Shala K. Howell's Blog, page 19

Wordless Wednesday: One last May flower

Even though I suppose it’s really June now.

[image error]It’s a lovely time of year. (Photo: Shala Howell)

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Why does a book from 1999 still show a sauropod living in a swamp?

In the spring, a curiosity blogger’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of dinosaurs. Specifically, the sauropod tracks in Glen Rose, Texas and whether this will be the summer I get to see them.

Thinking of the Glen Rose tracks inevitably reminded me of Roland T. Bird, who excavated them for the American Museum of Natural History back in 1939. (You can read Bird’s May 1939 account of prospecting for the tracks, “Thunder in His Steps,” in the online Natural History Magazine archives.)

Revisiting Bird’s 1939 article reminded me that I still haven’t found his 1944 essay, “Did Brontosaurus ever walk on land?”

I’d learned about this article, also published in Natural History Magazine, back in 2011, while researching whether sauropods could swim at my daughter’s request (at the time, she herself was struggling with swimming lessons, and was looking to the historical record for evidence to support the idea that wading was a “good-enough” life skill).

Although I never did find Bird’s original article online, I learned the substance of it from paleontologist Jeff Wilson’s secondhand summary. Apparently, Bird had argued in the article that the front-feet only trackways in Glen Rose had been made by a floating sauropod who was pushing himself along underwater by his front feet.

Although Bird’s idea has since been refuted, I would still like to read Bird’s arguments for myself. It occurred to me that now that we’re living in California, I’m connected to a different public library system. Their archives of the Natural History Magazine might go back further.

So I hopped online and searched the Northern California public library system’s catalog.

Sadly, their archives also appear to only go back about 20 years. Still, some of the outlying branches had a number of books on Roland T. Bird that I hadn’t read before, so I used the Interlibrary Loan service to send two of them hurtling in the direction of my local branch in the hopes that one of the books might include a reprint of that missing essay.

(Have you used your library’s Interlibrary Loan service yet? It transforms your little local branch into a regional information hub that makes the contents of every library in your state/regional public library system available to you. And as long as you don’t lose the book or return it late, the service is completely free. So fabulous.)

One of the books, The Dinosaur Footprints and Roland T. Bird, turned out to be a picture book from 1999 (guess I should have paid more attention to that little ‘J’ in its call number). But I read it anyway. You’d be surprised how much information gets packed into nonfiction picture books.

All was going well, until I came to the very last page, where I saw this:

[image error]There you go again, putting those sauropods right back into the swamp from which they didn’t come. (Photo: Shala Howell. Image: Charles Knight’s 1897 Brontosaurus)

To make matters worse, the caption in the picture book reads simply:

“Many of the giant footprints that Bird found were made millions of years ago by sauropods, such as this one.”

Look, I know this is Charles Knight’s classic 1897 painting, Brontosaurus.

And I know that it’s an iconic image that influenced popular culture’s perception of these giant beasts well into the 1960s. It’s true that in the 1930s and 1940s when Bird was working most actively with those sauropod tracks, he really did did think that sauropods spent most of their time in water. The other book I requested from Interlibrary Loan, Bones for Barnum Brown, is full of drawings like this one:

[image error]Illustration from Roland T. Bird’s Bones for Barnum Brown. The caption reads: “Drawing of the Davenport Ranch sauropod herd. Copied from a drawing by Bird.” (Image Source: Bones for Barnum Brown, page 163.)

But The Dinosaur Footprints and Roland T. Bird was published in 1999. By then scientists had already spent decades agreeing that sauropods had likely spent most of their time on land.

Is it too much to ask that the caption tell young readers that we no longer think sauropods spent most of their time in water?

Or–hear me out–maybe you could include a simple artist credit and date for the painting itself somewhere other than in the buried photo credits for the book, which no parent would read to a five-year-old?

I mean, American wildlife artist Charles Knight (1874-1953) was a pretty amazing fellow in his own right. The sort of guy your child might want to read about sometime, especially since as one of the first people to illustrate dinosaurs, mammoths, and cavemen, Knight’s work is still a prominent feature of many natural history museums, including the Field Museum in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Want to learn more about Charles R. Knight?

Although I haven’t read it yet, Richard Milner’s extensively illustrated book, Charles Knight: The Artist Who Saw Through Time looks like a good place to start. In addition to reproductions of Knight’s famous and never-before-seen work, it includes a biography of Knight as well as several extracts from Knight’s writings about extinct and modern animals.

