Yes, I know there is a school of thought which holds that Brontosaurus is in fact a separate genus and not a mis-identified Apatosaurus, but until there is incontrovertible evidence of this I think Brontosaurus is dead to Dina.
Even if brontosaurus is the “wrong name” for the creature, it is still most definitely *a* name for the creature, and the creature is most definitely a dinosaur. While Dina might reflexively inform him of the naming dispute, she should still accept the answer, just the same way she should accept “I’m this, the long-necked think in this here picture.”
I have to admit, I have some sympathy with the Science of Discworld viewpoint, which is that Thunder Lizard is a much cooler name than Deceptive Lizard, and even if they had been the same creature, they should have gone with that name.
Therizinosaurus all the way! An herbivore the size of a bus with claws as long as your arm, and a theropod (two legged walker like T. Rex or the raptors. Or birds) at that!
…I used to volunteer at a natural history museum. That claw cast and the real coprolite were my two greatest joys in the Dino exhibit hall.
In college they can be necessary. There’s always some Luddite teacher who wants a big stack of assignments in hardcopy so they can do the traditional red marker thing.
Or even just “this class doesn’t use Canvas for whatever reason (usually because the teacher can’t figure out Canvas) and paper copies guarantee they’re in and prepared before class.”
As a teacher, what even is Canvas? Our university has its own site with a dropbox built in, and that’s what I’ve always used. The students, on the other hand, don’t understand how to follow comments in Word or on PDFs, so all my work in writing them is for naught.
UWS also uses D2L, or at least they did when I was there. I don’t suspect anything’s changed, because they’re constantly cutting budget instead of adding new stuff.
Don’t forget those who print then immediately scan the printouts so they can make a .PDF to submit online, instead of just using a virtual PDF printer. (I’m so happy Windows finally comes with one built in. Users still need to be shown what it does but at least they don’t have to install anything.)
Oh god the print then scan thing is still done by professor and management types who can’t be [censored] to learn to do it right.
Then again these are the same people who format their documents using paragraph and tabs exclusively. Page Breaks and tables? Too complicated.
[rant continues for six more volumes]
These are college students. What’s one more sheet of paper lying in their rooms?
I mean, they haven’t reverted to using floordrobes yet, but they can’t ALL be tidy.
In college? Good for printing out essays and stuff so you can do a final correction run through. And for printing it out for teachers who insist on getting a hard copy even if they also get a digital copy.
I posted a rant about difference between paper and screen and compared advantages/disadvantages of the one and the other, then remembered that people would then maybe like a link as a proof, then that I’m a luddite myself and can’t link to hard copy books.
Aren’t you still expected to bring a hard copy of your resume to interviews? (Not that I ever once needed the backup copy – they had always printed out a copy themselves, but showing that you knew what was expected and all that…)
It’s never really benefited me to do so. Employers have never wanted it, and I have always gone home with my copy, even when I offered to leave it with them.
Also, Pterodactylus only refers to one species, a rather boring one at that. The group is called pterosaurs, and includes 5m tall, 10m wingspan murderstorks and frog-faced fluffballs. And all of then had a covering of fur (with the same origin as feathers (and as a result, making it most likely that dinosaurs had feathers from the get-go)), with that latter creature being notable for having fluffy wings as well.
I dunno…when it comes to ankylosaurs, I prefer Euoplocephalus. And when it comes to thyreophorans, I’ve aways been more of a Stegosaurus kinda-guy. Boring, maybe, but I love me a goood thagonizer when I see it.
Stegosaurus lovers unite! I’ve adored them from a young age. Seriously, first day of school the teacher asked us each to name our favorite animal. I said stegosaurus. In retrospect, I think she desperately wished that either she knew what the heck that was or that I preferred cats.
True! Also to clarify this was a problem for the teacher because she was asking our favorite animals as part of an exercise where she wrote down the name of the animal and we’d draw it.
Interesting bit of trivia about it — Gary Larson coined the word when he drew the cartoon back in the 1980s, and scientists started using the word as a kind of inside joke. Thing is, with more and more use it has actually become an accepted term — to the point that spellcheck doesn’t even bat an eye at it!
Typo on my part. But, yeah, I knew that about Gary Larson. I love The Far Side. He also has a mite named after him that only lives in the feathers of owls.
Awww, thanks. Also, the tail of stegosaurs are actually called thagomizers by paleontologists, inspired by the Gary Larson comic. See Bicycle Bill’s comment for more details.
Other fun things about sauropods: diplodocids were apparently capable of whipping their tails back and forth at supersonic speeds, with one simulation finding 540 meters/second as the maximum speed for the tail of an Apatosaurus. And apatosaurines had specially reinforced necks, which may have been useful in neck-bashing competitions similar to those of giraffes.
The neck thing probably wouldn’t have been much use in fighting, since regardless of reinforcement, sharp teeth are still a rather bad thing to expose places filled with important blood vessels to.
Obviously, hit has to be a city/nation with an abysmal human rights record and terrible public infrastructure unsuited to supporting the Sneerlympics. So we can sneer at them.
…. no, I’m not basing this on the real world analogue, no, not at all.
It will be an important decision not to be taken lightly. We shall have to consider the different locations based on their willingness to bribe me commit themselves fully to the level of sneering that the Sneerlympic games deserves. It really is about briberyMany, many different factors will come into play to ensure that only the city that bribes me the most best and sneeringest city will be chosen.
brontosarus was always a thing! it only ever wasn’t a thing cos of bureaucratic nomenclature regulations applied counterintuitively! Brontosaurus is the best thing!
Bigger forearms, less bite. Everything that ever lived had less bite. A dinosaur that would pull the heads off triceratopses is not boring just because it’s popular.
I’d always thought Dina loved all the dinosaurs because she gives attention even to obscure ones. Maybe it’s as people say, though, and she’s just being a hipster.
Because there are even more awesome dinosar than good ol’ T. Rex, like Yi qi (quite literaly a pigeon wyvern)
Also, now there’s Purussaurus, a big-ass alligator that might beat T. Rex on biteforce (I dunno what did that thing eat, but it was HARD)
That’s easy to fix, just swap tri with proto or penta. They are similar enough in name and appearance to remember as a triceratops fan, and non-mainstream enough as to be an interesting answer.
Bur be warned: if you go into the lesser-known relatives, Dinotopia fans may remember 25 painful things.
My sleep-deprived brain is reasonably sure that The Land Before Time has a few Protoceratops in it. I can’t be certain, but I watched those A LOT way back when.
Your sleep-deprived brain is right according to The Land Before Time’s Wiki’s list of included species. (Once in a too large size as an imaginary friend and once in a cameo on the TV series)
Pentaceratops, however, isn’t listed for any appearance whatsoever. So I was half right.
I wish I wasn’t so stubborn. Then I wouldn’t do things like read parts of The Land Before Time’s Wiki.
kind of surprised, but i guess I thought Walky’s intrusion, physically knocking over Dina and his all around resemblance to his sister would’ve triggered Amber into doing something dramatic.
My best guess is either that Walky looks different enough from Sal (AG has talked to him before with no problems) that she just read it as an intruder and is startled and disturbed, but not freaking out; that she’s already changed and out the window; or that she wants to check on Dina -if she hasn’t run after Walky to make sure Dorothy’s okay.
It was Walky and AG’s conversation where she said “There’s something about you that sets the corners of my brain on fire”, implying his resemblance to Sal.
I figured that might play in here. It be a great set-up for an arch rivalry if Sal were to learn the person she saved beat up her brother.
I still don’t think he physically knocked her over so much as the combination of Indominus bullshit and a lunge startled her into falling down and he jumped over. Knocking her down seems out of character for him, and would provoke Amber.
Allosaurus. Not as cliche as T-Rex, not as ill-informed as velociraptor, and not to hard to remember the spelling for. These reasons make it one of the top easy answers for “What dinosaur are you?”
B) Slight concern surrounding the fact that Dina is feeling she owes Amber/AG to an extent where she’s serving as a barrier to Amber/AG getting much needed emotional support, especially as her mental health is not in a very good place at the moment.
