I had an excellent weekend

A lovely creature that is most likely a prototype for the modern seagull.

Triassic period. These creatures had a rudder-like tail that allowed pterodactyls to fly in any direction. Their wife chests and elongated phalanges helped them fly as well. They’re similar to bats; however, their wings are connected to only one digit while bats use four digits for flight.

Visited the Observatory gift shop and exhibits. I surprised myself by learning something new.

Currently reading How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. So far it’s really good. It’s a nice introductory book into racism and how being called a “racist” is not the end of the world. 📚

Sahelanthropus tchadensis. Early human ancestor from six or seven million years ago in Chad.

Butterflies are much prettier and less bothersome when they’re dead

Selfie with a basking shark

This is an ammonite. They’re currently extinct but are a type of mollusk that lived during the Cretaceous period. They have a distinct spiral shape to them.

Amphibious skull compared to modern day Chinese salamander skull

Spending just 10 minutes a day surrounded by nature is said to relieve stress and anxiety. Sometimes it’s nice to walk a nature trail and get a little lost on your way back.

It is assumed that stromatolites were formed in areas with low oxygen by microbes. These microbes likely respirated using sulfur. We can make assumptions of other life forms on distant planets also use a sulfur system to live. This stromatolite was formed in the Precambrian period roughly 540 million years ago.

💻 I found my old flashdrive from high school and I found my never before seen website I designed myself at 16. I was really proud of it at the time and I decided to make my teenage self’s wishes come true by actually putting it online.

I hate when people point out my insecurities after I specifically told them not to

cyanometer

Giant sloths were around almost 10,000 years ago. It’s suspected they were hunted into extinction by the Homo sapiens.

I hate checking my grades but I noticed in one of my classes it went down by a whole grade point. I missed a huge test and didn’t even notice. Yikes

This animal was a precursor to the modern frog and was around in the early Permian period around 300 million years ago. It is widely believed the early amphibian had gills while it was alive. These creatures were found all over what is now Texas and the southern US. The fossil shown on the left was found in Baylor County, Texas.
Dinosaurs are not around yet, but the first mammals make their first appearance around this time.

Jimbacrinus bostocki are known for having five tentacle-like structures and they existed in the Ordivician and Permian periods. This particular one is from the early Permian period in Western Australia. Crinoids are a type of echinoderm which is a name used to describe animals such as starfish and sea urchins. These crinoids most likely used their pinnules to feed on small animals and other small particles on the sea floor.

This specimen was found at Jimba Jimba Station in Western Australia.

Although trilobites existed in the Cambrian period as well, you can tell this is from the Ordovician period due to its evolved form. Early trilobites had thin armor while these trilobites have evolved to have thicker armor and spikes to prevent predation.

Studying for biology 🥽🧪

I had a lot of fun reading Pride and Prejudice. Somehow I’d managed to avoid spoilers for a hundred year old book; I’d never seen the films nor the movie. Seeing my own opinion on specific characters was also fun to look back on. I tried writing a review chapter by chapter since it’s such a long book to better remember my first impressions and in doing so I am reading the book like any other fan who read it in the late 19th century.

The main reason this book has endured for so long is it is true escapist fantasy that is close enough to reality, the reader could imagine it really happening to them. It’s the typical When Harry Met Sally love story. Boy meets girl, they hate each other then slowly fall in love. There’s also the fantasy of having multiple men in vying for one girl’s attention, even if that girl despises those men (Mr. Collins falls into that category especially). Finally the ultimate fantasy: someone changing for the better because of love.

The book begins with Elizabeth explaining her current situation. Her parents have four daughters and there is an undercurrent of worry that some of them won’t be provided for. Mrs. Bennet especially is neurotic and obsessed with finding the perfect matches for her daughters. Elizabeth had a suitor in Mr. Collins in the beginning but turned him down since he was annoying to her. This disappointed her father quite a bit but he let her have that decision. The first devestation happens when Mr. Collins marries Elizabeth’s best friend and knows that friend will be living in their family’s house when Mr. Bennet passes away. The majority of the book is about the family visiting various houses and talking to different people hoping one of them will be a good match.

During the time that Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, there were soldiers stationed all around England and its colonies. Soldiers were often quartered in private residences with families who hosted them. It was common in that time for soldiers to be seen as unsavory and known to go from girl to girl, leaving a dishonored family behind. One such soldier was Mr. Wickam who at first is seen as a nice and respectable man.

Mr. Wickam reminds me so much of every single man I’ve ever met. He is good with his words and is easily able to convince Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy is the worst man ever. This helps fuel the animosity between the two and prevent their feelings from coming to light sooner.

After Mr. Darcy begins to fall for Elizabeth it’s plain to the reader what is happening but Elizabeth is blissfully unaware of Mr. Darcy’s true feelings. It was quite entertaining to see Elizabeth mention she frequented the gardens near Rosings thinking Mr. Darcy would never return. When Mr. Darcy brought the letter that professed his feelings I was so glad that Elizabeth didn’t have an immediate change of heart. A lesser book would’ve ended there. Mr. Darcy told Elizabeth that he had changed but he allowed his actions to speak for themselves without reward.

Elizabeth’s younger sister Lydia fell for the dashing Mr. Wickam and he convinced her that they’d be wed in London. In Lydia’s letter it showed how childish her daydreams of being Mrs. Wickam were. It’s easy to forget when stepping into the shoes of Elizabeth that not everyone has her common sense in that time period. Lydia is a nice reminder that teenagers will always be teenagers no matter the era.

Without anyone’s knowledge, Mr. Darcy looked for Mr. Wickam and Lydia to make sure he married her. It took a lot of bribing and he made the Gardiners swear their secrecy in his involvement. Had Lydia not been too chatty, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy would’ve never talked about their feelings.

It was a lovely love story. I look forward to reading more Jane Austen in the future. Look here to see the Twilight Edition cover of the Pride and Prejudice book I read

I finally finished Pride and Prejudice! I can see why it’s still so popular. It gets down to the root of why all romance is appealing: The fantasy of having someone make an effort and change their bad habits for you.

It’s been raining nonstop

Where are my fellow hockey fans? 🏒