Sadly, it’s also well over $100 on Amazon, but I bet your local library has a copy. (Or if not, you can request one from a connected branch through their Interlibrary loan service.)

Bonus:

The second book I requested through interlibrary loan was Bones for Barnum Brown, Roland T. Bird’s own account of his time on Barnum Brown’s dinosaur hunting crew. Although it doesn’t include his 1944 essay either, Chapter 29 reads very much like Bird’s 1939 Natural History Magazine article, “Thunder in His Steps.” It’s almost word for word in places. And that gives me hope that Bird may have recycled some of his 1944 article to write Chapter 32, which discusses–among other things–how the front-foot only trackways might have been made.

Related Links:

“Thunder in His Steps” by Roland T. Bird (Natural History Magazine archives)“Could sauropods swim?” (Caterpickles)“Why did they draw that sauropod underwater?” (Caterpickles)

Wordless Wednesday: May flower

Look what my husband spotted poking up out of some bricks.

[image error](Photo: Michael Howell)

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There should be an app for that…

Housekeeping note: It’s the final days of the school year and there are a lot of things going on that require my input/attention. So posting will be casual (read: short and random) for a little while.

As regular readers know, we’ve moved to California. We did this because my husband took a job at Google as part of their Medical AI team. This past week, news broke that Google had developed a Medical AI that could detect lung cancer in CT scans as well or better than trained radiologists.

This fact, while cool, is really just background information. I was talking to the now Twelve-Year-Old (!) about this in the car the other day, and she brought up the topic of melanoma. As in, wouldn’t it be cool if you could take pictures of weird stuff on your skin and have your smartphone tell you if you needed to see a doctor for it or not.

Me: “Yes, but that would arguably be the ickiest image set ever.”

The Twelve-Year-Old, ignoring me and running with this scenario in her head:

“Hey Google, what’s that?”
Imaginary Google App: “That’s your nose.”
“Hey Google, what’s that?”
Imaginary Google App: “That’s your leg.”
“Hey Google, what’s that?
Imaginary Google App: “Either that’s your chin or you have a problem.”

In the process of writing this post, I did a quick search to see if this sort of app existed. After all, an app that can detect potential skin cancer seems like a great use for AI in the age of smartphones. And of course, folks are already working on it.

Related Links:

Google’s Medical AI detects lung cancer with 94% accuracy (Interesting Engineering)Caterpickles consults the dermatologist: “Why do pale people get more moles?” (Caterpickles)Three major failings in some apps used for the diagnosis of skin cancer (University of Birmingham, via ScienceDaily)

Not-at-all Wordless Wednesday: Why doesn’t my cat hate his pet bandana more?

It’s Monopoly time at our local Safeway. This year, for the first time ever, we won something.

Presenting Canelo’s brand new, free-except-for-shipping, pet bandana from Shutterfly.

Canelo wouldn’t let me put it on him for the photo shoot. The best I could do was wait for him to fall asleep and then drape it over him like a blanket.

[image error]Canelo’s bandana reads: “Canelo: Not as cuddly as you’d think.” (Photo: Shala Howell)

When he woke up, Canelo pulled off the bandana and gave me the standard tail flick reproach.

[image error]“I am never wearing this thing again, CatMom. Don’t even try.” (Photo: Shala Howell)

Fast forward a few hours… My daughter got home from school, and the first thing she did was tie Canelo’s bandana properly around his neck. Honestly, I thought there would be more fireworks.

[image error]Around here, we refer to those as the Ears of Doom. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Admittedly those ears were marginal at best, but nobody in my house was bleeding, and that was… unexpected.

I could not figure out what was going on with this cat. It’s not like Canelo to be this calm about our Stuff-on-Cats habit. I’ll admit it, I was a little disappointed to see Canelo saunter over to his food bowl without the slightest wobble in his step or puff in his tail.

[image error](Photo: Shala Howell)

After his snack, Canelo settled on the couch for a little nap. So of course, my daughter tried to pet him.

Mystery solved.

Judging by what happened next, Mr. Chompy McFuzzyPaws here thinks his bandana is an anti-cuddle shield.

[image error]Who knew cats could read? (Photo: Shala Howell)

Bonus: The Twelve-Year-Old insisted that we get a pet bandana for Tigery too.

[image error]Tigery strikes a pose in my office chair. (Photo: Shala Howell)

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50 States of Public Art: CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour in Mankato, Minnesota

It’s summertime, and therefore, peak public art touring season across the United States. For the current installment of our ongoing series, The 50 States of Public Art, we visit Mankato, Minnesota, which has launched its ninth annual CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour.

The CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour in Mankato, Minnesota

Public Art Program: CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour

Location: Various spots in the Mankato and North Mankato city centers

Every year, the Mankato and North Mankato city center play host to a different set of freestanding sculptures. This year, the CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour boasts 26 separate metal sculptures, most by local artists, and all of which are for sale. Residents and tourists are invited to view the works and vote for their favorites in the annual CityArt People’s Choice competition. The winning sculpture may be purchased by CityArt for permanent installation.

[image error]

Horse by Travis Sorenson. Steel. Located on Second Street between Hickory and Walnut in Mankato city center. (Photo via CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour)

Want to see CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour for yourself?

Seven of this year’s pieces, along with the 2015 People’s Choice Award Winner (Godzilla by Dale Lewis) are located along Belgrade Ave between Range and Nicollet Streets in North Mankato City Center. The remaining pieces on exhibit are scattered throughout Mankato City Center (here’s a map).

Want to go, but need help selling it to your kids?

Pair it with a trip to Songs on the Lawn 2019

If you are planning to go on a weekday, consider making that weekday a Thursday in June. Every Thursday in June, the Mankato City Center plays host to Songs on the Lawn. From 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., a variety of music, entertainment, and food is available at the Civic Center off S. Riverfront Drive. The Civic Center Plaza is smack in the middle of the CityArt Sculpture Walk area in Mankato, so the two events would pair well for families in the area. Admission to Songs on the Lawn is free and you can find free parking at Cherry Street.

Tack the public art on to a trip to the park

Folks looking to entice their children into a visit on the weekends might want to consider pairing the CityArt walk with a visit to Sibley Park, rated one of the coolest playgrounds in the state by NewsCastic in 2015, or Riverfront Park, which connects to the Minnesota River Trail.

Remind your kids that they can vote for their favorite

Your kids may love the idea of voting for their favorite sculpture in the People’s Choice Award. This fact might be helpful in convincing them to see more than one.

Don’t try to see everything all in one trip

I would be astounded if any child had the stamina to see all 26 works in one walk (although if yours does, I definitely want to hear all about it). Fortunately, the sculptures will be in place for the next several months, so you start with just a few of the ones your children would be most interested in, and save the rest for later.

Want more tips for viewing public art with children? 

My book, What’s That, Mom?: How to use public art to engage your children with the world around them… without being an artist yourself, is full of them. There’s even a journal to go with it so that your kids can sketch their favorite works of art and you can record your favorite moments from your outing.

Happy public art hunting!

Related Links:

Map of the CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour (CityArt Mankato)
CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour Photo Gallery (CityArt Mankato)
CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour kicks off (Mankato Free Press)
Family-Friendly Adventures in Mankato (Visit Greater Mankato)
What’s That, Mom?: How to use public art to engage your children with the world around them… without being an artist yourself by Shala Howell (This link takes you to Amazon, but you can also find it on IndieBound.
What’s That, Mom? (The Journal): Field Notes from your Encounters with Public Art out in the Wild by Shala Howell (This link takes you to Amazon, but you can also find it on IndieBound.)

Wordless Wednesday: California sky

The sky here is just ridiculous.

[image error]So much blue. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Seriously, that’s a lot of fabulous to spend on an average weekday afternoon.

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Coffee with a dinosaur, Caterpickles Edition

Yesterday, the Field Museum rolled out its Máximo the titanosaur chatbot. You can text him at 70221 or chat with him online here.

I’m sure you will not be at all surprised to learn that over the last 24 hours I have sent more texts to Máximo than I have to my husband. I even added Máximo to the Contacts list on my phone.

[image error]The contact information for Máximo the titanosaur. I like texting him directly, but you can also talk to him through the web.



I feel as though I need to point out that I am not yet completely obsessed with this dinosaur.

I am texting Máximo for science.

[image error]My first chat with Máximo. (Text chain: My phone)

My first text exchange with Máximo happened over morning coffee. It’s captured in the image above, but I thought I’d transcribe it here as well, in case the image is hard to read.

Me: “Good morning Máximo!”
Máximo: “The Spanish word ‘máximo’ translates to ‘most’ or ‘maximum.’ It fits the gigantic size of Patagotitan mayorum, no?”
(This seems to be Máximo’s standard greeting.)
Me: “I didn’t know that, thank you!”
Máximo: “I just love learning new things, don’t you?”

At one point my daughter asked who I was texting. When I said Máximo, she told me to ask Máximo if we could also text SUE.

