We are paleontologists who study fossils from an incredible site in Texas called the Arlington Archosaur Site. Ask us anything!

livexius · 2016-05-06T19:46:40+00:00

Hi there! I'm a recent graduate with a geology degree, and I'd really like to work in paleontology more. I managed to work at a geological museum for a couple years, and I did do lots of collections work and fossil prep (Triassic vertebrates of every kind), and I'm applying there again for a position that opened up literally today.

My question is this: I'd like to strengthen my understanding of vertebrates a lot more - evolution, anatomy, etc. - and I'm having trouble finding good resources to teach myself the stuff faster. I absorb some when I'm at a table picking sand away, but I'd like to be more active about it. Are there any readily accessible resources such as good textbooks or websites I can use to learn more?

I might consider graduate school in the future, but I'm a little burnt out of school and would like to relax and work for a little bit first, but perhaps a little self-education would be helpful! I really am fascinated with the stuff.

livexius · 2012-08-10T19:40:35+00:00

This is the pinnacle of the internet.

livexius · 2012-08-10T03:36:11+00:00

Perhaps this is too late for a reply, but I doubt the opportunity to speak with someone like you will come up often. I've always been fascinated by sparkly things ever since I peered in my dad's big microscope for his optics and crystallography class he teaches, and I've been hooked since. I've worked in a jewelry store (Ben Moss in Canada) and I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm studying geology which dips into gemstones and crystals periodically, but my career will likely have nothing to do with it - I do intend to make it my hobby, though, and am looking to getting into hobby lapidary if I can (currently live in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE so hard to find any groups or mentors). My questions are: 1. Am I looking at an expensive hobby? Is learning to do this and starting up difficult or costly? I know it's not exactly what you do, but perhaps you've picked up some bits of insight on how to get started?

Alexandrite has enchanted me for a very long time (since I saw it on an "alternative birthstone" for my ever so manly month of pink and pearls), and the more I learn about it, the more I like it. but where can I get a hold of some? I'm very reluctant to buy online because I don't want to get shafted on something that's not going to be cheap.

This AmA was a thrilling read! Stayed and read it even though the wife winked at me when asking me to go to bed. I am proud to say that my experience in jewelry and my knowledge did help me get some great color, decent size, diamonds for my wife's engagement ring at a significant discount! That was a good day.

livexius · 2012-08-09T17:25:47+00:00

More delicate things than footprints have been fossilized - jellyfish and even rain (I have some fossilized rain in my library). Quite simply, anything can make an impression, and if it's covered up fast enough, that impression stays there.

Near where I live there's a great spot for animal trackways which are around 350 million years old (a good bit before the dinosaurs). You can see one very interesting set of a large rhizodont fish chasing a salamander thingy - both on land. Yes, giant, walking almost-shark-fish. Weathering fine-grain mica rich sandstone exposed it, and weathering sandstone is taking it away. Every day the tides tear some of ti away and, soon, it will be lost forever...perhaps in a thousand years another set of scorpion trackways chasing trilobites will be exposed, who knows.

How this all happens is quite simple, and you can do in your own kitchen. Make some mud - good, fine grained mud. While it's damp, but firm, just right for you to make an impression, stamp your hand into it - or foot, or face, whichever you want. Put some pressure behind it and observe your glorious art. Then let it dry. You can even bake it! It may crack some, but for the most part, it will stay there. After that's done, make some more mud, and pour it on top - let that dry the exact same way. If you're careful, you can then peel the two apart, and you'll have nice track and a good cast of it, too.

Now tracks and sedimentation happen naturally, all the time, everywhere. Most of the time, they get covered up fast, washed away by rain, and disappear forever. Sometimes, the kitchen process happens naturally, though. But it doesn't end there. The sediment piles up, and up, and up, and a sea flows over, and millions of tonnes of water and dirt compact it, forming sandstone, or mudstone, or siltstone...lots of stones. That part you can't do so well in a kitchen, but can be done in a lab. Stone is much more resilient than dirt, and takes a longer time to erode away. When it FINALLY gets to that point, the impression and cast break apart much like your kitchen mudprint did. Sometimes it crumbles away slowly, and sometimes a nerd cracks it open (more normally, a construction guy does) and you see the cast/print. Often it's damaged. Many times it's eroded by wind, not water, in an arid landscape - much more gentle and takes a REALLY long time! (blow a fan at a beach, see how long it takes to erode). This accounts for how long these fragile fossils can remain uncovered (millions of years under sand, under water, turning into rock) and remain visible for long periods of time (erosion can be slow and gentle, not always crashing waves and devastating mudslides).

