#charles walcott

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwback Thursday: Charles Walcott and the Burgess Shale

In typical field paleontology fashion, the field season was nearly over when Charles Walcott made the biggest discovery of his life.

It was August 1909 in British Columbia and he was on a steep mountain slope when he found the first fossils of the now world famous Burgess Shale.

Between 1910 and 1924, Walcott collected over 65,000 specimens. He described as many as he could until his death on 1927.

Today, the Burgess Shale is best known for its exceptional preservation of hundreds of soft-bodied animals. At least 172 different animals have been identified including Hallucigenia (pictured above and to the left) which Walcott had reconstructed upside down. To be fair, we have nothing like that alive today and the one he had found hadn't preserved all of the little feet or lobopods.

If you want to know more about the Burgess Shale, you can click this link:

This website is amazing and will take you on a fun filled adventure. It gives you taxonomy of each animal, discovery info, sometimes even a three dimensional rendering of the animal in it's habitat.

[fyeahvarchie]

madelame: still wrapping my head around there being 2 days left of this 7 year journey. i love my friends 💘

[runawaywhorses]

Charles Melton, Casey Cott and Karl Walcott

[jazzdailyblog]

Jazz at Massey Hall: A Time Capsule of Bebop Brilliance

Introduction: In the annals of jazz history, certain concerts have attained legendary status, capturing the essence of an era and the genius of its musicians. “Jazz at Massey Hall,” recorded on May 15, 1953, at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, is one such milestone. This live album, credited to “the Quintet,” features an extraordinary gathering of bebop titans — Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker,…

[ocandrew1]

Heavyweight Icons

[jccheapalier]

Rocky Marciano: A Life Story (2004) | Full Movie | Marino Amoruso

[deadpanwalking]

dpw I am finally dedicating some time to reading poetry and have been knocked on my ass by a few lucky finds (Franny Choi, CD Wright, the new translation of Vulturnus!), but I feel like I don't have a great sense of where to find more. not that the world is short of—I mean, I haven't forgotten about google or anything—what I mean is, do you have any especially mindblowing collections you'd personally suggest? something that was influential to you at some point? I'm in a fertile headspace for it, and you're the poetryposter I follow on here and I trust your taste

It's August, so you're spoiled for choice. Elizabeth Bishop (Questions of Travel) for mornings when it rained overnight, Pablo Neruda (Residencia en la tierra) for mornings when it's going to rain; Robert Hayden (The Night-Blooming Cereus) for mornings when it's drizzling and you hear birdsong, but can't see birds. Maya Angelou on the bus to work (Complete Collected Poems), and Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass) on the bus home; T.S. Eliot (Prufrock and Other Observations) if you're taking lunch at your desk, Billy Collins (Picnic, Lightning) for eating lunch outdoors. Charles Simic (A Wedding in Hell) before dinner, Charles Baudelaire (Les Fleurs du mal ), postprandially, if the peach you'd been saving for dessert got overripe and has to be reclaimed from fruit flies and eaten over the sink. James Baldwin (Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems) to go with chardonnay and the smell of petrichor, Franz Wright (Walking to Martha's Vineyard) on nights when the moon seems too big for its own good. If you can't get to sleep, try a nice epic, say, Derek Walcott's Omeros, but if you wake up suffocating from the heat, crack open Matsuo Bashō's The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches.

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

Hii i needed some classic book recommendations even tho im currently reading crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky cant seem to finish it reader's block ig if thats a thing? So im just tryna find books which would get me back at reading. Greek/classic Literature/ dark academia/ classic thriller and mystery into these stuff right now so yeah!

Sorry for sending such a big ask lol.

Hey Anonie. No problem lol. Now, I haven't read all those I'm about to list, but I know people (and have read people) that have and like them greatly so: (in no particular order)

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Othello by William Shakespeare

Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

The Bakkhai by Euripides (Anne Carson translation)

Medea by Euripides (I unfortunately don't have a translation to recommend)

The Oresteia by Any of the 3 Greek tragedians Honestly (see above)

The Iliad by Homer (Fagles translation)

The Odyssey by Homer (Fagles translation)

The Aeneid by Virgil (Fagles translation)

Omeros by Derek Walcott

Wise Children by Angela Carter

The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The Woodlander by Thomas Hardy

Adam Bede by George Eliot

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Romola by George Eliot

Tess of D'Uberville by Thomas Hardy

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

The Theban Trilogy by Sophocles

The Turn of the Shrew by Henry James

Daisy Miller by Henry James

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

The Mystery of the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

King Lear by William Shakespeare

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Hearts and Lives of Men by Fay Weldon

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Ulysses by James Joyce

Beloved by Toni Morrison

@maryoliverdotcom @memory-the-unconscious do yall have any suggestions??

