Dane Pavitt 🦕🌍

Query for folks who've presented posters at academic conferences.
How much notice does one normally get that your poster has been accepted before the conference date?

A much needed clearout of the home studio. I've recently had the kick up the backside necessary to spool up the online scicomm output.
Time for a reboot

Dubai influencers share near-identical videos with footage of Dubai crown prince | LBC Videos featuring the caption ‘I know who protects us’ have been circulating on social media

I had no idea until this all started that the UAE licences and pays many influencers to live there and write positively about the regime.

That puts a whole new spin on things.

Propagandists in pocket of regime.

It's why all the messaging is the same.

www.lbc.co.uk/article/duba...

As out turns out, the “civilization“ spread by the western powers was always repression, plunder, & mass death disguised under the language of universal rights.

The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is what arrives when you order a puma off of Wish.

They're the largest apex predator on Madagascar, where they act to control the local lemur population.

They're the 'big cat' equivalent in family Eupleridae, which is a sister taxon to the mongoose family.

An excellent three-post take on one of the many facets of the recent Spinosaurus/Myhrvold/Epstein controversy. Science journalists, this story really needs covering! #scicomm #science #ethics #epstein

M. anhuiensis – Anhui musk deer M. berezovskii – Dwarf musk deer M. chrysogaster – Alpine musk deer M. cupreus – Kashmir musk deer M. fuscus – Black musk deer M. leucogaster – White-bellied musk deer

Do any mammal researchers or museum folks have images of mandibles in lateral view from these little dudes they wouldn't mind sharing or providing a source for? Photos, illustrations and 3D models are all valid

This is the most incredible footage of blue whales I’ve ever seen

A job rejection & a malfunctioning statistical analysis makes for a crap day. The small one patting me on the head while I put her to bed and saying "Sorry you had a sad day, daddy" makes it a little better

New fossils may settle debate over mysterious sail-backed spinosaurs Spinosaurs have sometimes been portrayed as swimmers or divers, but a new species of these dinosaurs bolsters the idea that they were more like gigantic herons

In which I provide a few thoughts on the new Spinosaurus species, S. mirabilis.

www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

I also stressed the deep connections between one of the study authors - Nathan Myhrvold - and Geoffrey Epstein to New Scientist. They didn't mention it, neither has anyone else.

On July 24, 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that a letter from Myhrvold containing wildlife photos from a recent trip to Africa was included in a leather-bound birthday book given to Epstein in 2003, three years before criminal charges were first filed against Epstein. The photographs included "a monkey screaming, lions and zebras mating, and a zebra with its penis visible." The letter commented that the photos "seemed more appropriate than anything I could put in words."

Re: the new Spinosaurus paper and author Nathan Myhrvold.
If we're rightly going to scrutinise Jack Horner and the people and institutions that associate with and enable him, we need to hold everyone to the same standard.

Former Microsoft executive’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein comes under scrutiny Seattle Times business reporter Alex Halverson has written about connections between Epstein and former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold.

If the paleo community is going to be serious about Horner’s connection to Epstein, we also have to be serious about Myhrvold’s, because guess who contributed photos of animals mating to Epstein’s birthday book and has been appearing in new paleo papers this year - including the new Spinosaurus.

Only plausible explanation for casting Leto as Skeletor when Mark Hamill is still alive

Alien Covenant. The whole thing felt so fundamentally wrong and insulting

Less than two weeks into my dissertation module and I already have 15 pages of references. I must be mad 😳

My Astral Ammonite. The 12 stars in the constellation represent the 12 periods of life in the Phanerozoic (Cambrian-Quaternary)

got talked out of palaeo in school as pie in the sky. There was never an explaination of how to do it.
It was only listening to @davehone.bsky.social &
@iszi.com Terrible Lizards podcast explaining the academic pathway that I actually had the eureka moment of "Oh, THATS how it works!"

Jack Horner Facebook post from 12 Feb. So, while I'm being investigated by SVP, why don't you outraged paleo-people get back to doing some factual science, using the scientific method. You seem to have forgotten how that works, you know, using actual evidence? For Darren, I think this is essential, as I get the impression from his DinoCon disinvite, he's still cheesed off from Kevin and I pummeling him over the whole Darwin sexual selection argument back in 2013. But, I do thank you Darren, for weeding out the invasive nuisances from my social media platforms, I was curious as to how I was going to do that on my own.

