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Pushing the Boundaries of Dinosaur Knowledge

Kajmeister’s calendar is ready and waiting!!!!

In honor of World Dinosaur Day, I’ve decided to inaugurate the first ever annual World Dinosaur Day post. I’ll start by reminding you, dear reader, that I have written a book all about paleontology, The A to Z Dinosaurs, full of fun little tidbits about these magnificent reptiles. With that sponsor’s message out of the way, let’s talk about some of the latest dinosaur research. I’m going to call it DRAMA, INDUSTRY, MAGIC! That is, drama among the paleontologists, industrialists helping out their scientific friends, and magical new technology uncovering hidden secrets.

World Dinosaur Day was designated as such by cartoonist Joe Wos back in 2016. Wos is a well-known illustrator who helped found a small cartoon museum in Pittsburgh, had a website, was noted as a visiting cartoonist to the Schulz museum here in Northern California–the guy does a lot of things. Lots of ideas. Lots of projects. Museum now closed; website gone; lots of 404 links. He’s available for speaking events but has not, according to his personal site, said much about dinosaurs. However, his Dinosaur Day idea caught on, and museums and educators have enjoyed pitching a tent on it, even if Joe seems to have wandered away. Thanks anyway, Joe Wos! Who wouldn’t want another excuse to celebrate dinosaurs?

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The Folly of Greenlandia

Aerial view of Fordlândia, photo by the Ford Motor Company, 1934.

Last month when I was writing about Rubber, I learned about Fordlândia, a rubber plantation/utopia that Henry Ford built in the Brazilian jungle. My word count for that post was too high, so I left out the story. But it’s been rattling around in my head ever since, pinballing to the top every time I read another story about this administration’s obsession with Greenland. Plus, that Santayana quote, the mantra of historians, constantly reminds me to study the lessons of the past. Anybody remember maps which referred to the Belgian Congo? Ever hear of Minimata disease?

Corporations and governments–that is, corporations whose security adopts uniforms and carries a flag–often get the bright idea to get resources cheaply from places where the scrutiny is lax. Of course, corporations and governments aren’t entities unto themselves. It’s the leaders who come up with cockamamie schemes of exploration and exploitation, schemes which lead to environmental devastation, mutilations, genocide. Often, costs vastly outweigh the benefits.

I realize that the moral reprehensibility of those first three evils ought to sway the argument against exploitation, but there’s no moral reasoning, sometimes, with corporations, which suddenly become faceless when there is wrongdoing. I was nurtured at a tender age on cost-benefit analysis, and I sometimes find it makes a persuasive argument when other arguments won’t do. In that spirit, I’d like to offer a few examples from history as reason to pause before we start invading and strip-mining Greenland.

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Z is for Zodiac

Modern Zodiac wheel. Graphic by Pearson Scott Foresman.

I’ve always been interested in astrology. I used to be able to calculate birth charts by hand, before apps could do it. I am also familiar with numerology, read palms, and interpret tarot cards. I often did tarot readings at corporate off sites. They were wonderful for discussing team strategy; people open up and speak their minds. I was also peppered with questions about why a person who did finance and math for a living was so knowledgeable about occult practices.

They shouldn’t have been surprised. Ancient astrology was heavily dependent on math and scientific measurement. Historians often find it quaint that astrology and astronomy were taught together, but to ancient Sumerians and Egyptians, this was like statistical analysis, using data to make predictions. Where today we might apply theories of random walk, Keynesian economics, or monetary policy–given that we are a society fueled by capitalism–in 2500 BCE, the ancients generated predictions based on interpretations of the night sky. Across multiple societies, astrologers were key advisors to the king-emperor-leader, in the same way that Cabinet members function today. Will the harvest be bountiful? Will the attack on a rival neighbor be a success? Should we apply tariffs? What actions should we take to maintain celestial harmony?

The zodiac might be easily dismissed as simple superstition. Yet, for all our modern access to information and expertise, our predictions aren’t necessarily more accurate. Economists disagree, and economic results don’t always follow predictions. Political polls seem no more conclusive than a newspaper horoscope. Meanwhile, today’s horoscopes bear very little connection to the horoscopes generated three thousand years ago, which were mathematically calculated based on that day and that person, not simple platitudes.

The cultures of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, and others paid close attention to the night sky and acted accordingly. Their view also linked the activities of the constellations, along with the sun, moon, and planets, to the seasonal climate of their environment. Weather was everything, and weather came from the heavens, which meant it was affected by the stars. Just as ancient cultures defined their calendar, months, and seasons, they also organized the heavens into the zodiac.

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