odditudes-and-weirdities

On this date in 1923 Peter Kaisen discovered the first Velociraptor remains in the Outer Mongolian Gobi Desert. Since then, these dinosaurs have emerged as pop culture icons due to their appearance in books (like Jurassic Park ) and movies (like Jurassic Park ). It should be noted that the actual Velociraptor was about the height of a wild turkey, though its length gave it a bit more weight than that. In contrast, the popular culture velociraptors are generally portrayed as a bit bigger than a human being. (This size isn't implausible; the popular culture Velociraptor is pretty close in size to a relative of theirs discovered more recently, the Utahraptor .) What are your survival chances (unarmed) against a velociraptor? Probably not very good. Most of our homes aren't designed to be velociraptor-proof, for one thing. You probably wouldn't be safe at home. From https://xkcd.com/87/ And of course, out in the open your chances are even bleaker. From https://xkcd.com/135/

It's Dinosaurs Day! On this date in 1841 Richard Owen described 3 fossils as big freaking lizards:  Megalosaurus ,  Iguanodon ,  Hylaeosaurus . Though he didn't use the term "dinosaur" at that meeting, a couple months later while finalizing his report he decided they were a new type of reptile he called "dinosaura" (basically "terrible reptile"). These days most people probably consider dinosaurs to be fascinating more than terrible, though the name isn't going to change. (Of course, if you lived next door to an Allosaurus or a  Utahraptor  pack, you might consider them terrible neighbors.) Although they definitely descended from reptiles, today they're more closely linked to another large group of animals, the birds! Birds are now recognized as the last surviving descendants from a dinosaur lineage. Today is a day to think about these extinct animals, large and small, herbivorous or carnivorous. Photo by Frank Kroeger on Unsplash

Observances today address subjects like learning to swim, helping clean up rivers, families, people who refused to go to war, an ancient Roman holiday about merchants/commerce, free online content, chocolate chips, and dinosaurs: Culture Freedom Day Dinosaur Day International Conscientious Objectors Day International Day of Families Mercuralia National Chocolate Chip Day National Learn to Swim Day National River Cleanup Day Culture Freedom Day is about free online content and relaxing copyright laws. National River Cleanup Day may have evolved into an every-Saturday-in-May set of events. Those fascinating animals from the past, dinosaurs, are celebrated today. Photo by Scott Greer on Unsplash