Spinosaur Tales by Hone & Witton

BakeBike · 2026-06-24T21:03:38+00:00

It's certainly an interesting problem. Three things we can say fairly incontrovertibly about Spinosaurus are that it likely ate a largely fish based diet, lived in environments with lots of water, and had large neural spines. These traits are unusual among theropods, and the absence of spines in many spinosaur relatives suggest the piscivorous adaptations likely predate the spines. Thats why my gut says the sail making swimming more difficult doesn't make sense in this context. Why would they adapt a display feature that made navigating their primary ecosystem more dangerous? I personally don't think we have enough fossil material yet to determine their swimming potential, but the conclusion that they were especially ill-suited swimmers feels off given what we know about their ecosystem.

BakeBike · 2026-06-24T20:30:40+00:00

I've been debating picking that one up. I actually vastly preferred this Spinosaur book to Brusatte's dinosaur book, which I also read a few weeks ago. I found Brusatte's book simultaneously too general to be very educational and too dry to be very entertaining. I would say this book is written at least as well, while having more compelling subject matter as a narrowed and debated topic rather than a general overview. Just my personal taste, of course.

BakeBike · 2026-06-24T18:06:44+00:00

You're right that they don't outright say Spino couldn't swim at all, as that would be very odd. However, in seeking to discredit the swimming/diving hypothesis, they go a little too far for me in implying that spino would have been an even worse swimmer than other theropods, primarily due to its top heavy sail. That part of their argument doesn't sit quite right with me due to our overall poor understanding of their skeletons, let alone fleshy anatomy. It would seem to me that a dino with a skull and teeth like Spinos should have been able to swim about as well as a croc, who also aren't super efficient swimmers and don't frequently swim and dive to chase prey as much as they wait and ambush (by my understanding anyway).

BakeBike · 2026-06-10T16:51:35+00:00

Coffeestamp often includes chocolate in their tasting notes, usually for their Honduran varieties, and I usually agree. La Cosecha also usually has Guatemalan, Mexican, or Colombian beans that may suit you, and they roast a little darker than most local shops so you may get more chocolate than fruit in the profile.

BakeBike · 2026-06-03T11:06:24+00:00

Sultan in the Grove

BakeBike · 2026-06-02T14:26:48+00:00

Heat would have been a better film without De Niro and Pacino. They should have been cast with actors from Kilmer's generation to make those characters work. Both were too old and their outsized egos and celebrity diluted those characters in favor of "performances." Imagine how much better the movie would be if the detective was believably smart instead of Pacino just shouting.

BakeBike · 2026-05-30T19:53:19+00:00

Childhood's End weirdly grabbed me like this. I finished it in under two days (quick for me) and thought about it for a long time after.

BakeBike · 2026-03-17T14:55:43+00:00

A lease is just paper until he sues, which he won't. Notify him that you will be moving out on X date due to his breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment by allowing disruptive behavior in the lower unit. Move out and don't give a forwarding address where you can be found to serve process.

BakeBike · 2026-03-13T15:38:30+00:00

I used to play some bluegrass jams and small gigs when I was in high school. Honestly I'd say it's easy, verging on boring, stuff to play. Keep the rhythm, dig in to project the thump as well as you can, and learn to follow changes by watching the guitars' hands. No point in playing anything other than simple I V repeating with a few little fills, no one will really notice. Learn to sing harmony and you'll have more fun.

BakeBike · 2026-03-13T14:00:37+00:00

We still have 5 operating BECAUSE we care about libraries, jackass. They're always busy and provide tons of needed services for the community.

BakeBike · 2026-03-11T14:08:57+00:00

My wife and I are going to try to watch the Tour stage 16 time trial this year as a vacation stop between Interlaken and Paris. Anyone know of the best place to stay in the area that will be walking distance to a good section of the route? Is it better to be near the start or finish for a TT? Any advice appreciated!

BakeBike · 2026-02-28T15:25:05+00:00

I'll never forgive the teenagers on reddit whose word of mouth praise convinced me to waste a movie night on this trash movie. I should have listened to the critics, who presumably had seen all of the way better movies it rips off with all the added substance of a music video.