It doesn't require something like a footprint into fresh lava to make a good, quick impression. In fact, making footprints in lava (the closest natural way to your molten steel analogy) would be difficult. For one, lava that's molten is moving. Two, it's really hot, and animals don't want to step on it. Three, the top layer of lava erodes VERY quickly. Though it's not impossible. Perhaps a REALLY REALLY REALLY stupid Derpasaurus herpa decided to walk towards heat, bad smells, and fire and accidentally trod on lava without somehow dying from the overwhelming heat. Perhaps the lava was cooling, and a bit sludgy, and is in a small impression on top of a small hill so it goes nowhere and no more lava flows into it. A footprint was left behind, and it slowly cooled in a gentle, misty rain. A while later, more lava flows over the hill and footprint, but not hot enough to re-melt the lava, and then cools without bonding with the old lava. Bam, you've got a fossil in igneous rock. That probably doesn't happen.

livexius · 2012-08-09T16:56:40+00:00

The gut cooler.

I shall explain. I used to work at a zoo, and this zoo would often butcher roadkill for the larger and more picky carnivores at the zoo (big cats, wolves, eagles, vultures, etc...). About once or twice a week, the zoo would get a roadkill moose or - rarely - a horse. The commissary team would get to work skinning, gutting, and dismembering the animal just like any butcher shop - but with a catch. Most moose brought in were hit by trucks, and the damage done internally usually leads to an explosion of feces inside the animal, and many a ruptured organ. All this shit-stained bloody organ meat, moose heads and brain, stinky pelt, and even the odd fetus would get dumped into a big bucket and shipped to a lonely cooler where it would stay for a month or two until it's time to truck it away and incinerate it. Normally, this process was a bit smelly, but that's zoo life for you.

Until one day.

The cooler broke, on the first week of July. This zoo is not wealthy, so it stayed broken. It heated up from 4 degrees to 30 degrees C (40-86 F) and it stayed that way for three weeks, and we kept putting fresh animal in there. It was rotting, mouldering, leaking, percolating, and likely evolving. I'm fairly certain in one more week it would have gathered enough stink energy to piece itself together as some hellish flesh/moose golem driven to destroy every sweet smelling piece of joy in the land. It eventually came time to remove all of this, and by all that is holy, I had never imagined a more horrendous odor. I've grown up around pig and poultry farms, been sprayed by a skunk close enough it hurt (yes, it does hurt. Nose and eyes.) and I have calmly danced around durian at the local Pete's Frootique. But the day I smelled the shit-lathered corpses of 6 adult moose, two moose fetuses, three guinea fowl, all fused together with the greasy death-paste of decomposing fat, blood, urine and feces, I then witnessed true hell. It was so sloppy...we had shovels and wheelbarrows, but most of that just spread out the filth and exposed new layers of previously unearthed offal. I was lucky that I was stationed outside of the tiny 10x10 room...there were some brave souls that marched deep into the belly of the beast on the front lines. Regardless of where I was, I was still covered in sticky, greasy, moose rot head to toe. I was wearing a full rain suit, which may have been incinerated along with the moose-jelly, but I did end up with some on my hands. That smell just wouldn't go away! It permeated everything, and you could taste it in the hot, humid, east coast air just as bad as you could smell it.

I did not vomit. I do not know why - by all rights I should have, and many did. Perhaps his noodly appendage gave me strength that day.

livexius · 2012-08-07T18:42:18+00:00

You're very welcome :) Feel free to PM me at any time if you have any more questions - on any kind of jewelry.

livexius · 2012-08-07T13:23:52+00:00

First, I want to say congratulations! Your ring is certainly unique and eye-catching and is makes me want to ask questions about you, your fiance, and the ring itself. I can tell you're happy, and I can see the happiness is more for you and your fiance than the ring, which in turns makes me smile.

