danbensen

[danbensen]

Biomedical Self-Engineering by Jon Svenson

When Carl, a divorced night watchman in his 70s, is bitten by an alien, he becomes an animorph. He absorbs DNA from every animal he touches and can use those genes to alter his body. So, after he clears out his tumors and shrinks his prostate, Carl touches a dog so he can sniff out buried gold, which he uses to invest in failing business. It’s…not what I would do if I had DNA powers, but after a while I really wanted to know if Carl would be able to turn that restaurant around! Like most LitRPGs, this book is idle wish-fulfillment, but it’s saved from being boring by an unusual protagonist with interesting things to do.

For more book reviews, see my November newsletter.

[danbensen]

"The Good used to believe that darkness was a substance opposed to light. I told them they were wrong. Darkness is the absence of light, just as purity is the absence of filth, sanity the absence of madness. Do you understand me?"

He seemed so desperate, Andrei told him he did.

A poet's face, a chief inquisitor's voice, and the brain of a municipal sanitation manager.

(From chapter 11 of Wealthgiver. Search for "Wealthgiver" "The Infirmary" and "Daniel M. Bensen." To read the whole chapter, get a paid subscription, on sale until the end of December)

[danbensen]

Anthracodromeus longipes was an early reptile* that lived in what is now Ohio, USA, during the late Carbonifeorus about 307-305 million years ago.

(*or possibly a very reptile-like stem-amniote)

Around 20cm in total length (~8"), it had a rather lizard-like shape with a long body and a short tail. The digits on all four of its limbs were highly elongated with hooked claws, which appears to have been an adaptation for climbing.

It inhabited a coal forest dominated by lycopsid trees and seed ferns, and as one of the earliest known tetrapods to develop climbing behavior it would have had some ecological advantages over its relatives, being better able to escape from predators and access new food sources.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Carroll, R. L., and Baird, D. "Carboniferous stem-reptiles of the family Romeriidae." Bulletin of The Museum of Comparative Zoology 143 (1972): 321–363. https://archive.org/details/biostor-696/mode/2up

Mann, Arjan, et al. "Digit and ungual morphology suggest adaptations for scansoriality in the late Carboniferous eureptile Anthracodromeus longipes." Frontiers in Earth Science 9 (2021): 675337. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.675337

Simões, Tiago R., et al. "Successive climate crises in the deep past drove the early evolution and radiation of reptiles." Science Advances 8.33 (2022): eabq1898. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq1898

Wikipedia contributors. “Anthracodromeus” Wikipedia, 09 Jun. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracodromeus

[danbensen]

Metriorhynchids were a group of fully marine crocodyliforms known from the mid-Jurassic to the early Cretaceous of Europe and the Americas. They were the most aquatic-adapted of all known archosaurs, with streamlined bodies, smooth scaleless skin, small front flippers, larger hind flippers, and shark-like tail flukes. They may also have been endothermic, and might even have given live birth at sea rather than laying eggs.

Rhacheosaurus gracilis here was a metriorhynchid that lived in warm shallow waters around what is now Germany during the late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. Around 1.5m long (~5'), its long narrow snout lined with delicate pointed teeth suggests it fed on small soft-bodied prey, a niche partitioning specialization that allowed it to coexist with several other metriorhynchid species in the same habitat.

Unlike most other marine reptiles metriorhynchids didn't have particularly retracted nostrils, which may have had a limiting effect on their efficiency as sustained swimmers since higher-set nostrils make it much easier to breathe without having to lift the whole head above the surface. The lack of such an adaptation in this group may be due to their ancestors having a single nasal opening formed entirely within the premaxilla bones at the tip of the snout, uniquely limiting how far it could easily shift backwards – other marine reptiles had nostrils bound by the edges of multiple different bones, giving them much more flexibility to move the openings around.

(By the early Cretaceous a close relative of Rhacheosaurus did actually evolve nostrils bound by both the premaxilla and the maxilla, and appeared to have started more significant retraction, but unfortunately this only happened shortly before the group's extinction.)

Metriorhynchids also had well-developed salt glands in front of their eyes, but the large sinuses that accommodated these glands may have made their skulls ill-suited to deep diving, being more susceptible to serious damage from pressure changes and restricting their swimming to near-surface waters only.

Preserved skin impressions in some metriorhynchid fossils show several unusual "irregularities", including curl shapes, small bumps, and cratering. It's unknown what exactly caused these marks, but they may represent scarring from external parasites such as lampreys and barnacles.

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NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Andrade, Marco BD, and Mark T. Young. "High diversity of thalattosuchian crocodylians and the niche partition in the Solnhofen Sea." 56th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, 2008. https://svpca.org/years/2008_dublin/abstracts.pdf#page=14

Séon, Nicolas, et al. "Thermophysiologies of Jurassic marine crocodylomorphs inferred from the oxygen isotope composition of their tooth apatite." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375.1793 (2020): 20190139. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0139

Spindler, Frederik. "Live Birth in a Jurassic Marine Crocodile." Abstracts of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Pal��ontologische Gesellschaft, 2019. https://www.palaeontologie.geowissenschaften.uni-muenchen.de/pdfs/palges2019_abstracts.pdf#page=141

Spindler, Frederik, et al. "The integument of pelagic crocodylomorphs (Thalattosuchia: Metriorhynchidae)" Palaeontologia Electronica 24.2 (2021): a25. https://doi.org/10.26879/1099

Young, Mark T., et al. "Convergent evolution and possible constraint in the posterodorsal retraction of the external nares in pelagic crocodylomorphs." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 189.2 (2020): 494-520. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa021

Young, Mark T., et al. "Skull sinuses precluded extinct crocodile relatives from cetacean-style deep diving as they transitioned from land to sea." Royal Society Open Science 11.10 (2024): 241272. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241272

Wikipedia contributors. “Metriorhynchidae” Wikipedia, 12 Nov. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metriorhynchidae

Wikipedia contributors. “Rhacheosaurus” Wikipedia, 02 Dec. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhacheosaurus

[danbensen]

This is the most distance I’ve seen between a book’s reputation and its content. At best, people talk about Atlas Shrugged like it’s a shoddy story straining under its philosophical burdens, but when I read it, I saw a Russian science fiction novel.

