Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The words do not have to be perfect.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

No one could have predicted…

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Everybody saw this coming.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

This blog will pay for itself.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Because of wow. / Mammal And Dinosaur Tracks At NASA

Mammal And Dinosaur Tracks At NASA

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A slab of rock unearthed at NASA’s Goddard Flight Center has lots of mammal and dinosaur tracks, and maybe even a pile of fossilized poop. There are sauropod, theropod, and baby nodosaur tracks. There are mammal tracks, possibly with toe beans. There eighty or more footprints on the stone. The article has a nice diagram of the tracks on the stone and the animals that made them.

 

What kind of tracks are your animals making? I have been having some work done on the house, and Zooey and Ric have not been going out. So they do a lot of running inside instead.

 

And I’m exhausted from the news this week, with two days yet to go. Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    Too funny, Cheryl – I printed that article out this afternoon for my kids to read over tomorrow’s breakfast cereal! Mind-boggling in a dozen different ways…

  3. 3.

    Major Major Major Major

    Samwise doesn’t leave tracks on our hardwood and tile, or go outside, but he’s been leaving plenty of gray remnants on my black coat.

    Today was pretty good I guess. Got some good work in. Then the foundation president offhandedly mentioned he wants to demo my big project the first week of April, instead of June.

    He has his talents but management is not one of them.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    Cool stuff. Bonus points for being able to read a NY Times article this late in the month. Yea, I’m on the free 10 articles/month deal.

  8. 8.

    Magda in Black

    I’m glad you gave me an open thread, because I think I found that last straw today. I am the only Democrat in an office full of Trump supporters. Today I got to hear what a fine, spot-on speech it was. How ugly Democrat women are. How disrespectful…oh and yay for the new tax plan.
    I simply cannot be around that level of deliberate ignorance any longer. I’m going to have to change jobs.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    The photo looks exactly like a cutlet I bought at 60% off a couple of days after the sell-by date.

    ETA:

    maybe even a pile of fossilized poo

    Yup, that was it, all right.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    @Major Major Major Major: When I had a tan cocker spaniel, I had a black couch. By the time i got a black dog, I had a tan couch. I just gave up at that point.

    As for your work project, I had a boss who showed the Dean off a mock-up of a project I was going to start after the first of the year. My boss, who had been newly promoted, promised the the Dean that I would have the project completed on Jan 2nd. He told me this on December 23, right before I was to be off for 2 weeks for the holiday, as the University was closed.

    When I told him it wasn’t realistic or possible, he told me it had to be done and he didn’t care what it took for me to do it. Asshole. I got it done, but I barely ate or slept for 2 weeks, and I certainly didn’t get even a minute of vacation. Wow, I am angry all over again.

    We used to joke about the Dilbert cartoon where the pointy haired boss would always estimate that something was a “5-minute job”. On the bright side, at least you found out about the new date now and not on March 15. Still, if you’re smart enough to be the boss, why can’t you be smarty enough to make sure that what you are promising is realistic???

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: I was thinking it looked like spam mixed with water, then formed into a shape and heated until it was solidified. Hope you enjoyed your cutlet.

    As I pressed save, the “thanks for the asparagus” popped into my head and I laughed, even though I can’t remember the origin of that. Was it Eric Holder?

  16. 16.

    Major Major Major Major

    @WaterGirl: always makes me think of the Dilbert like so:

    “they loved the prototype so much they ordered a thousand!”
    “The prototype took a year to build, cost a million dollars…”
    “Make a thousand prototypes then.”
    “…and is the competitor’s product with duct tape over the logo.”

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    Wow. So many ancient creatures walked over that slab. And all of them were smarter than your average Republican.

  20. 20.

    jharp

    That is a very cool story.

    I once found a 5,000 to 7,000 year old spear point on my Dad’s farm in Ohio.

    It is very nice. Flawless.

    I sure would like to see the dude who lost it.

