There's a lot of goalpost-moving RE: when we can say we live in the sci-fi future
but most experts agree its somewhere between "robots that can deliver pizza" and "downloadable pizzas"
I've insisted we've been living in the sci-fi future since 2000. The future only gets more future-y as we go.
Currently we're at giant nuclear-powered laser-armed science robot on Mars and knowing what color three dinosaurs were.
Yeah really. For three of them, we don't have to guess anymore. We know. They were feathered dinos and had such fine preservation that scientists could look at the feathers under a microscope and see fossilized color pigments, thus making them able to determine what color they were. One of them was orange and white striped with a white mohawk-sorta look on its head. One was mostly black but with white wing feathers and a big red crest. And the third...
See this little guy? This is an indigo bunting. He has no blue pigment in his feathers, just black. That's all iridescence. Turns out, Microraptor, which is a fairly common fossil, was the same way: black pigment but iridescence that turns the feathers blue in the sunlight. To make this awesomer, that indigo bunting only has a wingspan of 19-22 cm (7-9 inches) whereas Microraptor had a wingspan of 77-90 cm (2.5-3 feet) which is eagle sized. Oh yeah, and Microraptor had four wings (the legs were also winged) and may have flown like a biplane. Don't laugh at the primitiveness; biplanes aren't great at long distance flying but they're a lot more maneuverable than monoplanes, which would be useful for a generalist feeder that flew short distances through dense forest.
Even when I was a kid just in the 90s the books were saying that we'd likely never know what colors dinosaurs really were and many hypothesized that most colors were really dull and boring. Now only a couple decades later we know that there were eagle-sized flashes of iridescent blue way back in the day.
Yeah this reminds me.
Fuck you science.
Dinosaurs used to be bad arse cold blooded killers.
Now fucking science shows up and says that they were probably warm blooded and had so many fucking feathers on them that people would mistake a flock of killer fucking velociraptors with a mardi gras float.
Not cool science.
Not cool.
to me, stuff like this always reads like the scene in Jurassic Park with that kid complaining that velociraptors look like giant turkeys
The feathers and warm blooded-ness don't detract from the awesomeness of dinosaurs. It only turns them from drab and dull giant killing machines into bright, colorful giant killing machines. Look at the way the rich red blood contrasts with the indigo blue feathers. Breathtaking!
yes thank you, that's what I'm saying
0
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Science turned good old-fashioned scaly American dinosaurs into gay dinosaurs!
There's a lot of goalpost-moving RE: when we can say we live in the sci-fi future
but most experts agree its somewhere between "robots that can deliver pizza" and "downloadable pizzas"
I've insisted we've been living in the sci-fi future since 2000. The future only gets more future-y as we go.
Currently we're at giant nuclear-powered laser-armed science robot on Mars and knowing what color three dinosaurs were.
Yeah really. For three of them, we don't have to guess anymore. We know. They were feathered dinos and had such fine preservation that scientists could look at the feathers under a microscope and see fossilized color pigments, thus making them able to determine what color they were. One of them was orange and white striped with a white mohawk-sorta look on its head. One was mostly black but with white wing feathers and a big red crest. And the third...
See this little guy? This is an indigo bunting. He has no blue pigment in his feathers, just black. That's all iridescence. Turns out, Microraptor, which is a fairly common fossil, was the same way: black pigment but iridescence that turns the feathers blue in the sunlight. To make this awesomer, that indigo bunting only has a wingspan of 19-22 cm (7-9 inches) whereas Microraptor had a wingspan of 77-90 cm (2.5-3 feet) which is eagle sized. Oh yeah, and Microraptor had four wings (the legs were also winged) and may have flown like a biplane. Don't laugh at the primitiveness; biplanes aren't great at long distance flying but they're a lot more maneuverable than monoplanes, which would be useful for a generalist feeder that flew short distances through dense forest.
Even when I was a kid just in the 90s the books were saying that we'd likely never know what colors dinosaurs really were and many hypothesized that most colors were really dull and boring. Now only a couple decades later we know that there were eagle-sized flashes of iridescent blue way back in the day.
Yeah this reminds me.
Fuck you science.
Dinosaurs used to be bad arse cold blooded killers.
Now fucking science shows up and says that they were probably warm blooded and had so many fucking feathers on them that people would mistake a flock of killer fucking velociraptors with a mardi gras float.
Not cool science.
Not cool.
to me, stuff like this always reads like the scene in Jurassic Park with that kid complaining that velociraptors look like giant turkeys
The feathers and warm blooded-ness don't detract from the awesomeness of dinosaurs. It only turns them from drab and dull giant killing machines into bright, colorful giant killing machines. Look at the way the rich red blood contrasts with the indigo blue feathers. Breathtaking!
yes thank you, that's what I'm saying
Yes. While you held his attention, I attacked not from the front, but from the side, by the dinosaur feather lover he didn't even know was there.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
It's ok Blake. I know the idea of large feathered creatures brings back the trauma of The War, but don't take out your Emu hatred on the dinosaurs.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
They found evidence that T-Rex may have occasionally pulled the Triceratops' head off its body by grabbing the frill with its jaws and pulling, in order to get at that sweet succulent neck meat. So that's cool.
T-Rexes are all dead and have been for a very very long time.
A triceratops such as yourself has nothing left to fear from them.
Yes. Relax, Metz. You've nothing to fear.
0
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Also, anyone who thinks colourful feathered things can't be scary has clearly never seen a pissed off cassowary.