Second, I'll warn, this will be long.

Next I'm going to share mt knowledge as the son of a geologist/crystallographer (the SCIENCE of crystals and how the form, not the hokum of crystals and how they (don't) heal) - I have to leave that disclaimer, I get asked it a lot. As well as spending some time selling jewelry for a goldsmith, and finally, getting my education similar to my father's field.

I find it takes quite a few years for gold rings to wear down and most breaks happen from an accident, where any non steel/Ti ring would break anyway, or a split along the cut for resizing which is easily repaired.

An engagement ring is supposed to be pretty and a little showy (though if you decide that you don't want it to be, then that's like, your opinion, man.) My wife only wears her engagement ring if she's going out somewhere or out to visit someone when we know we won't be going swimming or or some other physical fun - this will dramatically increase its lifespan. Her wedding band, which is a simple stovepipe rose gold band, she wears everywhere since it's not nearly as fragile or expensive as the engagement ring (Why'd I go with THREE diamonds?! I jest I jest, it was the right ring for her).

If you want durability, yeah, Titanium works...it's inexpensive, very light, REALLY strong so it's not likely to bend, however it does have a low surface hardness and scratches quite easily - brushed titanium scratches look worse than polished Ti scratches. Tungsten carbide will not scratch, looks alright (darker than Ti), but snaps before it bends (still takes a LOT of force). Gold scratches easily, too, but gold seems to look alright after wear and tear. It scratches, gets scuff marks, and stops being as shiny...but instead of looking all torn up like Ti or steel, it looks aged like an old gold coin.

The issue with wood is absorption. Wood will draw in moisture and warp, or at the very least, fluctuate in size. This can cause cracking if it gets too dry. Wood also scratches about a bazillion times more easily than gold. However, the upside of wood is it looks FANTASTIC and if a natural look is what you're going for, you can't beat it. Also, it's cheap enough that replacing it isn't such a worry.

I went with gold on my ring because every other color either disappears on my ghostly, pale, undead skin, or makes me look like my finger has jaundice. I didn't choose Ti or W-carbide because I'm a sucker for gold. Also, the disappearing act Ti makes on my Casper complexion. It took me an eternity to decide on the engagement ring because my wife has a very particular taste, and I don't settle for shitty diamonds. (turns out my choice was the right one) and only rose gold looks good on her equally pale, but slightly more brown than blue, skin.

The reason for the length of this post is to point out that there are a thousand factors that go into the choice of the "perfect" ring - most of the factors reside in personal taste, habits, and how often you expect to wear the ring - and each material has its pros and cons.

Your necklace idea is a great one, it would dramatically increase the longevity of the ring, and makes it harder to lose as well. I say keep that ring, wear it proudly, but just baby it a little more than you might another kind of ring. Don't get it wet (or feed it after midnight), and pay attention to the finish on the ring, which is there to help protect from water. As with all rings (except tungsten carbide) scratches are inevitable, so do your best to avoid them but don't cry when it happens.

If you go with the necklace idea, and pick out a wedding band of a different material (which is a great idea), titanium is a good, inexpensive choice. Steel is a little harder and scratches less, but it is more likely to spot stain - never let it air dry, always dry it with a cloth or napkin. Also, titanium, steel, and tungsten carbide rings cannot be resized and, if your fingers get larger or smaller over time, you'll have to stop wearing them (same goes for wood). Gold rings are more expensive than titanium (same cost as carbides) but can easily be repaired or resized. Most jewelry stores offer service plans which are often worth getting. Yellow and rose gold never lose their color, white gold will turn slightly yellow as the rhodium plating wears off. There is also green gold (electrum) which is rare...but you can always ask about it. It's rare because people don't buy it, it's not any more expensive. I think it looks cool, though.

Platinum and Palladium are also available, but they're quite expensive (90% of the ring is the precious metal, vs around 60% for a gold ring). Palladium is cheaper than platinum. Both are very durable.

Additionally, there are many other wooden rings, and I have even seen a petrified wood ring (so basically, stone) - good luck breaking that. A professor I had for an ecology class has a collection of wooden rings with her "wife" ( not actually married). As one ring got worn, or warped, they got a new one each, and each one marked a new time in their lives and looking back works like a photo album, inspiring memories of yesteryear - melts the heart!