C) Still really nervous to see what the Amber alter feels about everything that happened.
Dina’s not really capable of recognizing that Amber’s acting unhealthily based on visual and verbal cues alone, though, and like she said, Amber hasn’t given her an actual reason to doubt her judgment.
Dina’s reacting understandably, yeah (see point A,) but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still serving as a barrier to the rest of the world like this and that she feels like she has to do this for all possible guests.
Like it makes 90 billion percent sense that Dina would be protecting Amber in this way. It’s just unfortunate for Amber because she desperately needs her support network right now. But it can be really hard to actually do the thing that’s emotionally best for yourself when you need to, especially when there’s louder voices arguing against it.
But yeah, unless Amber recognizes she needs help and asks Dina to let people in, I see no reason why Dina would feel a need to do so.
Awesome people doing their best but their best not being enough because of their limitations DOES seem to be a reoccurring theme (see for example Joyce trying to help Becky and Ethan)
On the other hand, so is the same people reaching over their limitations and helping each other to be better (see for example everyone coming together to save Becky).
So far NO ONE has been even close to be able to give Amber the help she need, but a lot of people are trying
Yep. Danny, Ethan and Dina can throw themselves to the wolves for Amber, but none of it will really get anywhere unless Amber recognizes that she needs help.
Amber is fortunate that when she does start to heal she’ll already have a support network of people she can work with.
And that’s a big reason for why she needs to be the one to independently notice that things are in a bad place. Because people trying to help her from the outside are going to likely trigger those experiences, especially if the people are disagreeing with her interpretation of events.
Something about Dina in this strip is putting me off, and I’m not sure what it is. Something about the facial expressions? And the looking out a half-open door? And…
Down from the dorm, where it began
Now to the camp the road has gone
And I must follow if I can
For teachers will give lectures long
But still I must endure it all
For if I fail the Finals week
Then I will be here still next fall
See, Ken would know what to do here. As a Power Rangers fan, he’d be familiar with all the complaints that only two of the six Dinozords are actually dinosaurs.
Modern birds are by definition dinosaurs. On the other hand, birds themselves are badly defined, so you can use anything from just modern birds to dinosaurs + pterosaurs as the definition of “birds”.
I went ahead and read the pterodactyl article. I don’t get why would she slam the door and then shove the article under the door. The thing actually exists, and whereas pterodactyl is a genus, since there is only one species in that genus, it is obvious which exact species he is talking about.
Pterodactyls are flying prehistoric reptiles, but they are not actually DINOSAURS. Same reason Mosasaur and Pleisiosaurus don’t count, because while they are prehistoric reptiles they are distinctly different from dinosaurs. Neither do crocodylians.
it’s not a dinosaur.
I mean ‘dinosaur’ is a messy polycladistic group designation anyway, but pterasaurs are quite definitely of a different lineage. They’re as much dinosaurs as were ichthysaurs.
‘saur’ suffix notwithstanding.
It was at that very moment that Mike grabbed hold of Ethan, preparing to use the latter as a makeshift battering ram. He thrust his new weapon toward his goal.
“Thesaurus!” shouted Mike, his voice dripping with the usual amount of contempt for all things, living or otherwise.
Mine was the ankylosaurus, because it was practically a mobile fortress covered with plates, except for it’s belly. But trying flip a 6 tonnes armored creature with a tail club it’s suicide.
I had a bigger is better phase for a while, with whatever huge titanosaur I had recently found out about being my favorite, then I went back and forth between Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus.
Wow, no one said Dromiceiomimus? It’s easily one of the most fun ones to say, and it means “emu mimicker”. And Aussies know how fierce emus can be. That’s a scary dinosaur.
Now I know, I know, that you tried hard to give me a good fit last night. And yes, Jocelyne was (and is) awesome. Well done. Tremendous effort.
It’s not your fault that I didn’t stay with her. And she took it pretty well when I explained things to her. Very understanding. But most importantly, it wasn’t your fault.
And my saying goodbye to her, that doesn’t reflect on you. That was in no way a judgement upon you, or a rejection of your service to date. You have performed admirably, until tonight. Which is what makes this temper tantrum of yours so…. disappointing.
That’s it. I’m not angry. I’m not hurt. I’m not shocked or offended.
Just… disappointed.
You know that I am an outspoken atheist and that Mary is… Mary. You know that I try to be a compassionate person and an ally to minorities as best I can and that Mary is… Mary. You…
… well, you know all of that.
Grav Roulette, we are going to start from scratch tomorrow. Tabla Rasa. No grudges, no vendettas, no cycles of revenge, no anger. Complete reset. And we shall continue on as if this whole… disappointment… never happened.
Don’t take the fun out of it. Let him discover for himself that Mike has set it so that the one gravitar he wants is the one that’s almost impossible to get.
He’s keeping the same email address, which keeps it out of the ‘new poster’ bin, but changing the capitalization, which changes the hash created for determining the avatar.
I was always a fan of Archaeopteryx, but I had to lgo ook the adorable thing up because I couldn’t remember if they still thought it was a dinosaur. Seems like they do, which is awesome, because he’s got all the cool traits of birds and dinos!
I don’t think there’s been any controversy about whether Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur…the question is whether it’s a BIRD. (That there’s a fuzzily defined word…I prefer to use it to mean the smallest group that includes all modern birds, but some people extend it to include all dinosaurs and pterosaurs. By my preferred definition, Archaeopteryx would not be a bird…by the latter it sure would be.)
When I was a kid, the first book I read about it in said it was a hoax, the second said it was the first bird (and somehow therefore not a dinosaur) and the third said it was a legitimate transitional fossil that should count as both dinosaur and bird. It was all very confusing, and I didn’t have the patience to find out which was right at that age.
I only remember creationists claiming Archeopteryx was a hoax. On the other hand, if anyone ever claims Protoavis exists, that’s a pretty good indicator of them being a liar, since Protoavis is a ridiculous chimera that includes, amongst other things, drepanosaur (think lizard lemur) bones.
Well that must’ve been the source for the first book then, honestly, at that age, dinosaur books were more about the pictures. When I wanted to read, it was usually fantasy novels at that time. Actual dinosaur research was a later phase.
She’s not a dino-hipster. To be a dino-hipster she would have to have been into dinosaurs before they were cool, and that would have been before she was born.
Correct answer: “Dina, I hate to burst your bubble but I’m not a dinosaur and neither are you. Traumatic news, I know but you needed to have someone tell you this. Now, could you please ask Amber to come out and talk to me and Mike?”
Yep, it seems like when Dina gets snippy, her usual style of speech takes a back seat. If this slightly OOC moment was intentional on Willis’s part, then I’m impressed by his attention to detail.
Hello! We, the Emperor of the Internet has returned after vacation!
So, what has been going on since last time I checked in?
Amber/Amazi-Girl is doing everything but the one important thing: Aknowledging that they could actually be in the wrong vis-a-vis Danny. The comment field explodes in joy about butt plugs. Cerberus explains about the advantages of glass dildos.
Hank is taking some seriously big steps into becoming a Good Person, and even better, a Good Dad. We also see that Carol is not a lone wolf, but instead a perfect member of her congregation. Says a lot about her congregation.
In the comment field, people still try to excuse Carol for being a shithead, because they don’t understand exactly how crappy that stuff is. Such people get schooled so hard, they run away in fear of knowledge that does not agree with their worldview. Some people also still blame Becky for ramping up the drama, when in fact it is always Carol who starts it, with Becky only responding.
Responding perfectly, at that. 😀
People also still comment that Hank is finally a portrayal of a decent Christian. At this point, it is impossible to know if they are serious or not. If they are, then they have the attention span of a dog*.
Carla is once again being as Carla as she can be, which is great! We learn just the extent of how fricking supportive her parents are. True, they also had the resources, but they did what they did as a show of real parental support. Dorothy is being the letdown here, as she could have paid enough attention to Carla’s argument to see just how important it is to have someone, anyone loving her for who she is. Carla’s argument is anything but stupid, Dorothy!