  22. 22.

    bystander

    WaPo at the moment has an op/ed by Dana Milbank decrying the behavior of Demonrats at the SOTU and a discussion of Hillary’s “fatal flaw” as discussed by three experts. Too late, too soon, too self-regarding, no self-awareness.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    As I pressed save, the “thanks for the asparagus” popped into my head and I laughed, even though I can’t remember the origin of that. Was it Eric Holder?

    Close. It was Louis Gohmert in reference to Holder. He said something like “The Attorney General cast aspersions on my asparagus.”

  28. 28.

    chris

    I wondered why all the tracks were in such a small area, maybe a watering hole? Nope, the article says that the area was a swamp so my guess is that the animals were on the driest ground they could find. I’ve walked deer trails through the bogs here and there are often signs of other critters using them. (Bog walking not recommended for the uninitiated.)

    Took Bert for a walk this afternoon in the bitter wind and with four inches of new snow on the ground. He stopped and looked pointedly behind me so I turned and there was Steve, the orange cat, trotting along behind us with his prosperous housecat belly brushing the snow. Funny looking track, like a balloon with feet.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: You are right. But the Eric Holder had the last word with his “Good luck with your asparagus”.

    I consider Barack Obama and Eric Holder to be near saints for all the disrespect they endured in service to this country. I think I would have spontaneously combusted, but then I haven’t had a lifetime of having to endure that kind of prejudice.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): High praise, indeed:

    Welcome to the January 2018 issue of Swords & Sorcery Magazine. This marks the end of the six year of publication. Sometimes I find it hard to believe I have been doing this for that long. I am continually amazed at the quality of the stories I receive.

    But I didn’t see a link to the story itself. How do we get to the story? Was it right in front of me but I missed it?

  32. 32.

    Kelly

    The Mrs. and I left about 6 miles nordic ski tracks on Santiam Pass this afternoon. Reheating yesterday’s hearty beef stew then off to bed early. Beautiful day scattered clouds, no wind.

  33. 33.

    raven

    Steve Forbert,You Cannot Win ‘Em All

    It’s always problems everywhere, you’re juggling everyone
    You do your best each day but when the sun goes down it’s done, it’s done
    And then what slips through the cracks is just gonna go ahead and fall
    Don’t let it keep you up nights when you know my friend
    You cannot win ’em all, oh no

  36. 36.

    Jeffro

    That slab of rock is smarter than Chris Cillizza (but we knew that already) – did y’all know the Nunes memo isn’t really a partisan fight? SERIOUSLY!

    C.C., pick up that guitar…er, malignant bullshit generator you call a mouth…and talk to me!

    Because we are so polarized politically these days, there’s a tendency to assume that every single issue that breaches our collective national consciousness must, at its root, be a fight between Democrats and Republicans.

    And, most are!
    But, the assumption of this polarization sometimes oversimplifies the actual dynamic at work. That is very much the case when it comes to whether or not the White House should release a memo put together by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) that allegedly contains a series of instances of wrongdoing by the FBI and law enforcement as it relates to the 2016 presidential election.

    One one side of the divide, you have Nunes, the GOP members of the House Intelligence, who voted along party lines earlier this week to release the memo, Speaker Paul Ryan and White House chief of staff John Kelly.

    Trump himself was overheard Tuesday night telling Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina he was “100%” supportive that the memo be released within the 5 day window. But, the White House has offered no official position yet.

    On the other side you have congressional Democrats, yes, who believe releasing the memo is a major step in politicizing an arena — intelligence gathering — that has never before been politicized.

    But, you also have the FBI, which is run by Trump appointee Christopher Wray, opposed to the release of the memo. In an unusual statement released on Wednesday, the FBI said that “we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

    In neither camp is Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (N.C.), who has asked to see the Nunes memo but, so far, been turned away.
    “None of the senators have access to it,” Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford told CNN.

    The divide here then is less Republican vs Democrats — although there’s some of that! — than it is those who are suspicious of the activities of the FBI and broader Justice Department and those who are more trusting in those law enforcement officials.