+7
TrippyJingMoses supposes his toeses are roses.But Moses supposes erroneously.Registered Userregular
I didn't even know cassowaries existed until Batman fought one.
0
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Sorry about that little tangent, but my point that was to the viewpoint of my younger self not long ago, the future view of dinosaurs (which is the one now) is way awesomer. I had seen not-very-old books as a kid that said the dinosaurs may have died out because they were too fat and stupid. Seriously. That's lame. Stupid slow fat lizards who practically deserved to go extinct in their stupid lame slow fatness. Now? Fast, agile, warm-blooded and colorfully feathered nightmare killers who only (mostly) went extinct after the planet got punched with a giant space rock (and maybe massive volcanism too - meaning getting punched with a giant space rock wasn't enough!), and now their descendants are waiting for the day that the mammals do something really stupid or get unlucky and the children of the dinosaurs shall rise up and conquer all. They flutter and sing their songs of biding their time, for they too look forward to a great future.
+4
HunterChemist with a heart of AuRegistered Userregular
Here, just lemme ... no, no, no! I can fucking do this, just back the fuck up and get me the eraser-head off a pencil so I can use the fucking mouse pad.
Goddamn humans, can't code, can't fly ... your days are numbered, fuckwad.
Holy shit, I found your problem: some genius left a recursive loop in here. I wonder what hairless ape that could have been?!?
I don't think I've seen you around here before but I like your style.
broken image link
+2
Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
edited August 2013
Man. So tomorrow there's this thing called Hempfest here in Seattle. It used to be this big marijuana/hemp legalization rally/protestival, as it's called.
Only they legalized weed. So. Now it's gonna be a big street festival centered around smoking the fuck down and partying and the cops are gonna be handing out Doritos. Literally.
Sorry about that little tangent, but my point that was to the viewpoint of my younger self not long ago, the future view of dinosaurs (which is the one now) is way awesomer. I had seen not-very-old books as a kid that said the dinosaurs may have died out because they were too fat and stupid. Seriously. That's lame. Stupid slow fat lizards who practically deserved to go extinct in their stupid lame slow fatness. Now? Fast, agile, warm-blooded and colorfully feathered nightmare killers who only (mostly) went extinct after the planet got punched with a giant space rock (and maybe massive volcanism too - meaning getting punched with a giant space rock wasn't enough!), and now their descendants are waiting for the day that the mammals do something really stupid or get unlucky and the children of the dinosaurs shall rise up and conquer all. They flutter and sing their songs of biding their time, for they too look forward to a great future.
Man. So tomorrow there's this thing called Hempfest here in Seattle. It used to be this big marijuana/hemp legalization rally/protestival, as it's called.
Onky theh legalized weed. So. Now it's gonna be a big street festival centered around smoking the fuck down and partying and the cops are gonna be handing out Doritos. Literally.
God bless this time we are living in.
I don't smoke the drugs or anything but this still sounds pretty boss.
Man. So tomorrow there's this thing called Hempfest here in Seattle. It used to be this big marijuana/hemp legalization rally/protestival, as it's called.
Onky theh legalized weed. So. Now it's gonna be a big street festival centered around smoking the fuck down and partying and the cops are gonna be handing out Doritos. Literally.
God bless this time we are living in.
I don't smoke the drugs or anything but this still sounds pretty boss.
It's going to be fucking awesome. As kind of ashamed as I am to admit this, the whole legalization thing is one of the reasons we moved up here to Seattle.
0
MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
They wait until you are all too high to walk. Then they announce that they repealed the law secretly the night before! Then they literally build a jail around the crowd.
Posts
yes thank you, that's what I'm saying
they were neat
Yes. While you held his attention, I attacked not from the front, but from the side, by the dinosaur feather lover he didn't even know was there.
Satans..... hints.....
Parasaurolophus
T-Rexes are all dead and have been for a very very long time.
A triceratops such as yourself has nothing left to fear from them.
Also, this is the future thread and we are talking about dinosaurs which are the opposite of the future.
They had their turn.
but what if
in the future
we bring them back?
I don't think we could ever bring dinosaurs back Jurassic Park style. Even the best preserved DNA decays after about a million years or so.
I suppose you could modify an existing creature to have more dinosaur-like qualities.
Yes. Relax, Metz. You've nothing to fear.
We can combine our 1980's space shuttle technology with the decayed DNA to make the next evolution.
Secret Satan 2013 Wishlist
Good God, son ... do you even know to code?
Here, just lemme ... no, no, no! I can fucking do this, just back the fuck up and get me the eraser-head off a pencil so I can use the fucking mouse pad.
Goddamn humans, can't code, can't fly ... your days are numbered, fuckwad.
Holy shit, I found your problem: some genius left a recursive loop in here. I wonder what hairless ape that could have been?!?
I don't think I've seen you around here before but I like your style.
Only they legalized weed. So. Now it's gonna be a big street festival centered around smoking the fuck down and partying and the cops are gonna be handing out Doritos. Literally.
God bless this time we are living in.
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
I don't smoke the drugs or anything but this still sounds pretty boss.
It's going to be fucking awesome. As kind of ashamed as I am to admit this, the whole legalization thing is one of the reasons we moved up here to Seattle.
don't they know Doritos are bad for you?
Then flies you to Idaho to prosecute.
Looks kinda like a pheasant that wants to eat your heart.
Pluck an ostrich?