The one rule regarding dinosaur integument is that we should never underestimate its diversity

I have nothing of substance to add re: the condemnation of paleo associations with Epstein, but as the initiator of one of the more recent high-profile SVP ethics cases who spent months going through their process, I have some thoughts re: SVP's handling of ethics cases/reports. A thread 🧵:

What it’s like being friends with me.

SVP Members! I encourage you to join today's town hall on zoom at 12PM ET, and demand that leadership take action to protect our members and attendees at the 2026 Annual Meeting in Cleveland, in light of recent developments regarding the Epstein Files and what occurred at the 2024 Meeting in MN.

Earlier, I spotted a snake with tiny gorgons for hair. When I looked at her, the pebble in my pocket turned to flesh.

(1) Another long 🧵 because @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social finally put out a statement on Jack Horner's association with Jeffrey Epstein and this is about the most spineless pooh poohing of a serious safety and moral issue I have read. I guess studying vertebrates does not require a backbone...

It's defensive. Also it is notable there is no mention in this post of SVP condemning the abuses linked to these files (even in general).

Tickets booked for PaleoFest 2026! See you in Rockford, Illinois in March!

Really SVP? You’re just going to ignore decades of sexual and academic misconduct, marrying a student AT one of your conferences, and every report I’ve filed (implying that’s what you do with reports) to defend famous Horner? You’d rather have pedophiles than students is your message?

Needless to say I feel the same, and reading the email left me feeling extremely betrayed by a community I thought I could trust. I do not think I will be renewing my SVP membership at this point.

Is @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social being serious here? No, the presence of a name on an email doesn't establish wrongdoing. But the *content* of those emails is what so many members, including myself, are outraged about. This response does nothing but further degrade my confidence in SVP leadership

Was reviewing a colleague's manuscript (no spoilers but it's exciting!) when Merlin jumped up on my desk and started looking at the manuscript too. His review: minor revisions, would eat the pterosaur if it weren't fossilized, authors should include more cats.

reading about organisms that aren’t your specialty is like margins of the quorbus eplungulate, ploobular processes bent posteriorly towards the foobulum define term “eplungulate” - lacking plungae. synonym: thubulous

This is NOT what we mean by temperature-controlled storage!

Men of academia: please know that we see how you react to news of big names associating with Epstein. We see who says ”you have to look for grant money wherever you can”, ignoring that inviting Epstein to conferences, gatherings, fields sites, etc. puts the young women at those events in danger. 1/

I've previously complained that every time I publish with JVP, the outsourced typesetting firm "corrects" my name to the wrong spelling. But this time they also "corrected" my email address to something that isn't my address and I somehow missed that on the proof so it's out in the wild.

This is actually amazing. Congestion pricing in Manhattan is resulting in less congestion in outer boroughs and suburbs. As someone who frequently drives between Wch and Bk/Qns, this is great news. And the congestion pricing toll is still less expensive than a Metro North rail ticket!

It’s tangential to his relationship with Epstein, but remember Jack Horner rose to fame by claim jumping Marion Brandvold. She found Egg Mountain and the baby Maiasaura, loaned them to Jack, and had to sue to get them back - returned in 2004.

Alickmeron Sen & Ray, 2025 is an objective junior synonym of Alwalkeria Chatterjee & Creisler, 1994: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: Vol 0, No 0 - Get Access www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Alickmeron Sen & Ray, 2025 is an objective junior synonym of Alwalkeria Chatterjee & Creisler, 1994 @slvrhwk.bsky.social @ijreid.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

(1) Long 🧵 Time. Today we learned that paleontologist Jack Horner (the same guy who helped give us "Jurassic Park") is in the Epstein Files. As a paleontologist, I feel compelled to say something because this touches my field and I want to make my stance clear on this...

In awe of the maximum size of PSB files. (4.2 exabytes)

You didn't include some of the most ick ones www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

Jack Horner being in the Epstein files is not something I had on my bingo card for 2026.... Horner seemingly visited Epstein's ranch multiple times, including apparently with a student.

Just got two more vaccines to spite the antivaxxers.

The Cortylorhynchus considers my problems, nods sagely, and says, "have you tried basking in the sun about it? While being as spherical as possible?"

I don't think I've shared this in a while, so here are some Middle Jurassic British pterosaurs for y'all! #FossilFriday #paleoart #paleontology #Jurassic #sciart

if you're bored you can simply open blender and rotate a pteranodon humerus in your computer. it's free and the cops can't stop you.

What did they want?🤔 #art #paleoart

Early Arthropods xkcd.com/3199/

I, for one, love the RGB lighting on the Kosciuszko Bridge that makes it look like a late 2010s PC Gaming accessory.

Gastropod reproductive systems:

Me: "Hey what's that thing extending from your fifth toe up and around the inner edge of your hind limbs?" Non-pterodactyloid pterosaur: "Uropatagium" Me: "I am no such thing" Folks, I'll be here all day

Rhamphorhynchus #paleoart #sciart

Risotto is Italian congee? Discuss.

Although I generally think double-blind peer review is good because it mitigates biases that reviewers may have against individual authors, it's very funny to get reviewer comments saying that I'm "retreading" something that was covered by a previous recent published paper (mine) 1/2

Visit to the mountain A Zhejiangopterus climbs to the mountaintop, where the view is higher than any it had ever seen on its own wings. Inspired by the Tang dynasty travelogue “My First Visit to the Western Hill” by Liu Zongyuan (始得西山宴遊記 柳宗元) #paleoart #sciart

I did an art.... haven't done much art since Sun Country Airlines lost my Apple Pencil. Bought one of the cheap knockoffs and it's terrible, but I did do this. Still made by grumpy human that can eat cheese have emotions.

A train conductor just accused me of stealing someone else's card in order to fraudulently get discounted fare tickets, seemingly just because I'm young and not visibily obvious that I'm disabled. Young people can be disabled, and those disabilities are often invisible.

My cat fully believes that the ironing board is solely for cat cuddles and that the clothes iron serves solely for warming up the cat cuddling table. Ironing wrinkles out of clothes is just one of those silly things humans do, like playing video games or eating vegetables.

My predictions for 2026

Couldn't have said it better. On being an AI hater anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...

The software I used and the illustrations I made

decked out in her breeding plumage, arizona's most eligible dilophosaurus debutante takes a much-needed rest by a stream. who knew that competing for a mate could be such an exhausting endeavour? #paleoart comm by @literallymiguel.bsky.social

#Sciart #Paleoart #Dinosaur Juvenile Tyrannosaurus attacking Nanotyrannus

They were roommates??

Nanotyrannus Went back to working on this during flocking #paleostream #paleoart #sciart #backinhell

got proofs back from JVP and they managed to mess up the spelling of my name... again.

Hey @microsoft.com have you considered that when I search Clip Studio Paint that means I want to open the software that is on my computer and not open Edge to do a Bing Search for Clip Studio Paint thanks :)

We, and the birds in the trees, and the rats in the cellar, and the snake in the grass; all of us are descended from incredibly friend shaped animals, such as Acanthostega