    The Point: This fight is almost certainly moot — as the decision whether to release the memo lies now entirely in Trump’s hands, and he has been quite clear of where he stands on it. Still: This isn’t the same old D vs. R fight.

    Get it, libtards? Because R-appointed, Trumpov-appointed Chris Wray is opposed to the release of the Nunes memo, why, it’s most def NOT same-old, same-old. Despite the fact that EVERYONE. ELSE. INVOLVED. falls quite neatly into partisan camps here. Meaning that the Rs are good with bashing the FBI to defend Trumpov and the Ds are for not letting this shit slide. Oh and also a Republican president – the one under investigation, no less – is okay with the Republican congressman who drew this up and now wants to release it.

    But Chris Wray!

    Fortunately, C.C. will leave less, much less of an impression upon the Earth than that random nodosaur in the fossil slab. And I think we call that justice, or karma, or just highly appropriate.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @chris: Duh! I had to scroll down on my laptop to read the whole editor’s note The top menu items were off the screen, so I didn’t see them!

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    Oh, Panera Bread:

    Order a turkey cranberry flatbread sandwich, pay, and head to a table. Employee comes over.
    “We don’t have the turkey cranberry.”
    “Okay, give me a BBQ chicken flatbread.”

    A few minutes go by and a different employee comes over. Turns out they literally don’t have flat bread — they ran out. They’re putting it on ciabatta instead. Sigh.

  44. 44.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl:

    When I told him it wasn’t realistic or possible, he told me it had to be done and he didn’t care what it took for me to do it.

    Oy. I suppose some variant of “well then you do it; I’m heading off on the vacation which your predecessor approved two months ago” wasn’t in the cards. Or “well, then you personally can pay the cancellation fees for the airplane tickets I bought in September.”

  46. 46.

    Aleta

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
    And a few lines down from the start of your story, a paw print appears!

    Also coincidentally I was taking photos of some paw prints in the snow today. Some are fox, and some I can’t figure out. They are pretty large and go out one way over the ice to open water and then disappear. Not beaver.

    eta I love the story. You had me right from the start, and so visual.

  48. 48.

    gene108

    @kindness:

    When will the media realize (1) conservatives view the MSM as tools of liberal elites and will reject anything from the MSM and (2) liberals really want good reporting, and will pay for it, without the kissing up to conservatives, both-siderism, and contrarian think pieces trying to find flaws with Democrats.

  49. 49.

    No Drought No More

    I ACCUSE:

    WITH THE REPORT THAT TRUMP WILL RELEASE THE NUNES MEMO, I DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL TRUMP AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS- ALL OF THEM, NO EXCEPTIONS- TRAITORS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

    PUTIN HAS SUCCEEDED BEYOND HIS WILDEST DREAMS. THEY’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER. WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR TREASON IN THIS COUNTRY? BECAUSE BEFORE I WILL EVER DECLARE THIS WAR OVER, I WILL SEE THEIR FUCKING SCALPS HANGING ON THE POLE BENEATH THE FLAG THEY’VE SO INFAMOUSLY BETRAYED.

    THEY’RE TRAITORS ALL, AND ALL DESERVE A TRAITORS FATE.

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev:

    Or “well, then you personally can pay the cancellation fees for the airplane tickets I bought in September.”

    Ha! Youse a funny guy. I worked at a place once where a colleague of mine was told he had to cancel his vacation and work on something. This something was poorly scheduled and of less than high priority. The person telling him this just wanted to fuck him up. The colleague had non-refundable tix to take his kids to Europe for two weeks.
    He left for another job about four months later.

  54. 54.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    @Aleta: I’m a city girl myself, so I can’t even speculate on what went off the ice. For story research, I once looked up a bunch of stuff about tracking and it turns out you can tell male foxes from female foxes based on the prints. Or so this website said. And if it’s on the internet you know it’s true.

    I’m glad you liked the story. It’s a good day in this writer’s world.