In the comment field, people are shipping Ultra Car with Monkey Master. I think. I was sort of skimming it at this point.
And then, glory of glories, Carla realising that Ruth is not “merely” upset about having to ditch her girlfriend, she is genuinely depressed! And that brings us to today’s strip, where we see Carla walking away knowing that she now has to deal with this properly, and she’ll not like it one bit. But she’ll do it anyway, because she’s Carla.
In the comment field, people are discussing dinosaurs. All is well.
So yeah, I think that is it. Did I miss anything?
*Contrary to claims, goldfish has fairly decent attention spans, and can certainly remember things for more than a few seconds. Dogs, on the other hand, are pretty horrible at it; which is why you must correct a dog (and yes, that is correcting it, not punishing it) immediately when it does a bad thing.
Next time maybe I should tell you in advance, then you can come to Norway too and we can meet, and I will make you my trusted lieutenant, but of course you will betray me and throw me to the sharks, but I will somehow survive by being eaten alive by a whale shark, and then I will return at the exact moment you are getting married to your sweetheart, and your wedding will be ruined as my new army of land-dwelling whale sharks will stomp on all the guests. After this, thunder will start as the climactic battle ensues, in which my imperial saber will cut your arm off, but you will in the end be victorious by gagging me with the wedding dress.
If my dog has a short attention span then why does it take two hours to get her to stop barking at the squirrel that briefly ran across the deck and out of our lives forever?
Because it doesn’t remember the SQUIRREL – it remembers it’s LAST BARK and keeps barking because obviously it had some reason, even it it has forgotten it.
(Full disclosure: this comment is complete bullshit)
Disclosure that this comment also may be full of bullshit:
Barking is something dogs often do as a way to get attention. It started barking to get your attention vis-a-vis the squirrel, and until you stop it, it will keep seeking that attention. Yes, the squirrel was gone. Your dog still wanted attention about it. Remember, if you’d been a dog yourself, you would have been able to smell that the squirrel was there. It’s not your dog’s fault you have a vastly inferior nose.
Except coming over to pet her and try to calm her doesn’t work, so it’s not about attention. And every time I let her out on the deck for the next three days, she went right over to where she saw the squirrel (not everywhere the squirrel was, just where it was when she saw it) to sniff.
I’m tickled pink that my off-hand comment about glass dildos was deemed important enough for the recap.
Here’s all these major events in comic, comment thread drama, and oh yeah, some girl talking about transparent fuck sticks. Clearly all of equal import.
wonders what Dina’s reaction would be if I mentioned that I am more interested in the phyletic relationships of Problematica such as H. sparsa and T. gregarium… no, wait, hallucigenids are probably onychophorans… maybe odontogriphids would be a better example, they’re still unsure about them, right?… Oh, never mind.
Wait, Tully’s Monster is now conclusively identified as cordate, and probably a vertebrate? Meh, it’s too recent a claim, chances are it will get challenged later.
I think I’m safe in saying that my favorite dinosaur is Dinobot. Mostly because I didn’t give two shits about dinosaurs growing up outside of Beast Wars or Power Rangers. I was born in 93 so sue me.
As it is doubtful they have a printer in room (though I went to college in Dark Ages when printers were huge), I like the idea of Dina having printouts of the pterodactyl article ready for just such an occasion.
They take up a fair bit of space, but I graduated just over a year ago and had one in my room all four years, because a lot of professors still require printouts and such.
In the amount of time between her slamming the door and Ethan’s comment, though, I doubt she would’ve had time to print one out. Besides, it’s very Dina of her to have some on hand.
My printer — which is actually an all-in-one (printer/copier/fax, if I had it hooked up to a phone line) has a footprint of only 12 inches by 17 inches. That’s not very much space at all.
the same way that not every mammal that lives today is a rodent not every reptile that lived during the paleozoic was necessarily a dinosaur. Of course since the fossils from that era are so old we have to rely on morphology and can’t analyze their genetic material to find more subtle relations between the various species. Imagine if paleontologists 60 million years from now discovered fossils of domestic dogs. They’d be hard pressed to believe that a chihuahua and a great dane are the same species, they’d probably figure out they’re both canines but unless they knew about our selective breeding practices they would easily think they were as different as tigers and bobcats.
Question: I get by this point that Mike’s a dick because he’s Mike, but… are we gonna get a backstory about why? I get it, in Willis’ other comics he’s traditionally been a massive wanker, but as Willis has attested, this is a separate universe. Maybe we’ll actually get a backstory for him now, a la Amber’s DOA backstory? …Or maybe he’ll just continue being Mike. Really, I’m fine either way.
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“Dimetrodon?”
*Ethan gets slowly devoured by a swarm of Dromaeosaurus albertensis*
he couldve also chosen lophostropheus
Or Paranthropus. What’s your point?
At least he didn’t say Brontosaurus.
Yes, I know there is a school of thought which holds that Brontosaurus is in fact a separate genus and not a mis-identified Apatosaurus, but until there is incontrovertible evidence of this I think Brontosaurus is dead to Dina.
Brontosaurus will live on in my heart.
Brontosaurus would definitely be okay to her, especially since he provided the required question mark:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/walkingwithdina/
Even if brontosaurus is the “wrong name” for the creature, it is still most definitely *a* name for the creature, and the creature is most definitely a dinosaur. While Dina might reflexively inform him of the naming dispute, she should still accept the answer, just the same way she should accept “I’m this, the long-necked think in this here picture.”
I always hated that Brontosaurus was very commonly referred to and a poster child for sauropods from media popularity. This article revives the legitimacy of Brontosaurus, although to my dismay.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brontosaurus-is-back1/
I have to admit, I have some sympathy with the Science of Discworld viewpoint, which is that Thunder Lizard is a much cooler name than Deceptive Lizard, and even if they had been the same creature, they should have gone with that name.
(Don’t get them started on the eohippus mess.)
You know if the augmented reality thing had been hunting dinosaurs instead of pokimen, I would have been in.
Give it a few months…
…Or better yet, team up with some palaeontologists and app developers and INVENT THAT SHIT
Brontosaurus will always be a planet to me! — Oh wait, sorry, wrong label-based shiny object.
This. This makes me happy. I always knew I wasn’t alone believing Brontosaurus is a planet.
But wasn’t the theory always that they were thin at one end, fat in the middle and thin at the other end?
Darn, someone beat me to this joke.
Not a dinosaur either.
I would’ve gone with albertosaurus. Like a T-Rex, only better ’cause it’s local to me. 😀
I’d liken it more to allosaurus, but Dina’s right about T. rex being bland at this point.
Even Montanaspinus would have been better.
Therizinosaurus all the way! An herbivore the size of a bus with claws as long as your arm, and a theropod (two legged walker like T. Rex or the raptors. Or birds) at that!
…I used to volunteer at a natural history museum. That claw cast and the real coprolite were my two greatest joys in the Dino exhibit hall.
At least he didn’t say Barney.
Mike’s a Sassasaurus
More like “Assasaurus.”
assasaurus michaeli
Amber is, of course, the dreaded Assasaurus rex.
i like big butts and i cannot lieeeee
~you other brothers cant deny~
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face you GET SPRUNG.
You wanna pull up top, hmmhm butt shes stuffed, deep in the jeans shes wearing, im hooked and i cant stop staring
cause you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she’s wearin’
I’m hooked and I can’t stop starin’
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but it’s “pull up tough”. Which I imagine is coming in hard. Seems what that’s like.
People still have printers?
In college they can be necessary. There’s always some Luddite teacher who wants a big stack of assignments in hardcopy so they can do the traditional red marker thing.
Or even just “this class doesn’t use Canvas for whatever reason (usually because the teacher can’t figure out Canvas) and paper copies guarantee they’re in and prepared before class.”
As a teacher, what even is Canvas? Our university has its own site with a dropbox built in, and that’s what I’ve always used. The students, on the other hand, don’t understand how to follow comments in Word or on PDFs, so all my work in writing them is for naught.