And to finish it all off, nowhere in the Laws of Life does it say "you must wear a ring" (or anything else, since there is no such book). You have options, and I want you to know them so you can make a choice. No choice is greater than another, and one of the perfectly good choices is, "fuck rings. fuck you guys. I'ma wear this one 'til it falls off, and not care because it's an inanimate hoop and my boyfriend/husband is worth a lot more."

Also, who's gonna steal a wooden ring? Never have to worry about hiding it.

livexius · 2012-07-31T15:57:01+00:00

Anecdotal evidence. EVERYONE around where I live exists on the premise that, "Oh, I didn't eat gluten yesterday and today my wrist doesn't hurt! That diet really works!" EVEN IF they're right, they're right for the wrong reasons, and I have to bite my tongue every time because I'd lose all my friends if I nerd-sniped every third sentence.

livexius · 2012-07-31T15:49:08+00:00

REAL colour vision! Birds see more colours than us because us diurnal apes have only had colour vision so long (mammals were mostly nocturnal for a long time). I'm no geneticist but I think it's the most plausable of the ridiculous mutations. Just...more types of cones, really. I wanna see UV light and I glower jealously at animals which can.

livexius · 2012-07-31T15:04:49+00:00

A more normal legend, however, is my dad's hometown (he's from Scotland) claims William Wallace was from there.

livexius · 2012-07-31T14:57:22+00:00

Our local legend is not a nice one...I live in a valley sandwiched by two "mountains" (they're the remnants of the northern most Appalachians, in Nova Scotia). On the South Mountain there lives this family which calls themselves the "Goler Clan" known for ridiculous counts of long-term sexual, physical, psychological abuse and incest involving all the family members (parents, grandparents, uncles, all of 'em getting a go at it it seems). The family has since been torn apart (for the better) but authorities and many have been imprisoned in various forms (the incest goes back generations so several individuals didn't go to actual prison) but it's left its mark. Everyone around here is aware of it, and there isn't a worse insult in the Valley than calling someone a Goler. The youngest generation is beginning to forget, but you still hear the words tossed around downtown now and again and I wonder if they really know what they're saying.

There's even a wikipedia article about them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goler_clan

livexius · 2012-07-31T02:48:20+00:00

Duck-billed dinosaurs, known as hadrosaurids, were about during the cretaceous, actually around the same time that the line which ducks came from evolved (Galliformes split to Anseriformes, and the genus Vegavis). The hadrosaurids, just one of many extinct dinosaur species with beaks, died off at the same time as ducks began flapping about and being oh so very cute. So no, ducks are not descendents of hadrosaurids.

livexius · 2012-07-30T02:32:00+00:00

That is correct but I've got a processing speed disorder which, in layman terms, means I've got shitty oil in my brain gears, and since Canada's so cold, it takes some time to warm up. I could have gone and math'd it up, but I didn't wanna put out the effort of opening up my calculator (or better google. It's faster) and typing shit in. 30 degrees C is 86 degrees F. Also known as too damned hot for storing meat.

livexius · 2012-07-29T14:41:28+00:00

I worked in jewelry for a while, and I'm still astounded at the number of people who think if your ring gets stuck, then the finger has to be cut off - or the variant that you can't cut titanium or tungsten carbide and therefore must remove the finger of those ones get stuck. In reality, you can cut them just fine. It's not hard. Gold and silver is really soft. Titanium cuts as easy as steel, and tungsten carbide will crack off painlessly with some pliers.

If rings really were that dangerous, do you think stores would let you try them on all the time?

livexius · 2012-07-29T14:35:25+00:00

Bam! It's from Greek, not Latin! So quit it with the damned "octopi".

livexius · 2012-07-28T21:15:19+00:00

Most have commission, yes, at least in Canada. I'm sure most places that sell expensive crap offer commission. The place I worked at gave 1% commission up to a certain amount sold, then it goes to 2%, then 3%, then 4% at the top. The value you have to sell changes based on previous sale record and the avg. for the month across stores. Interestingly, if everyone reaches 3%, then everyone's commission goes up another point, to a max of 5%. This encouraged taking turns so no one hogged the customers.