  56. 56.

    chris

    @Aleta: Don’t know where you live but might they be coyote tracks? They like the edges of things and are endlessly curious and hungry.

  58. 58.

    J R in WV

    On the TV news when they did this story the rock guys took the TV reporter out back and promptly found another rock with more footprints on it. CBS I think. Amazing to see!!

    They must have figured out there are a ton of them just outside the area where the buildings disturbed the ground.

    I want one!! Wah, Wah!!!!

  61. 61.

    SgrAstar

    Speaking of dinosaur footprints as we were, there is a fantastic hike to be done on the western edge of Canyonlands N.P., ie from the Green River side, rather than Moab, to Horsethief Canyon. The walk itself is easy – an 800 foot descent leads you into the narrow canyon which contains some of the best-preserved rock art in North America. It’s ~2miles to the most impressive petroglyphs, but those two miles of red-rock canyon walls are lined with smaller carved scenes of people with their dogs, people hunting…it’s just incredible. The bonus- when we went there, the sandy canyon bottom had been scoured out by recent rains, revealing the footprints of a dino (Velociraptor ?) running down the canyon. We leapt from dinner-plate-sized footprint to footprint. Incredible, awesome, beautiful. Dunno if Quinerly has made it that far north, but I strongly recommend!

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    All right – which one of you jackals broke news.google.com?!??

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“500 error”)

  65. 65.

    geg6

    Hope Hicks is busted. Breaking story of her planning lies about the Trump Tower meeting emails. Jesus, she’s in the shit. Watching Lawrence O’Donnell. Wow.

    OT: credit where due to the FTFNYT. Corallo to testify to her conspiring with Trump. Holy shit.

  66. 66.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    My mother in law will be dead from cancer in a matter of weeks. My wife is a shell of herself and it fucking sucks every which way. She’s only 65. I’m still lucky to have both at 74. And Fuck drumph and every stupid Motherfucker that voted for him.

  70. 70.

    mike in dc

    @geg6:
    Hicks as a cooperating witness would absolutely BURY Trump. She’s been by his side for the past two years, during every critical interaction under scrutiny.

  72. 72.

    chris

    On and on and on….

    BREAKING: Discovered late tonight that Chairman Nunes made material changes to the memo he sent to White House – changes not approved by the Committee. White House therefore reviewing a document the Committee has not approved for release. pic.twitter.com/llhQK9L7l6— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) 1 February 2018

    Letter from Schiff appended to tweet

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    I didn’t watch the SOTU or the Democratic Party response. The Guardian thinks the Democrats don’t have a clue.

    On Tuesday evening, Trump finally became the president of the whole Republican party. It shows how far the normalization of radical right ideas has come. Trump was already the true voice of the party base, but now the party elite also embraced him. Ayn Rand disciple Paul Ryan even enthusiastically applauded Trump’s $1.5tn government-stimulated infrastructure plan….

    Masterfully, every nativist policy was camouflaged by using non-white enforcers and victims and contrasted with policies that are at the top of the Democratic agenda – such as citizenship for “illegal immigrants”.

    The Democratic party, on the other hand, showed it had learned nothing from the 2016 defeat and still has no idea how to deal with Trump and the Republican hegemony. Not only did their members of Congress sit there defeated and moping, often not even applauding policies that were, or should be, in their own platform.

    They chose the personification of the east coast liberal political dynasty, Joe Kennedy III, to give the Democratic response to the State of the Union. From Massachusetts, of all places!

    As always, they complain that the Democrats spend too much time on race and identity politics.

    This all tells me that the Democrats are on the right track.

  85. 85.

    Ohio Mom

    @Ohio Mom: HAS
    Ohio Dad HAS the same work situation. We can’t afford for that to be in the past tense. I hope spellcheck had a good chuckle over that little prank.

    Anyway, came home exhausted today from the Trump giddiness infecting his coworkers. And he’s only working half-days this week.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @geg6: I was about to ask if this is for real and then I saw your nym and new you wouldn’t make up something like this.

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