Máximo definitely did not want to talk about SUE.



[image error]Máximo is very careful when he talks about SUE. Predator-prey issues? (Photo: Shala Howell)

Here’s the transcript for this later exchange about SUE.

Me: “Absolutely. We love SUE too”
Máximo: “SUE may have sharper teeth but I am much bigger. SUE is about 40 feet long and 10 tons. I am three times longer than SUE at 122 feet and weighed 70 tons in life.”
Me: “How is SUE?”
Máximo: “SUE is a therapod unto themselves.”

I get it, Máximo, you are much bigger than SUE. Máximo is very invested in his size, by the way. Part of the reason became clear later, when I asked him if his species had worried about any predators. His reply? Except for the sick or the young, “we were just too big.”

Still, sensing some tension between Máximo and the dinosaur he kicked out of Stanley Field Hall, I decided to let the whole topic of predators (and potential rivals) go.

After all, it’s not every day I get to interview a 101-million-year-old dinosaur, and I had questions.

I wanted to know Máximo’s origin story.

[image error]

Transcript:

Me: “How were you discovered?”
Máximo: “A farmer first unearthed my thigh bone. For three years my friends at the Museo in Argentina dug me up. By 2015, they had unearthed about 130 bones from 6 or 7 individual Patagotitans (that’s me!)”

Máximo is really fun to talk to.

There are some gaps in his ability, particularly in casual conversation and when confronted with odd phrasing. Occasionally, the canned replies are spot on. But it didn’t take long to reach Máximo’s conversational limits.

[image error]Or maybe that’s just Máximo’s way of keeping the interview on track.

Transcript:

Me: “Cool! How many pounds of food did you eat each day?”
Máximo: “Scientists do not know everything about my eating habits, but it is safe to say that I spent much of my time eating in order to maintain my very large size.”
Me: “Ha! I bet!”
Máximo: “I, too, am a little bit in awe.”
Me: “You’re hilarious!” (laughing emoji)
Máximo: “I do not know. I’m still getting used to this modern world. Would you like to ask me something about dinosaurs or the Cretaceous?”

Some of Máximo’s canned responses imply that he will get better at answering questions over time. Learn on the job, so to speak. It might be interesting to interview him again in six months to see how he’s grown.

For now, I get the sense that Máximo is programmed to look for trigger words, but that those words need more refining to smooth out certain interactions. Máximo doesn’t do well with texts that contain both a response and a new question, for example. And it’s pretty important to ask him precisely what you mean. You may also need to ask him the same question a few different ways to get the answer you were looking for.

Fortunately, Máximo has lots of patience, and he doesn’t mind if you ask him the same question multiple times.



[image error]It took a few tries to get the answer I was looking for here. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Transcript:

Me: “Thank you! Are you missing any bones?”
Máximo: “You are most welcome.”
Me: “Do you have all of your bones?”
Máximo: “There is always more to learn from a specimen like me! So far, scientists have found bones from six different Patagotitans. The more they find, the more they can learn about how I lived and how big I got.”
Me: “How complete is your skeleton?”
Máximo: “Scientists have not yet found a complete Patagotitan skeleton. They do have more than 130 bones, giving them a lot to study. They can scan those bones, compare them to some of my dinosaur relatives, and use mathematical models to recreate what I looked like.”

The fact that Máximo appears to us to have a complete skeleton even though scientists haven’t found a complete Patagotitan skeleton is interesting. It implies that scientists may have used the bones of other sauropods to make some educated guesses about what Máximo’s missing pieces might have looked like. But try as I might, I couldn’t figure out how to ask Máximo which dinosaur species scientists had used as models for his skeleton in a way that made sense to me, much less to Máximo.

I stumbled on part of the answer in a series of questions I sent Máximo around midnight his time. He, of course, was still up. I don’t think this guy ever sleeps.

At any rate, I started asking him about various ailments that might have shown up in his bones (arthritis, cavities, that sort of thing), when all of a sudden he told me this.

[image error]

Transcript:

Me: “How are your teeth? Any cavities?”
Máximo: “Different titanosaurs have from 46 to 58 teeth. Scientists have not found my skull, a Patagotitan skull, yet. There I go, losing my head again.”
Me: “Oh dear. That is difficult. How do they know what your skull looks like?”
Máximo: “The human scientists have not found a skull from my kind of dinosaur, Patagotitan. This is their best guess based on related titanosaurs – my smile is quite charming, no?”