For people outside of paleontology:

This senior paleontologist, who married a 19-year-old, visited a convicted pedophile in 2012 & 2016. Is beefing over a conference argument from 13 years ago, angry because he was banned from a family-friendly event across the Atlantic. The level of petty.

Hi [-] I have some concerns I want to run by you regarding my participation in the [-] project. The current climate surrounding Jack Horner and other's associations with Jeffrey Epstein and SVP's statement addressing it have left a lot of people feeling uncomfortable with the society's position, especially given past reports of Horner's behaviour. I was hoping that given your position on [-] you'd be able to offer some reassurance that action is being taken to protect members of the palaeontology community from such behaviour, and that individuals with power and status not be allowed to exploit their positions. I wouldn't neccesarily be so perturbed had you not stated that the project itself is explicitly associated with the society. The broader palaeo community has not taken SVP's statement well, myself included if I'm entirely honest, and I fear that if I were to be associated at this uneasy time I'd be sacrificing integrity for personal gain. As tantalising and valuable as an author credit is, I can't allow myself to be unconcerned or dismissive of these matters. Hopefully you can alleviate some of my worries and things can move forward productively. Regards Dane

I recently got the chance to join a research project with the promise of an author credit.
After learning the project is being run through SVP, I'm minded to withdraw my participation given the current climate around the society. Gotta lead by example.
Specifics removed for the usual safety reasons

This is incredibly exciting!!! What do you mean there were dinosaurs with hedgehog like spikes?! So cool!!!

a cartoon character with the words oh yeah it 's all coming together behind him ALT: a cartoon character with the words oh yeah it 's all coming together behind him

Geology project proposal submitted, dissertation research is all but approved 😁

Let‘s open this question up: who are the kindest, most wholesome paleontologists you know (Current/retired/historical/whatever)? Who SHOULD be featured in documentaries?

I’m tired of doomering, let’s focus on the bright lights among us.

I met @ladynaturalist.bsky.social at SVP last year, you couldn't ask for a bigger dose of positivity in the room

Email from Leslie Groff to Jeffrey Epstein Subject: Jack Horner to Ranch "Jack Horner says to please tell you he would love to see your ranch and he would be abailable to come any day after July 25th."

Email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epsetin Should I check in with Jack Horner? He believes hens to leave for the ranch on July 26 (2 weeks from today). Do I need to tell him plans are in a holding pattern? Jeffery Epstein responds: delay him one day Lesley Groff responds: Another tid bit! JE is asking me to delay jack horner one day! So this would be an arrival of July 27 depart 29... I have emailed Jack to aske if this would work with his schedule.... :)

Email from John Horner to Jeffrey Epstein 6/29/2012 Hi [redacted] Since i don't really know how long it would take to get from Albuquerque to the ranch and visa versa [sic], and don't know how I'm to get there (would someone be picking me up or should I rent a car) it would probably be best if you just booked the flight for me. Delta Airlines connecting through Salt Lake is the most convenient for me. My official name and frequent number [sic] is: John Robert Horner Delta # [REDACTED] The geology maps are perfect. Jack

email from Lesley Groff to Jeffrey Epstein "Reminder: John Horner and student to visit ranch today... [redacted] =ill [sic] be taking care of them...

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.

3,500 years BP: The last survival of the mammal megafauna in the Americas The last ages of appearance of mammalian megafauna in Brazil are associated with the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, establishing a consensus of exti…

Been over a year since this study was published & I feel like it didn't make as big of a splash as it should have. Is there something not kosher about it I'm missing?

Anyone else feel like handing out free training & certifications is another sign of the growing desperation of the AI sector to get normal people to use AI for literally anything?

So WeTransfer, which has been my go-to large file sharing service for over a decade, has decided they now own what you upload & can use it to train AI. Anyone know of any good alternatives?

I keep thinking “my god the people they’ve killed seem like exceptionally good folks” and I think the lesson there is that they’re not exceptional, but that wonderful people abound and that a baseline distrust in humanity is a shitty conservative trope that privileges power over collective strength

Tigers are one of the few animals I don't think I'd even bother trying to defend myself from. It's a waste of calories that the tiger could put to good use.
I've said to people before, 'Imagine how strong you think a tiger is, multiply it by five, & you might be getting close'.