We use Blackboard here at VCU…
Blackboard: doesn’t everybody? I mean they bought Moodle,… Amiright? So there is no Real competition?
D2L at MSU.
UWS also uses D2L, or at least they did when I was there. I don’t suspect anything’s changed, because they’re constantly cutting budget instead of adding new stuff.
D2L is mine, as well.
ayy vcu represent
Havoc!
Or you just learn better by using hard copies. Whenever possible, I print out slides for class ahead of time and annotate the slides in class.
Don’t forget those who print then immediately scan the printouts so they can make a .PDF to submit online, instead of just using a virtual PDF printer. (I’m so happy Windows finally comes with one built in. Users still need to be shown what it does but at least they don’t have to install anything.)
Oh god the print then scan thing is still done by professor and management types who can’t be [censored] to learn to do it right.
Then again these are the same people who format their documents using paragraph and tabs exclusively. Page Breaks and tables? Too complicated.
[rant continues for six more volumes]
Are you suggesting Dina doesn’t have hard copies at all times?
She distributes them like a soapbox preacher distributes pages of Bible sayings.
So she leaves them in the laundry room and in toilet stalls?
Behind doors, mostly.
So if she isn’t there, you’ll at least know she was.
These are college students. What’s one more sheet of paper lying in their rooms?
I mean, they haven’t reverted to using floordrobes yet, but they can’t ALL be tidy.
She had it printed in advance on one of the library printers.
I do, I use it to print out the various console commands when I play Skyrim.
I have a small black and white laser printer that I get out of the cupboard whenever I need to print something. It comes in handy enough.
To print off papercraft patterns? I maybe an exception though.
In college? Good for printing out essays and stuff so you can do a final correction run through. And for printing it out for teachers who insist on getting a hard copy even if they also get a digital copy.
I posted a rant about difference between paper and screen and compared advantages/disadvantages of the one and the other, then remembered that people would then maybe like a link as a proof, then that I’m a luddite myself and can’t link to hard copy books.
Actually, she’s got a 3D printer. The ‘paper’ is actually a very, very thin sheet of extruded plastic. Do You Believe That?™
Aren’t you still expected to bring a hard copy of your resume to interviews? (Not that I ever once needed the backup copy – they had always printed out a copy themselves, but showing that you knew what was expected and all that…)
It’s never really benefited me to do so. Employers have never wanted it, and I have always gone home with my copy, even when I offered to leave it with them.
Then again, I never got a job, either, so… :/
Wait, there are people who don’t have printers? How do you print stuff out?
People really trust ALL their persistent knowledge to a device that stops working when the battery dies?
Dina, it’s not fair of you to redefine things. Though they /can/ probably stand to go home.
Also, I don’t care if it’s a boring answer, it’s also a CORRECT answer, so you should have let him in.
“What is one plus one?”
“Two.”
“That’s answer’s boring. Come up with something else.”
“Err…”
Quick, Mike, say you’re a Pachycephalosaurus and headbut the door off its hinges.
Say you’re an ankylosaur and pull out a mace.
That’s more Carla’s thing
Panel 4 just may be the most expressive Dina’s ever been.
Dinosaurs bring it out of her, as we’ve seen.
If I might take a flight of fancy into pun-land, it’s plane that they really put the wings on her fossilage.
…….
I am shame.
Careful not to choose a flight with an old pilot. They are usually more turbulent.
lol dina rolleyes. i’ve seen it all now.
And here I figured that pterodactyls not being dinosaurs was commonly known at this point.
If it’s not a dino-bot I don’t think Ethan would know.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-a-pterosaur-is-not-a-dinosaur-87082921/?no-ist
Thanks for the link!
I didn’t know that honestly.
Also, Pterodactylus only refers to one species, a rather boring one at that. The group is called pterosaurs, and includes 5m tall, 10m wingspan murderstorks and frog-faced fluffballs. And all of then had a covering of fur (with the same origin as feathers (and as a result, making it most likely that dinosaurs had feathers from the get-go)), with that latter creature being notable for having fluffy wings as well.
Dinosaurology was never my thing.
Ankylosaurus, the best dinosaur.
^ winner
Second place would be Irritator.
Yes that’s an actual dinosaur name.
As is Bambiraptor.
My visual picture of this is a deer with saberteeth.
I dunno…when it comes to ankylosaurs, I prefer Euoplocephalus. And when it comes to thyreophorans, I’ve aways been more of a Stegosaurus kinda-guy. Boring, maybe, but I love me a goood thagonizer when I see it.
Stegosaurus lovers unite! I’ve adored them from a young age. Seriously, first day of school the teacher asked us each to name our favorite animal. I said stegosaurus. In retrospect, I think she desperately wished that either she knew what the heck that was or that I preferred cats.
Look at the bright side. You won’t be bringing a cat in for show and tell.
True! Also to clarify this was a problem for the teacher because she was asking our favorite animals as part of an exercise where she wrote down the name of the animal and we’d draw it.
Your teacher couldn’t spell ‘stegosaurus’? That’s… disheartening.
*shrug* It was Primary. She was used to dealing with kids who had yet to master reading polysyllabic words.
It’s actually called a Thagomizer, otusasio.
Interesting bit of trivia about it — Gary Larson coined the word when he drew the cartoon back in the 1980s, and scientists started using the word as a kind of inside joke. Thing is, with more and more use it has actually become an accepted term — to the point that spellcheck doesn’t even bat an eye at it!
Typo on my part. But, yeah, I knew that about Gary Larson. I love The Far Side. He also has a mite named after him that only lives in the feathers of owls.
Yay, a Larson reference. You just became a favourite person of mine.
Awww, thanks. Also, the tail of stegosaurs are actually called thagomizers by paleontologists, inspired by the Gary Larson comic. See Bicycle Bill’s comment for more details.
that and triceritops were my fave. although part of that might be because of the blue power ranger and blue being my fave color
“Ooh, I know! Dragonzord!”
Ethan is then let in, only to be tied up and undergo tortures that would make Ramsay Bolton retch.
Tortured by Dina while Amber watches? That would give her some ideas for her next fanfiction.
Pretty sure Amber would be giving Dina tips
Her next fanfiction?
Where do you think Dina would get her ideas from?
At least he didn’t say Brontosaurus, Dina would’ve proceeded straight to removing Ethan’s face
I think Brontosaurus is a thing again? I dunno, they keep changing it on me.
Yeah, it looks like the general consensus is that B. excelsis is a different genus than A. ajax, now.
Other fun things about sauropods: diplodocids were apparently capable of whipping their tails back and forth at supersonic speeds, with one simulation finding 540 meters/second as the maximum speed for the tail of an Apatosaurus. And apatosaurines had specially reinforced necks, which may have been useful in neck-bashing competitions similar to those of giraffes.
I whip my tail back and forth, I whip my tail back and forth…
Oh, for an upvote system….
Might also have been useful in fighting off predators.
The neck thing probably wouldn’t have been much use in fighting, since regardless of reinforcement, sharp teeth are still a rather bad thing to expose places filled with important blood vessels to.
It is indeed a thing again.
Brontosaurus is not just a thing. There are entirely exciting theories about it as well.
So we get a whole ‘nother round of sneering at people for getting it wrong?
Depends. Did the last round end?
Hear ye, hear ye!
Your imperial highness is decreeing that the last round of sneering has officially ended. Therefore, we can now get on with the new round of sneering!
But what city gets the Sneerlympics this time around?
Obviously, hit has to be a city/nation with an abysmal human rights record and terrible public infrastructure unsuited to supporting the Sneerlympics. So we can sneer at them.
…. no, I’m not basing this on the real world analogue, no, not at all.
So … Boston then?
It will be an important decision not to be taken lightly. We shall have to consider the different locations based on their willingness to
bribe mecommit themselves fully to the level of sneering that the Sneerlympic games deserves.It really is about briberyMany, many different factors will come into play to ensure that only thecity that bribes me the mostbest and sneeringest city will be chosen.brontosarus was always a thing! it only ever wasn’t a thing cos of bureaucratic nomenclature regulations applied counterintuitively! Brontosaurus is the best thing!