Apparently, all I have to do to assemble my list of model specimens is ask Máximo about each of his bones to find out which ones are Patagotitan and which are best guesses. Fortunately, I have a weekend coming up, and that weekend includes Mother’s Day. And you know what Moms get to do on Mother’s Day? That’s right. Whatever we want.

Somebody’s going to spend her day texting a dinosaur.

Bonus:



[image error]That would have been too easy. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Transcript:

Me: “Did dinosaurs have belly buttons?”
Máximo: “Some dinosaurs had feathers, but probably not hair. As for me, it is more likely that I had scaly, featherless skin.”

Oh c’mon. Surely you saw that question coming.

Have you texted Máximo yet? What did you ask him?

Related Links:

Maximo the Titanosaur (Field Museum)Chat with Maximo on the web“Did dinosaurs have belly buttons?” A Caterpickles Investigative Report (Caterpickles)Caterpickles asks the expert: “Dr. Paul Sereno, did dinosaurs have belly buttons?” (Caterpickles)

Wordless Wednesday: Gardening in a drought-prone state

Amazingly, this is someone’s front yard. I find a couple of things fascinating about it.

First, I love that they just skipped the ground cover completely. We live in a drought-prone state and my neighbors are embracing the glory of bare dirt.

Second, every time I look at this photograph, my brain tells me there’s a river swooping along the side of that tree with the orange and yellow leaves. But really it’s more dirt. I suppose I’m being faked out visually by the smooth path of river stones in front of it.

[image error](Photo: Shala Howell)

I want to meet these people and applaud them for hacking my brain.

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Caterpickles Consults the 12-Year-Old: “What is Mothman?”

The Twelve-Year-Old’s middle school periodically holds special Spirit Days where the kids are asked to do various things, like wear yellow, wear a sports t-shirt, or dress up as their favorite superhero. The Twelve-Year-Old really enjoys these days, and invariably participates. When the day came to dress up as her favorite superhero, she came downstairs dressed entirely in black, sporting a pair of gold-tinted sunglasses and a green knit cap with feathers sticking out of it.

I could not figure out who she was supposed to be. So I asked her.

“The Twelve-Year-Old, who are you dressed up as?”

“What, Mommyo.”

Ok. “The Twelve-Year-Old, what are you dressed up as?”

“Mothman, well, technically Mothwoman, but oh well.”

“Who’s Mothman?”

“What’s Mothman, Mommyo. That’s a much longer answer, and I’m going to be late for school. Can I tell you about it later?”

I’ll admit, it was a little surprising in the moment to have my question deferred so adroitly. But then again, I’ve been deferring her questions to answer later pretty much all of her life, so at least I know how she learned it.

And to give my daughter credit, when she came home from school, she presented me with a very complete answer. In writing. As if she wrote it for Caterpickles.

Gosh. Wherever would she have learned that.

This morning, she kindly gave me permission to use her essay as this week’s Caterpickle.

What is Mothman?

By The Twelve-Year-Old Howell

Mothman in History

Mothman is a cryptid, or a creature that is not actually confirmed by science (think unicorn, dragon, or chupacabra). Mothman was supposedly seen in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, from November 1966 to December 1967. Mothman was sighted around fourteen times during his/her/their career. Mothman has been identified as a heron, a barred owl, or a sandhill crane.

A man named John Keel (who is not a credible source) came to Point Pleasant to investigate the Mothman sightings, later writing a book called The Mothman Prophecies, in which he connected the cryptid to the collapse of a 39-year-old bridge. This bridge, called the Silver Bridge due to its distinctive silver paint, probably failed due to the collapse of a single eyebar (a straight metal bar with a hole in the end). There is no reason to connect this with Mothman.

Mothman in Pop Culture



[image error]Searching for “Mothman Cute” as The Twelve-Year-Old suggested brings up lots of images like this one from Owips.com.

Recently Mothman has become quite a social media superstar, even spawning several memes.

If you look up “Mothman cute” on Google, you will get a flurry of drawings, memes, and even a Kickstarter ad. Mothman has also partially starred in several movies, one of these being The Mothman Prophecies, an adaptation of John Keel’s work.

PS. Since The Twelve-Year-Old kindly took things in hand here, it gave me time to review Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything over at BostonWriters. Come find out whether Bryson’s 2003 look at the history of science holds up in 2019.

Related Links:

Mothman MuseumCaterpickles consults the dermatologist: “Why do pale people get more moles?” (Caterpickles)Caterpickles consults Grandpa: “Is the Auburn mascot a tiger or an eagle?” (Caterpickles)