In one scene, a group of government functionaries on a train need to be in California by midnight. Because most of the rail line’s employees were hired for political reasons, all rail lines but one are closed and there is no functioning diesel locomotive. The management, also political, is less concerned about fixing these problems than passing the blame, so the decision of what to do is finally made by a mid-level manager. This manager had a brother who killed himself after his workplace was nationalized by the People, and the news of this suicide was suppressed so as not to damage the People’s morale. Now, the manager orders that the a coal-burning locomotive should pull the train through a tunnel in the Rocky Mountains, a solution that will asphyxiate all its passengers but get their corpses to San Jose on time. “And?” the manager thinks to himself, “who is on that train? I bet it's People.”

I’m going to have to write a longer review of this book.

from my November newsletter

[danbensen]

Before, for years, there had always been family or work to force me out of my fugue. I’d think, during a class or a meal or a trip to the beach, that if only I had enough uninterrupted time, I’d be able to determine for certain how an ancient people spoke. When I finally got that time and sacrificed it, the answer I got was “You won’t.”

read on

[danbensen]

it turns out that you can plot container ship volumes and fit them to an exponential curve just like silicon chip density, and a naive extrapolation would have you believing that we're rapidly approaching a so-called cargo singularity and that by 2050 the entire world will reside in one of these things, sadly too big to fit through the gap between the planets.

[danbensen]

Merry Christmas, gentle readers. From now until the end of the month, all tiers are 50% off. That’s $1.50 for four chapters of Wealthgiver and $5 for access to all the books in my back catalogue.

Become a member: https://www.patreon.com/join/7527232

[danbensen]

The following leader

"Oh," Andrei said. "Nikolai Igorevich. Look, I don't suppose you'll drop this idea of ritually sacrificing me and just join me in my escape? Two sons of Russia together, eh? Making a break for freedom?"

An aggravated pause, followed by "No." The very darkness seemed to scowl.

Andrei essayed another try. "Is this how you treat a guest? So as to make him want to run away? I'm a doctor who could be useful to you, not a sacrificial victim."

"We are all victims in the end, Andrei Trifonovich. And in the end, use can be found for all of us, as well." Nikolai chuckled, pleased at his own insight.

Andrei nodded. So much for the hope that he'd been wrong in his first estimation of Nikolai's character. High priest of Pluto or not, the man fit a mold. He reminded Andrei of his youngest brother.

The family's plan was for the boy to study agriculture, but somehow he'd fallen in with the Narodniks. After Andrei's intervention and certain other disasters, his brother had left both his friends and his university to become a monk.

At the time, Andrei had breathed a sigh of relief. His youngest brother had a tendency to follow, to find people to worship. Now, Andrei wondered what might happen if ever his brother was so unfortunate as to be elected abbot.

From my ongoing alternate history serial “Wealthgiver” now on sale. https://substack.com/home/post/p-152565216?source=queue

[danbensen]

This was one of my introductions to military history. I was 14 and haven't ever really looked back. Big fan of star forts and Vauban.

[danbensen]

Storm Between the Stars by Karl K. Gallagher I’m getting used to Gallagher’s style, which relies on the reader to figure out the characters’ feelings from their words and deeds. At first, it feels like you’re reading an after action report, but the effort it takes to notice them makes the emotions more serious. My heart really did speed up as I watched the oppressive Censoriate bear down on our plucky space-traders. Will they make it out with lives and freedom intact? From my October Newsletter.

[danbensen]

Something from long ago

[danbensen]

"Host of Many."

Who had said that? In the dark, Nikolai couldn't tell. Had he spoken it? Or Kori? One of the brothers? Had they all spoken at once the epithet of the Unseen One? Or had the walls whispered? An echo, a shadow with no one to cast it.

Nikolai's hands shook as he hung his sickle back at his hip.

"Earth, protect me," he whispered, but found to his horror that three fingers of his right hand had pinched together and risen to his right shoulder, as if to begin the sign of the cross.

Nikolai flicked his hand as if a cockroach crawled upon it. This was what came of bringing outsiders into the Sacred Depths. What could Kori be thinking? No, Nikolai corrected himself, brushing his hands down his robes. The Maiden had received a prophecy. She had been pointed toward an opportunity. Like so many of the gods' gifts, this one only looked like a cruel joke.

[danbensen]

[danbensen]

I'm imagining those amphorans singing: "yata yata da-da-da!"

a glimpse at the broader biome of this story, for some of the extra pages im sneaking in as back-matter for the tale...

[danbensen]

A drawing from 2009 that I am currently using as the basis for the cover of a new book (coming to kickstarter next year). An amphoran warrior and a human trooper, posing for a candid photo

[danbensen]

Like a pilot in a squall, I set my jaw and tightened my grip. There was no light to aid me and the traffic was going out. My only chance was a U-turn. So I hove to, and rounded the meridian. From my October Newsletter.