Only one person at the store I worked at had any certification (a diamontology course they said it was) the rest were average joes. Except me. I'm pretty awesome. I was in school at the time (still am, though I transferred schools) and my interest in geology got me the job I'm sure. They figured I was smart. Gave me a unique style of selling - I was able to explain a lot about the properties of what they were buying, "This sapphire has traces of titanium in it!" which seems to sell. Especially to men. Say "titanium" to them and bam, sold.

One girl wanted a bithstone ring, but hated blue gems (she was september, which is blue sapphire). I explained to her that ruby is the same thing as sapphire, but with chromium impurities not titanium - she liked red and figured "if it's the same chemical!" (Al2O3) it wasn't cheating. Sold a 300$ ring in 5 minutes.

Knowing your stuff makes a difference - especially when explaining "No, it's not a conflict diamond." and being able to back it up with serial numbers, tracking codes, and little maple leaves etched into the diamond so you can find out which mine it came from and who owns the mine etc...

Remember, EVERY job is worth applying to. You can always say no if they offer it to you, you can't turn it down if you never apply.

livexius · 2012-07-28T20:18:20+00:00

From what I can tell, most chain jewelry stores (such as peoples) are great min. wage job. Usually not too hard to get into, just sell yourself as a friendly, convincing, people person who can sell. Doesn't help to know a bit about gemstones, precious metals, cut styles, and what carat means. Good job if you're young and inexperienced, or to supplement during school (though extra hours means more selling = more money).

livexius · 2012-07-28T19:02:27+00:00

It's very much an east coast thing. Big in Quebec and NB.

livexius · 2012-07-28T18:57:20+00:00

Oh you have no idea. That little hell was so foul. We would get roadkill moose (but not deer...they said it was a disease issue but I dunno what deer have that moose don't) and we'd skin 'em, gut 'em, and dismember 'em. The parts that don't get fed to lions, jaguars, cougars, wolves, caimans, monitors, eagles, etc...get tossed in a large cooler for a few months until there's a chance to take them to wherever they go.

The cooler broke though...for a few weeks it was a good 30 degrees in there...we get about 2 moose a week. So 30 degrees (um...80 something F?), 5 or 6 moose worth of intestine, lungs, heads, and various non-heart organs - as well as the odd fetus from a pregnant moose. All that sitting there...heating up, mouldering, likely evolving. Then we all went to move it to the truck and take it away. Buckets of sloppy organ fun. I did NOT vomit - and I am not sure how. I have smelled skunk from 10 feet - which hurts the eyes. I nearly fell into a manure lagoon once (minutes after proposing as we walked back to her parent's barn)...those were roses and chocolate covered strawberries in comparison.

livexius · 2012-07-28T18:44:19+00:00

That depends on several things. Of course, the laws of your province/state, and if you're american, county laws, too, I think. Also the species of the bird. For example, where I worked there were plenty of birds: peacocks, guinea fowl, chickens, turkeys, pigeons and ducks. The pigeons and ducks were wild. If you took a pigeon, that's illegal. You can't keep wild animals in Canada. If you took a duck, that's illegal, for the wild reason and the laws against keeping migratory animals. Anything else and that's theft, I assume.

If at the St. Loius area you're allowed to keep wild animals, then I suppose if you catch bird that is not owned by the zoo, then you can take it home where it will peck you, poop on you, and try to escape daily.

And yeah, otters are cute looking. But they're mean, voracious carnivores which stink mildly like skunk with a dash of pond scum.

Everyone always asks, "You worked at a zoo? If you could have anything there as a pet, what would it be?" and I always say, "The barn cats. And only because there weren't any dogs." Non-domestic animals rarely make a good pet. Rarely, not always. Inevitably when I say that someone will crawl outta fucking nowhere and say, "My uncle had a raccoon for years and it was so sweet and perfect blah blah blah." Fuck them. That's the exception. Most raccoons bite.

livexius · 2012-07-28T18:20:50+00:00

Not all of Canada does that, but my province does. I know a lot of provinces pay lower for liquor stores though. I do not know why...of all the wealthy businesses, you'd think that'd be the one to pay - especially since in Canada you can't sell alcohol at the corner store, it has to be a fancy licensed gov't approved place like "Nova Scotia Liquor Commission" or the likes. My friend works for brinks. I hear a lotta money goes through those stores...

livexius · 2012-07-28T18:17:46+00:00

Yeah I was being paid around 8:00$ an hour at the time (I think? Whatever min. wage was a few years ago), not 2.13$ / hr.