Yes, yes it is.
Bronto burgers are back! Or were never gone!
I have a theory about the Brontosaurus.
Does it involve a lot of throat clearing?
It’s mine.
It’ll always be a planet to me.
Ceres will always be a planet to me.
Barney Rubble rides again!!
ethan shouldve gone with brachiosaurus
I kind of want to see a Mike vs Dina argument. I think she might be the only capable of besting him, and she wouldn’t even notice.
Yeah, that might be epic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vSY_rB928c
Tyranosaurus, Try Gigantosaurus. Same Genus, Bigger Forarms. Less Sporklike.
Less Porklike
brb lulzing
dammit i can’t type “spork” after drinking, apparently XD
Tyrannosaurus, the other other white meat?
You win this round Gigantosaurus. You win this round.
Bigger forearms, less bite. Everything that ever lived had less bite. A dinosaur that would pull the heads off triceratopses is not boring just because it’s popular.
I’d always thought Dina loved all the dinosaurs because she gives attention even to obscure ones. Maybe it’s as people say, though, and she’s just being a hipster.
Because there are even more awesome dinosar than good ol’ T. Rex, like Yi qi (quite literaly a pigeon wyvern)
Also, now there’s Purussaurus, a big-ass alligator that might beat T. Rex on biteforce (I dunno what did that thing eat, but it was HARD)
Nor a dinosaur though. And anyway, when it comes to crocodilians, Dakosaurus andiensis is better. Orca croc!
*andiniensis
Same genus?
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Parasaurolophus or GTFO.
…..that looks like jar jar binks
Parasaurolophus ruined my childhood!!!!
JK, Parasaurolophus was my childhood.
rip yoss’s childhood
Therizinosaurus is best dino.
YES! Therizinosaurus high five me!
https://www.ihighfive.com/
dina is my soulmate
Triceratops!
BORING too :p
I think Dina automatically disqualifies any dinosaur who is a major character in A Land Before Time
That’s easy to fix, just swap tri with proto or penta. They are similar enough in name and appearance to remember as a triceratops fan, and non-mainstream enough as to be an interesting answer.
Bur be warned: if you go into the lesser-known relatives, Dinotopia fans may remember 25 painful things.
Ah, frell! *But be warned:
My sleep-deprived brain is reasonably sure that The Land Before Time has a few Protoceratops in it. I can’t be certain, but I watched those A LOT way back when.
Your sleep-deprived brain is right according to The Land Before Time’s Wiki’s list of included species. (Once in a too large size as an imaginary friend and once in a cameo on the TV series)
Pentaceratops, however, isn’t listed for any appearance whatsoever. So I was half right.
I wish I wasn’t so stubborn. Then I wouldn’t do things like read parts of The Land Before Time’s Wiki.
at some point Amber/Amazi-Girl will kidnap Ethan. Leading Danny on an epic boss rush to get him back, including:
Mike: Because he feels like being a jerk
Dina: This will be the puzzle section
Sales Posse: Sal has to make sure he’s ready to face Amazi-Girl
Amber herself: the epic final battle
Surprise twist! THAT ISN’T AMBER’S FINAL FORM!
holy shit YES
(I’d only be able to do the Dina part, though)
After Amber has been defeated, a man steps out of the shadows and tosses her away.
Mysterious evil guy: worthless…
Danny: it can’t be!
Mysterious man is revealed to be Blaine
Blaine: You may have thought you killed me, but I have returned…as Mecha Blaine!
The true final battle begins.
He’s a chicken. A giant chicken!
*reads alt text*
SWOOP: “Me, Swoop, sad that UK not let me in! Just like Chris Brown.”
I don’t think Swoop assaulted any celebrity. Do some of the Decepticons count as celebrities?
I’m reminded of a text adventure in which you have to beat a kid in a dinosaur-naming contest.
I won with the obviouslyfakeosaurus.
Personally, I’m going for Masiakiasaurus knopfleri.
thats a cool dinosaur
Hell YEAH, it’s a cool dinosaur. Awesome name AND awesome skull!
are they related to raptors?
Not closely (T. rex is closer to the raptors), but they’re both Theropods.
Dina the dino-hipster.
T-Rexes and Raptors are so mainstream, Helicoprions where it’s at.
That ting isn’t a dino to begin with XD
It’s a giant shark with a circular saw in its mouth, that’s easily as cool as a dinosaur.
kind of surprised, but i guess I thought Walky’s intrusion, physically knocking over Dina and his all around resemblance to his sister would’ve triggered Amber into doing something dramatic.
Hadnt thought about this, but I agree now that you bring it up
too busy killing spiders
She is angrily writing a Force Awakens/Avengers crossover slashfic.
My best guess is either that Walky looks different enough from Sal (AG has talked to him before with no problems) that she just read it as an intruder and is startled and disturbed, but not freaking out; that she’s already changed and out the window; or that she wants to check on Dina -if she hasn’t run after Walky to make sure Dorothy’s okay.
It was Walky and AG’s conversation where she said “There’s something about you that sets the corners of my brain on fire”, implying his resemblance to Sal.
I figured that might play in here. It be a great set-up for an arch rivalry if Sal were to learn the person she saved beat up her brother.
Sal can’t have a brother because that would be too humanizing for Amber’s perception of Sal as a concept to overcome.
I still don’t think he physically knocked her over so much as the combination of Indominus bullshit and a lunge startled her into falling down and he jumped over. Knocking her down seems out of character for him, and would provoke Amber.
that would seem to fit the narrative best so I accept that.
Deinonychus. It’s fun to say and it has a funky toe claw. I also had a (non-feathered) Smithsonian toy as a kid.
isnt that a pokemon?
It should be!
Right there with Charsaurus.
Utahraptor is cooler. I mean, it’s a bulky bulldog version of a normal raptor, and it’s freaking huge as well.
Swoop is just a down payment on the Beast Era.
Allosaurus. Not as cliche as T-Rex, not as ill-informed as velociraptor, and not to hard to remember the spelling for. These reasons make it one of the top easy answers for “What dinosaur are you?”
“Allosaurusarebelongtous! Wait, no-”
*SLAM*
“”Dammit I choked!”
Hahahahaha
Bah. All the best Theropods are Maniraptors. Dromaeasaurids! Troodontids! Therezinosaurs! Birds!
Bah, Deinocheirus, DUCK SATAN, frowns at your grievous mistake.
I actually though Ornithomimisaurs were Maniraptors proper, until checking and seeing they’re just Maniraptoriformes.
So, I’ll move one step back on the clade list.
Shoulda said Cryolophasaurus.
So if only real dinosaurs are allowed in there, what does that make Amber?
already inside?
(Dina is only *answering the door* for real dinosaurs)
A) Dina is the best.
B) Slight concern surrounding the fact that Dina is feeling she owes Amber/AG to an extent where she’s serving as a barrier to Amber/AG getting much needed emotional support, especially as her mental health is not in a very good place at the moment.
C) Still really nervous to see what the Amber alter feels about everything that happened.
Dina’s not really capable of recognizing that Amber’s acting unhealthily based on visual and verbal cues alone, though, and like she said, Amber hasn’t given her an actual reason to doubt her judgment.
Dina’s reacting understandably, yeah (see point A,) but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still serving as a barrier to the rest of the world like this and that she feels like she has to do this for all possible guests.
Well, it’s her dorm as well, and given what just happened it’s reasonable for her to tighten security on that basis alone.
….
On second thought, no, I am NOT describing what she’s doing as “reasonable”.
Totally agree on all of that.
Like it makes 90 billion percent sense that Dina would be protecting Amber in this way. It’s just unfortunate for Amber because she desperately needs her support network right now. But it can be really hard to actually do the thing that’s emotionally best for yourself when you need to, especially when there’s louder voices arguing against it.
But yeah, unless Amber recognizes she needs help and asks Dina to let people in, I see no reason why Dina would feel a need to do so.
