FRDT Author - The Meta Weta

Picture taken completely out of context.  Extinction is a bummer. It's also somewhat inevitable on a planet that is constantly changing. Seeing as the environment keeps changing, life must change with it or perish.  But you, the person reading this, might be wondering what that has to do with our planet being a world of smaller beasts. First off, you might be thinking that's hogwash. There are plenty of large animals around today: elephants, rhinos, hippos, bison, moose, cattle. Hell, the largest known animal to exist in earth's history lives now in the form of the blue whale: nearly 200 tons and 30 metres of pure Holocene giant.  It's so big, the World Wildlife Fund couldn't fit the entire thing into this picture.  But a look into the recent geological past says otherwise. Millions of years ago, there were animals that w eighed almost 100 tons and could peek into a fifth-story window . Less than a million years ago the world had many more kinds ...

Occasionally I Google things (it still amazes me that is a verb now). It's one of my favourite 21st century luxuries, with a specific process that happens every time: 1. Have a question, which may or may not be an important or significant one. 2. Look it up on Google. 3. ??? 4. Knowledge acquired. It's fantastic. We in the 21st century who have internet-capable devices are truly spoiled in this way. Nearly the entirety of human knowledge is at our fingertips. So what did I do earlier with this cornucopia of knowledge? 'Pancakes.' Not how to make them. What they are, and the history of them. The process went like this: 1. Pancakes? 2. Look it up on Google. 3. Skim the Wikipedia article. 4. Knowledge acquired, sufficient to satisfy brief curiosity. So having now learned that pancakes in many forms are a staple food all around the world and that the Ancient Greeks were enjoying breakfast pancakes (which they called tēganitēs , among ot...

So I've been playing an inordinate amount of Far Cry 5 largely. Yes, I know, it was released almost two years ago, but I was futilely waiting for it to go on sale. I'm cheap like that.  It's alright, I guess.  Ok, I've more than once completely lost track of time while playing it. Despite the numerous irritations the game has (temperamental side quests, occasionally suicidal AI companions, the fact that the whole game is a blatant cash-in on the fact that America as a nation currently hates itself), I find it weirdly compelling and I can't help but enjoy it.  Best boy ever.  But as I fly in my attack helicopter blowing boats full of drug-peddling straw-man religious nutters to oblivion, I do think to myself: what does Far Cry really need?  Dinosaurs. Obviously. 🦖 The reason I say this are numerous: 1 . I really like dinosaurs, and most likely a large segment of the open-world-mayhem enthusiasts that like this kind of game do as w...

Well, this is happening again.  This is the second time I've started this blog again, for one very important reason: I need to write more. The thing about trying to be a writer is that you need something to point to to demonstrate that you, well... write.  So let this day ring out as the day I start this blog as the repository of whatever random thoughts breeze through the sleep-derived, caffeine-and-cheese-fueled lump of matter that I use as a brain these days.  As for the reader: I hope you enjoy what I write here, and may you always have time to brush your teeth thoroughly.