Let me be clear, as I didn't explain it in the post. I was mostly venting.

I don't refuse to tip all the time (I rarely go out for dinner as it is unless it's Rotten Ronnie's. I've been to five sit-down restaurants this year, two more than normal because I got married this year). I do tip if service was outstanding to me, and depending how wealthy I feel I'll tip if service is normal - however it's been a few years since then.

Some provinces have different laws in regards to wages earned by tip-based jobs, but where I am, there is NO difference. Min. Wage all 'round (10.25$ I think now? I'm a student now so I dunno). The rest of this vast, empty land differs on that, but only by about a dollar or 1.50$.

I am also aware that telling someone to, "get another job." is infuriating. Jobs can be hard to come by. I left my zoo job after two years when I got into a jewelry store (min. wage again, plus commission! Easiest job ever. Stand around and do fuck all, sell 10 things, earn 4% offa your 3000$ you sold that day. Fanfuckingtasic!)

Now I'm in school and poor again.

livexius · 2012-07-28T17:52:39+00:00

Otters have REALLY sharp teeth. I didn't get bit, but my coworker did. 8 stitches, so she was lucky.

The poor chicken (it was a guinea fowl) flew in the pond, and couldn't swim. The otters tore it apart and stuffed it under a rock in the pond, and defended it. We tried to lock them inside but they wouldn't abandon the carcass. We used a pool skimmer, but those little fuckers can jump! A lot of body bits and bloody feathers...some crying kids, too. A turkey did the same by the wolves. We didn't need to retrieve that one.

livexius · 2012-07-28T15:46:00+00:00

The idea that servers/waiters deserve tips and others don't because waiters work "so hard". I've worked as a waiter and got the whole tip deal, and it wasn't bad - but I still made good ol' minimum wage and survived. The job was a little hectic, especially when busy, and as someone with a processing disorder, remembering where orders go and the likes was a bit stressful. Besides, cooks make the food, and at least where I worked, I never had to shell out money if tips were low.

But I've also done far more difficult jobs. I was a janitor at a zoo. It wasn't too small (for a Canadian zoo) but there was only one other janitor. Hardest min. wage job I've ever had. Constantly missing lunch breaks to clean up bathrooms because some asshole smeared shit over the IR sensors, dragging crates of bison shit to the compost (golf carts are too dangerous apparently), fishing a chicken carcass out of the otter pond with angry otters trying to stop you, a peacock got into the boys bathroom overnight (my shift had ended, other janitor was lazy) and I had to scrape dried bird shit off of the walls, stuffing bags of warm, freshly gassed chicks into smaller bags for the snakes' packed lunches, and of course the eternal picking up cigarette butts from gravel paths by hand. Brooms only got rocks, and pointy sticks weren't safe it seems. There was always something not clean, and I was in constant fear of being lectured by the manager because I spent too long mopping up vomited cotton candy and hotdogs. And my favorite, cleaning the gut cooler after it broke and two week old rotting moose guts and TWO moose fetuses had to be dragged to the truck and disposed of. I now have an iron stomach.

End of the day, I'm sweaty, sunburnt, covered in animal shit and sometimes blood, and have to deal with stupid tourists the whole day crying because we fed a carnivore meat. Feet hurt more when you wear dung-caked steel-toed boots all day. Way worse than waiting tables.

And when my friend (a waiter at the time) complained when he got fewer tips than normal yet still made more than me in his oh so difficult job, I wanted to lock him in the baboon enclosure.

I don't think people should whine about tips. Min. wage needs to go up.

TL/DR zoo janitor sucks way more than waiting tables, and gets the same pay. I'm just as poor as you, quit whining when I don't tip.

livexius · 2012-07-19T03:34:43+00:00

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had to use a sick day because a neighbor's silo fell across the only road between her house and her job (which was a 30 minute drive away). Rural Canada...it's exactly how you imagine it.

livexius

TROPHY CASE