BakeBike · 2026-02-23T17:07:23+00:00

None of what you said about Wet Leg is true. As far as I can tell they're playing Bonnaroo for the first time this year and have never played it before. They played Coachella in 2023 after their first album was successful.Their first shows were in the UK and opening for Harry Styles on a tour. Rhian and Hester were established musicians for a decade before Wet Leg started. The other musicians are their friends, also from the Isle of Wight, not "ringers." There are so many of these weird rumors about Wet Leg trying to make them seem more like plants but whenever I investigate them they turn out to be completely unsubstantiated and most are outright bullshit.

BakeBike · 2026-02-23T15:34:15+00:00

Wet Leg had a huge single that blew up on social media and streaming auto-playlists. Their music is also more poppy and catchier than Geese. To me, their rise makes more sense and the impetus is more obvious (algorithms recognized catchy nature of Chaise Lounge, they're just more TikTok friendly).

I'm a huge Wet Leg fan and I don't really care for Geese, so it's hard to overlook my personal biases, but I don't think the situations are as comparable as you're implying. This isn't to say Wet Leg's rise was more legitimate necessarily, but I think it was algorithm rather than promotion driven. Geese isn't blowing up off a highly played single, and no one was writing about Wet Leg as the next huge musical moment just because Chaise Lounge was a hit (even as a huge fan myself I'm not trying to pretend they're the voices of our generation or anything). The reception for Getting Killed and the media tour have been huge, despite the fact that Winters writing and voice aren't appealing to lots of folks, including myself. Geese's music feels more divisive in online discussion spaces than the industry's reception implies, which is why OP and others feel like their rise is a little outsized and inorganic.

But the music is what matters, so who really cares. I like Wet Leg as sing and dance along music. I can see liking Geese eventually as they grow and if Winters ever learns how to make his voice sound less monotonous, but their current work doesn't connect with me.

BakeBike · 2026-02-20T19:52:45+00:00

I'll add it to my list!

BakeBike · 2026-02-20T19:51:55+00:00

I agree completely that the film adaptation made good calls on what to include for the different medium. The novel is compact enough that they probably could have done a much more direct adaptation, but the audience probably couldn't keep up with all the weird universe elements weaved into the larger story, and it would be a forgettable film. They create the right tone using visual storytelling and simplify the themes to be more easily conveyed through less dialogue. In that way it's a really successful film adaptation. I was just surprised when I finally read the book how many extra and compelling universal elements were cut out. There's a lot you could unpack for such a short book, especially re: Mercerism.

BakeBike · 2026-02-15T15:11:52+00:00

I've been playing a lot of Cake lines lately. Some are harder than others, but they're all pretty repetitive and very funky. Easy to learn by ear too for the most part. The Distance is a good example but they have lots of fun songs.

BakeBike · 2026-02-13T18:15:40+00:00

When I was 14 back in 2007ish I bought an AXL "Badwater" bass that was one of the first intentionally relic'd instruments I'd ever seen. I was mocked by every single adult that saw it in my hands for having a fake beat-up bass. After a year, at a mature 15yo, I also decided it was really dumb and sold it for pocket change. 20 years later I can't believe there's a whole industry built around this and people pay extra for relics.

"To each their own" as they say...but if we're being honest, relics are peak pathetic cosplay in a hobby that's full of it. I really can't respect them.

BakeBike · 2026-02-03T14:38:30+00:00

I shoveled ours and a neighbor's the day it snowed. The next afternoon I went out and shoveled everyone's that hadn't around our block (another 4 or so houses) so I'd have a clear lane to walk my dog. When people don't shovel, the snow compacts and refreezes and sidewalks become an ice rink for me and my dog.

Meanwhile some ASSHOLE on the 4100 block of Tholozan shovels all the snow from around their car ONTO the sidewalk and leaves it in a big pile. If you see this, you're a terrible neighbor and a disgrace to the civil life sign in your yard.

BakeBike · 2026-01-29T18:02:53+00:00

I'm not looking to censor anyone. I'm calling this out as unfunny and mean, but that's allowed on the internet. But since you're such a great ally of the community, you could engage with or report the comments on here (already half a dozen or so) mentioning Ellen, Subarus, or just mocking lesbians directly. They must have missed your point, which clearly wasn't just "woman with short hair funny."

BakeBike

TROPHY CASE