Awesome people doing their best but their best not being enough because of their limitations DOES seem to be a reoccurring theme (see for example Joyce trying to help Becky and Ethan)
On the other hand, so is the same people reaching over their limitations and helping each other to be better (see for example everyone coming together to save Becky).
So far NO ONE has been even close to be able to give Amber the help she need, but a lot of people are trying
Yep. Danny, Ethan and Dina can throw themselves to the wolves for Amber, but none of it will really get anywhere unless Amber recognizes that she needs help.
Amber is fortunate that when she does start to heal she’ll already have a support network of people she can work with.
The last person who tried to get into Amber’s room because they were trying to “help” her…
And that’s a big reason for why she needs to be the one to independently notice that things are in a bad place. Because people trying to help her from the outside are going to likely trigger those experiences, especially if the people are disagreeing with her interpretation of events.
Something about Dina in this strip is putting me off, and I’m not sure what it is. Something about the facial expressions? And the looking out a half-open door? And…
oh dear satan she’s reminding me of MARY
Oh dear….
“It’s a dangerous business, going out your door.”
The hall goes ever on.
Down from the dorm, where it began
Now to the camp the road has gone
And I must follow if I can
For teachers will give lectures long
But still I must endure it all
For if I fail the Finals week
Then I will be here still next fall
Does that make them door sister?
Oh Dina, when we said to learn from the faces, we didn’t mean her.
Surprised that he didn’t go with GRIMLOCK!
I completely agree t. rexes are boring.
T-Rexs are also terrible at card games like Snap.
and they dont make very good henchmen, especially for dudes named goob
and at making beds.
can t. rexes do anything? or are they the daffy duck of dinosaurs?
All they ever wanted was to play piano. Their tale is full of tragedy. (Also their arms are full of tragedy.)
You can fit more tragedy in the tail than the arms though.
Ukulele, surely. Haven’t you ever played Jurassic Heart?
Eat stuff and have sex (that’s what those small overpowerd arms are for!).
and also at giving hugs.
See, Ken would know what to do here. As a Power Rangers fan, he’d be familiar with all the complaints that only two of the six Dinozords are actually dinosaurs.
Switching to DSP. Repeat, Dinosaur Security Protocol is in effect.
Does anyone know what kind of dinosaur penguins were descended from?
The ancestor of the penguins was Waimanu, which lived during the Early Paleocene.
Sounds Japanese.
Prinnies, Dood!
Just say penguins, and then prepare for the debate about whether birds count as dinosaurs.
Modern birds are by definition dinosaurs. On the other hand, birds themselves are badly defined, so you can use anything from just modern birds to dinosaurs + pterosaurs as the definition of “birds”.
Looking at the hoodie Dina’s wearing, I’m pretty sure she is totally down with birds being dinosaurs.
Birds are maniraptoran theropods. Their closest relatives are Troodintids and Dromaeasaurids – Velociraptor and the like.
I went ahead and read the pterodactyl article. I don’t get why would she slam the door and then shove the article under the door. The thing actually exists, and whereas pterodactyl is a genus, since there is only one species in that genus, it is obvious which exact species he is talking about.
So, what was that about? What did I miss?
Pterodactyls are flying prehistoric reptiles, but they are not actually DINOSAURS. Same reason Mosasaur and Pleisiosaurus don’t count, because while they are prehistoric reptiles they are distinctly different from dinosaurs. Neither do crocodylians.
Because they’re not technically dinosaurs.
it’s not a dinosaur.
I mean ‘dinosaur’ is a messy polycladistic group designation anyway, but pterasaurs are quite definitely of a different lineage. They’re as much dinosaurs as were ichthysaurs.
‘saur’ suffix notwithstanding.
Dinosaurs aren’t messy at all, they’re a single clade if you include birds. I wonder what she would have said if Ethan picked a puffin.
Wrong Order to strictly qualify as a dinosaur, I believe.
Plus, you know, it’s properly “Pterodactylus”. Ethan is using an informal name for something that is only a dinosaur in the most informal sense.
Pterosaurs are Archosaurs, but not Dinosaurs. They’re closer than crocodiles, but ‘close’ isn’t ‘same’.
I like Compsognathus and Lesothosaurus! Also Iguanodon. Wendiceratops is super cute, too.
“Brontosaurus.” “DENIED.”
And someone already made that joke…
It was at that very moment that Mike grabbed hold of Ethan, preparing to use the latter as a makeshift battering ram. He thrust his new weapon toward his goal.
“Thesaurus!” shouted Mike, his voice dripping with the usual amount of contempt for all things, living or otherwise.
also with derision, dislike, and scorn.
You just made Mike more likeable and deep than he’s been for pretty much the entire DoA run. As such, this is now imperial headcanon.
Can I just say that I love how the comments section is turning into a “Name Your Favorite Dinosaur” sorta thing right now.
yeah!
The right answer was Pachycephalosaurus.
That’s ALWAYS the answer.
Really, what other answer could there be to this question right here?
That was my favourite dinosaur as a kid! I liked running around and bashing things with my head. Hmm.
Mine was the ankylosaurus, because it was practically a mobile fortress covered with plates, except for it’s belly. But trying flip a 6 tonnes armored creature with a tail club it’s suicide.
Yes, the ankylosaurus is awesome-looking! That thing was a living tank with a giant mace for a tail.
Mine was Amargasaurus. A sauropod with twin sets of spikes growing out of its neck.
It was basically my mental image of a knight but as a dinosaur. For a brief time, I wanted to be one when I grew up.
I had a bigger is better phase for a while, with whatever huge titanosaur I had recently found out about being my favorite, then I went back and forth between Deinocheirus and Therizinosaurus.
ive never heard of even half the dinosaurs people are listing tonight
Well that’s only understandable. No offense, but I bet they never even heard of you either.
tbf theyre dead
Our great-grandparent kilt ’em all.
those blasted great grandparent
So they were Scots?
Nae TRUE dinosaur…
Noah and his family ate ’em all during the Flood and threw the bones into the water, cos that’s where fossils come from.
Wait, she asked what dinosaur ARE you. I was thinking in terms of what dinosaur is my favorite but I don’t know if it would be my . . . dinosona?
Hmm. Troodon, perhaps? Small nocturnal omnivore describes me decently, and the feathers would get me on Dina’s side.
I am also curious about this. I imagine Ethan is something big and understated and stalwart.
Iguanodon for Ethan, perhaps? It’s fairly well-known but since it didn’t appear in Jurassic Park it wouldn’t be overly obvious for Dina’s tastes.
Brontosaurus.
“None. I’m an East African Plains Ape.”
Wow, no one said Dromiceiomimus? It’s easily one of the most fun ones to say, and it means “emu mimicker”. And Aussies know how fierce emus can be. That’s a scary dinosaur.
Too associated with T-rex 😛
I can’t imagine Dina being to into this: http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson2878.html
clearly he should have picked a ceratasuar you just cant beat a horned t rex whos 1 letter away from having cerate in his name
MOOOOD WHIPLAAAAAAAAAAASH
i dont get it what about mood whiplash explain ceratasuar pal
Mine’s the Achillobator. I just like the non-conventional name and the origin of the name.
Though my favorite ‘Dinozord’ is PLEZUON!
ZUON! ON ON ON ON ON!
…..
Grav Roulette, we need to talk.
…. I’m serious. A serious talk.
Now I know, I know, that you tried hard to give me a good fit last night. And yes, Jocelyne was (and is) awesome. Well done. Tremendous effort.
It’s not your fault that I didn’t stay with her. And she took it pretty well when I explained things to her. Very understanding. But most importantly, it wasn’t your fault.
And my saying goodbye to her, that doesn’t reflect on you. That was in no way a judgement upon you, or a rejection of your service to date. You have performed admirably, until tonight. Which is what makes this temper tantrum of yours so…. disappointing.
That’s it. I’m not angry. I’m not hurt. I’m not shocked or offended.
Just… disappointed.
