself, seeing the news that "Stan," one of the most famous Tyrannosaurus specimens in the world, has been sold to a private collector for a big ol' pile of money -- $31.8 million USD to be exact -- will likely cause you to have opinions.

So I watched The Velocipastor last night.

It’s not a good movie, but it is an astonishing watch. It’s a movie that knows just how weird, potentially bad, and completely off the rails it is. Saying it’s funny feels disingenuous — it’s a movie that is very deliberately crackerjack, a film that will present you drug dealing religious zealots from China who are also Ninjas in a battle against a disillusioned Catholic Priest who cuts his hand on a dinosaur tooth and becomes, well, you’ve seen the title of the movie.

Anyway, this is the Queue.

For me it's dinosaurs.

World of Warcraft already has itself quite a few dinosaurs, but a recent news story about a new Spinosaurus tail fossil and what it means for the lifestyle of the dinosaur in question got me thinking.

I live in Alberta.

It's been a while since I did a dinosaur post around here, and if we're going to get back into the groove, let's get serious.

I mean, seriously. The temptation to try and come up with something for Mitch to do… but I don’t see this ending well for anyone.

So yes. We must be cautious here, folks. This is bat country. Also, it’s the Queue.

Because giant lizard-cats four meters long with saber teeth are awesome, that's why. Inostrancevia was the largest of the gorgonopsids, a suborder of the theriodonts -- the order that included our own direct ancestors and thus, ultimately, us, and one that really deserves a lot more attention in video games.

Look, y'all remember that I love PBS Eons, right?

I fell down the Youtube video hole and found myself watching videos arguing about whether scythes were useful as weapons. One video argued no, another mentioned that the war-scythe was a thing but it usually involved taking the scythe blade and mounting it lengthwise so it was more like a standard polearm. The consensus seems to be that using a scythe unmodified as a weapon isn’t ideal — it’s not designed for it. So when I see WoW weapons like the Scythe of the Unmaker, I can’t stop thinking about how hard that weapon would actually be to use against someone else.

Then again, it’s World of Warcraft and I routinely use swords so ridiculously big they defy all reason, so come on, the Scythe of the Unmaker is almost sedate compared to Ashkandi or Armageddon. I mean, one of my favorite fist weapons is the hat of a dead Lich.

It’s the Queue. Let’s chat, y’all.