You know that I am an outspoken atheist and that Mary is… Mary. You know that I try to be a compassionate person and an ally to minorities as best I can and that Mary is… Mary. You…
… well, you know all of that.
Grav Roulette, we are going to start from scratch tomorrow. Tabla Rasa. No grudges, no vendettas, no cycles of revenge, no anger. Complete reset. And we shall continue on as if this whole… disappointment… never happened.
just now noticed the roulette spat out mary for your icon tonight
sorry that happened to ya, buddy *pat pat*
How terrible you must feel.
maybe this is a lesson, on how you should stop trying to change yourself and just be happy with who you are.
I am not trying to change myself. I am who I am. I am trying to change the face I am forced to present to the world so that it reflects who I am.
Why are you still spinning the wheel. Just set a grav!
Don’t take the fun out of it. Let him discover for himself that Mike has set it so that the one gravitar he wants is the one that’s almost impossible to get.
What does he want?
(assuming Clif knows Reltzik’s gender)
Didn’t this begin in the first place because you were trying to get away from the Mary gravatar?
Yes. Yes it did. And the Grav Roulette knows this.
How do you do this anyway? I’ve had Joe ever since… well, since the last time he updated them. Are you changing your email address around?
For some reason it had never occurred to me that the email address attached to posts isn’t important.
Though I guess it’s important enough that changing it puts your comments in moderation. So I say again, how are you doing this “grav roulette” thing?
He’s keeping the same email address, which keeps it out of the ‘new poster’ bin, but changing the capitalization, which changes the hash created for determining the avatar.
Exactly. I get Mary when my email has no caps, and now also when only the tenth letter is capitalized.
Ooh! I wonder what other gravs I can get
interesting…
This could go on forever, so I guess this is the last one
It is kind of an interesting experiment
Woops, wrong capital
Nope, nope, nope
Much better, remember that one
MD
DU
One more try and it’ll be enough for now
MM
Corvus brachyrhynchos!
…You didn’t specify non-avian…
ON ON ON ON ON ON ON
PLEZU-OH!
I was always a fan of Archaeopteryx, but I had to lgo ook the adorable thing up because I couldn’t remember if they still thought it was a dinosaur. Seems like they do, which is awesome, because he’s got all the cool traits of birds and dinos!
*to go look
Argh! That’s the bit I specifically went back to and fixed.
I don’t think there’s been any controversy about whether Archaeopteryx was a dinosaur…the question is whether it’s a BIRD. (That there’s a fuzzily defined word…I prefer to use it to mean the smallest group that includes all modern birds, but some people extend it to include all dinosaurs and pterosaurs. By my preferred definition, Archaeopteryx would not be a bird…by the latter it sure would be.)
When I was a kid, the first book I read about it in said it was a hoax, the second said it was the first bird (and somehow therefore not a dinosaur) and the third said it was a legitimate transitional fossil that should count as both dinosaur and bird. It was all very confusing, and I didn’t have the patience to find out which was right at that age.
I only remember creationists claiming Archeopteryx was a hoax. On the other hand, if anyone ever claims Protoavis exists, that’s a pretty good indicator of them being a liar, since Protoavis is a ridiculous chimera that includes, amongst other things, drepanosaur (think lizard lemur) bones.
Well that must’ve been the source for the first book then, honestly, at that age, dinosaur books were more about the pictures. When I wanted to read, it was usually fantasy novels at that time. Actual dinosaur research was a later phase.
Dina, are you being a dino-hipster? Stop being a dino-hipster. All dinosaurs are wonderful!
The disgust at the pterodactyl SNAFU, however, is right and proper.
She’s not a dino-hipster. To be a dino-hipster she would have to have been into dinosaurs before they were cool, and that would have been before she was born.
She’s just practicing security through obscurity.
I choose to be a Ankylosaurus.
“Anklyclub! I choose you!”
Everyone is so focused on the dinosaur thing that no one has commented on Carla continuing to pick up advice from Ethan about Ruth.
Think Eathen is the last person to take advice from considering his poor choices.
Except it’s good advice this time. “Check again. Make sure she knows someone cares.”
Ethan is being such a fake dinosaur geek.
Dina is being such a dinosaur snob.
Amber is desperately scrambling to put on pants
I scrambled to put on pants today. Maintenance wanted to install a new water heater…
The situation is putting Dina under undue strain.
“Dina, I’m just really worried about Amber.”
Ethan’s not really good under pressure.
Plus that would require acknowledging that Amber is unwell, and Ethan can’t do that.
Awww, come one Dina. Ask him WHY T.rex is his favorite.
“Because I had a T.rex hat when me and Danny first came out to each other.”
Dina: “JUST LIKE ME AND BECKY!!!!! YOU MAY PASS!”
If he really wanted to win points, he could rattle off the name of his favorite bird.
Correct answer: “Dina, I hate to burst your bubble but I’m not a dinosaur and neither are you. Traumatic news, I know but you needed to have someone tell you this. Now, could you please ask Amber to come out and talk to me and Mike?”
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/challenged/
“…….. BLOOD SHALL STAIN THESE WALLS!”
I love that Dina’s line of questioning makes complete sense to her.
Dinosaurs aren’t as cool as prehistoric marine megafauna.
Well, I’ve searched more dinosaur names tonight than I pretty much ever have. Thanks guys.
(I’m a not-dinosaurs sort of scientist.)
See, this comic is EDUCATIONAL!!!!
(For the record, the best dinosaur is Styracosaurus. Source: This really cool five year old I know)
Styracosaurus: the punk rocker of the ceratopsian dinosaurs.
I, too, am disappointed by Ethan’s ignorance. 🙁
So does Dina just have print-outs of that article on hand because it’s such a common misconception, or did Ethan wait for her to print one out?
Both seem equally likely
Dina is angry to have had Walky pass her without problem, and would likely have closed the door no matter the answer.
Oh, and for my dinosaur, I think I’ve got to go with raven.
The super-advanced flying stealth dinosaur!
I was thinking Crow, but ravens are cool too.
Supersaurus? Are they still a thing or did someone notice the name sounds completely made up?
Actually, I always liked Diplodocus, because I had a book about them when I was a kid, and also because of Dippy at the Natural History Museum.
“Are you a good dinosaur or a bad dinosaur?” “Why, I’m not a dinosaur at all.”
I have never seen Dina roll her eyes before.
It is beautiful.
who would win in a fight between an army of ceratasuar with cyber enhancements or all of the dinobots from all continuitys
Depends on what kind of cyborg implants you give the ceratosaurs.
Well, it’s a good thing Ethan didn’t answer with “Brontosaurus”. I think that might have given poor Dina an aneurysm.
Am I the only one who noticed Dina used a contraction? Or is that just too insignificant?
Yep, it seems like when Dina gets snippy, her usual style of speech takes a back seat. If this slightly OOC moment was intentional on Willis’s part, then I’m impressed by his attention to detail.
Say ‘Brontosaurus’ and watch her explode.
Ethan eyeballs the Predacon symbol and says the first thing that comes to mind, yesssss.
Hello! We, the Emperor of the Internet has returned after vacation!
So, what has been going on since last time I checked in?
Amber/Amazi-Girl is doing everything but the one important thing: Aknowledging that they could actually be in the wrong vis-a-vis Danny. The comment field explodes in joy about butt plugs. Cerberus explains about the advantages of glass dildos.
Hank is taking some seriously big steps into becoming a Good Person, and even better, a Good Dad. We also see that Carol is not a lone wolf, but instead a perfect member of her congregation. Says a lot about her congregation.
In the comment field, people still try to excuse Carol for being a shithead, because they don’t understand exactly how crappy that stuff is. Such people get schooled so hard, they run away in fear of knowledge that does not agree with their worldview. Some people also still blame Becky for ramping up the drama, when in fact it is always Carol who starts it, with Becky only responding.
Responding perfectly, at that. 😀
People also still comment that Hank is finally a portrayal of a decent Christian. At this point, it is impossible to know if they are serious or not. If they are, then they have the attention span of a dog*.
Carla is once again being as Carla as she can be, which is great! We learn just the extent of how fricking supportive her parents are. True, they also had the resources, but they did what they did as a show of real parental support. Dorothy is being the letdown here, as she could have paid enough attention to Carla’s argument to see just how important it is to have someone, anyone loving her for who she is. Carla’s argument is anything but stupid, Dorothy!
In the comment field, people are shipping Ultra Car with Monkey Master. I think. I was sort of skimming it at this point.
And then, glory of glories, Carla realising that Ruth is not “merely” upset about having to ditch her girlfriend, she is genuinely depressed! And that brings us to today’s strip, where we see Carla walking away knowing that she now has to deal with this properly, and she’ll not like it one bit. But she’ll do it anyway, because she’s Carla.
In the comment field, people are discussing dinosaurs. All is well.
So yeah, I think that is it. Did I miss anything?
*Contrary to claims, goldfish has fairly decent attention spans, and can certainly remember things for more than a few seconds. Dogs, on the other hand, are pretty horrible at it; which is why you must correct a dog (and yes, that is correcting it, not punishing it) immediately when it does a bad thing.
Masterful recap, your majesty, and welcome back 🙂
Thank you. I went to Norway, by the way.
Next time maybe I should tell you in advance, then you can come to Norway too and we can meet, and I will make you my trusted lieutenant, but of course you will betray me and throw me to the sharks, but I will somehow survive by being eaten alive by a whale shark, and then I will return at the exact moment you are getting married to your sweetheart, and your wedding will be ruined as my new army of land-dwelling whale sharks will stomp on all the guests. After this, thunder will start as the climactic battle ensues, in which my imperial saber will cut your arm off, but you will in the end be victorious by gagging me with the wedding dress.
Man, that would be awesome, would it not?
Are there many fires in Norway?
(25:54)
Nahh, all the storms and snow keep the fires at bay.
If my dog has a short attention span then why does it take two hours to get her to stop barking at the squirrel that briefly ran across the deck and out of our lives forever?
Because it doesn’t remember the SQUIRREL – it remembers it’s LAST BARK and keeps barking because obviously it had some reason, even it it has forgotten it.
(Full disclosure: this comment is complete bullshit)
Disclosure that this comment also may be full of bullshit:
Barking is something dogs often do as a way to get attention. It started barking to get your attention vis-a-vis the squirrel, and until you stop it, it will keep seeking that attention. Yes, the squirrel was gone. Your dog still wanted attention about it. Remember, if you’d been a dog yourself, you would have been able to smell that the squirrel was there. It’s not your dog’s fault you have a vastly inferior nose.
Except coming over to pet her and try to calm her doesn’t work, so it’s not about attention. And every time I let her out on the deck for the next three days, she went right over to where she saw the squirrel (not everywhere the squirrel was, just where it was when she saw it) to sniff.
I’m tickled pink that my off-hand comment about glass dildos was deemed important enough for the recap.
Here’s all these major events in comic, comment thread drama, and oh yeah, some girl talking about transparent fuck sticks. Clearly all of equal import.
😀
I can’t imagine someone who looks like your gravatar talking about sex toys being important in any way…
What can I say, I am easily distracted by sex, especially positive and educational discussions about sex.
You are truly the Emperor we deserve!
But are We the Emperor you need?
So you want to know what dinosaur I am, huh? Just reverse the letters in my name.
Reversed, and not upside-down? :p That would make Ethan a
NaleNahte, which would make him an American filmmaker, instead of an Australian dinosaur.So, Ethan. Prove yourself. Hump the illustration.
BEAST WARS WALL STICKERS!!!!
realdinosaursayswhat
wonders what Dina’s reaction would be if I mentioned that I am more interested in the phyletic relationships of Problematica such as H. sparsa and T. gregarium… no, wait, hallucigenids are probably onychophorans… maybe odontogriphids would be a better example, they’re still unsure about them, right?… Oh, never mind.
Wait, Tully’s Monster is now conclusively identified as cordate, and probably a vertebrate? Meh, it’s too recent a claim, chances are it will get challenged later.
http://yourfaveisproblematica.tumblr.com/
Here, have some help.
Thank you!
The nearest I got to Dinosaurs was The Flintstones and a Dinosaur at the Natural History Museum.
Parasaurolophus or Triceratops, for me.
Oh come on Ethan! Next thing you’ll be telling us that you’re a Triceratops.
I wanna bet that Ethan said T-Rex due to liking Grimlock.
Still, Ethan you have chosen poorly. Twice.
I think I’m safe in saying that my favorite dinosaur is Dinobot. Mostly because I didn’t give two shits about dinosaurs growing up outside of Beast Wars or Power Rangers. I was born in 93 so sue me.
Of course, no list of best dinosaurs is complete without Compsognathus.
If you eat Peter Stormare you are all right in my book.
As it is doubtful they have a printer in room (though I went to college in Dark Ages when printers were huge), I like the idea of Dina having printouts of the pterodactyl article ready for just such an occasion.
They take up a fair bit of space, but I graduated just over a year ago and had one in my room all four years, because a lot of professors still require printouts and such.
In the amount of time between her slamming the door and Ethan’s comment, though, I doubt she would’ve had time to print one out. Besides, it’s very Dina of her to have some on hand.
My printer — which is actually an all-in-one (printer/copier/fax, if I had it hooked up to a phone line) has a footprint of only 12 inches by 17 inches. That’s not very much space at all.
Oh – and it’s also a scanner, too.
Ankylosaurus. Ankylosauri look like death-turtles.
Though I think Ethan should have said “parakeet. Birds are modern dinosaurs,” just to see how Dina would react to that.
“…proceed.”
Plesiosaur?
Dina’s gonna be shoving a Wikipedia article under the door for you, too.
What about Barney? She DID play his theme-song.
he’s a t. rex and his last name is literally dinosaur
a plesiosaur is not a dinosaur
this is fairly simple
Please, he’s clearly a Montanaspinus.
And if you get the joke, it’s clear evidence you are too nerdy, but you probably knew that already.
There is no such thing as too nerdy.
I am proof that there is most definitely such a thing.
so talk nerdy to me.
Wow, Dina. He named a real dino. Just because it’s boring doesn’t mean he didn’t pass your security check. Jeez!
I would’ve said, “You gave me a question, I gave you an answer: Tyrannosaurus Rex.”
I thought so too, turns out a ptereodactyl is technically a winged reptile, not a dinosaur
*the more you know =*
Point is that Ethan gave Tyrannosaurus Rex rex first, but Dina is too hipster to accept that correct answer!
the same way that not every mammal that lives today is a rodent not every reptile that lived during the paleozoic was necessarily a dinosaur. Of course since the fossils from that era are so old we have to rely on morphology and can’t analyze their genetic material to find more subtle relations between the various species. Imagine if paleontologists 60 million years from now discovered fossils of domestic dogs. They’d be hard pressed to believe that a chihuahua and a great dane are the same species, they’d probably figure out they’re both canines but unless they knew about our selective breeding practices they would easily think they were as different as tigers and bobcats.
Thanks to a technicality, Ethan could have said ANY bird and it would’ve counted since they’re all in the dinosaur clade
I would have said Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.
help i just reaised there was a ceratasuar in the jurassic world line but its to old to be in stores anymore and i couldnt find it on ebay or amazon ö
oops forgot the l in realised sorry all of you
I WANTED SWOOP
Pachycephalosaurus? That one is still real, right? The one that looks a little like it has a monk haircut?
I hope Carla and Ethan have a serious conversation sometime soon
“What dinosaur are you!”
“A sparrow.”
“… You are now the person I like third best.”
Question: I get by this point that Mike’s a dick because he’s Mike, but… are we gonna get a backstory about why? I get it, in Willis’ other comics he’s traditionally been a massive wanker, but as Willis has attested, this is a separate universe. Maybe we’ll actually get a backstory for him now, a la Amber’s DOA backstory? …Or maybe he’ll just continue being Mike. Really, I’m fine either way.