[brucesterling]

Seafood recipes for long-extinct sea creatures

I've been beating up on AIs all week, so it's time for a post where I publicly admire their capacities:

Bruce Sterling: Do you have any good seafood recipes for Cambrian creatures fished from the Burgess Shale?

Bing Copilot:

Ah, the Burgess Shale! A fascinating treasure trove of ancient life. Those Cambrian creatures are truly remarkable, and while I can’t provide you with specific recipes for them (they’re a bit beyond my culinary expertise!), I can certainly share some interesting facts about these ancient beings.

Burgess Shale Creatures:

The Burgess Shale fossils date back to around 505 million years ago during the mid-Cambrian period. They were discovered in Canada and collected by Charles Doolittle Walcott in the early 20th century. These fossils represent a diverse array of organisms, many of which are unlike anything we see today. Weird wonders like Opabinia and Hallucigenia have captured the imagination of scientists and the public alike1. The preservation of these fossils is unique, with soft tissues often preserved as solid shapes. However, moderately soft tissues like muscles tend to be lost over time.

Cooking Cambrian Creatures:

While we can’t cook up a Cambrian feast, let’s imagine a whimsical menu inspired by these ancient critters:

Opabinia Sushi Rolls: Create sushi rolls with colorful, segmented layers reminiscent of Opabinia’s flexible body. Add a dash of “Cambrian explosion” wasabi for extra flavor!

Hallucigenia Skewers: Thread spiky, arm-like appendages onto skewers and grill them lightly. Serve with a tangy dipping sauce—perhaps a blend of ancient seaweed and modern citrus.

Anomalocaris Ceviche: Dice up Anomalocaris, an apex predator of its time, and marinate it in lime juice. Garnish with edible Cambrian algae for a zesty twist.

Wiwaxia Salad: Arrange Wiwaxia’s spiny plates atop a bed of fresh greens. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with crushed Cambrian limestone for that authentic touch.

Pairing Suggestions:

Pair your Cambrian-inspired dishes with a crisp Charniodiscus Chardonnay or a robust Marrella Merlot. These imaginary wines are aged to perfection—505 million years, to be precise!

Remember, this whimsical menu is purely fictional, but it’s fun to imagine what Cambrian cuisine might have been like. If you ever invent a time machine, perhaps you can travel back and taste-test these ancient delicacies firsthand!

[leaping-laelaps-art]

Odaraia alata, (yet another) strange arthropod of the Burgess Shale.

Unlike many of the 'weird wonders' of the Burgess like Hallucigenia or Opabinia, Odaraia was quickly identified as an arthropod (although its precise position remains unclear) but what sets it apart is its completely unique functional morphology: in addition to a very unusual telson with three flukes (quite reminiscent of the tail of a plane), Odaraia had a bivalved carapace that almost completely enclosed its body (Briggs & Whittington, 1981), like a living burrito with many legs.

Since the legs were unable to reach out beyond the shield, Odaraia must have spent its life swimming (possibly on its back like a fairy shrimp, based on its center of gravity), using its legs to create currents to guide food particles into the shield space and towards the mouth; the tail flukes likely assisted in stabilizing and steering. The whole animal was about 15 cm long (Briggs & Whittington, 1981).

In the background are Pirania muricata sponges, contemporary to Odaraia and also found in the Burgess Shale (Walcott, 1924).

References and notes about the reconstruction:

The cephalic appendages of Odaraia are poorly known; this reconstruction is based on the interpretation of Briggs & Whittington (1981), which consists of a pair of denticulated, mandible-like structures and, anterior to it, two possible pairs of simple segmented appendages - but the latter are highly uncertain and should be taken with caution.

Briggs, D. E. G., & Whittington, H. B. (1981). The arthropod Odaraia alata Walcott, Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 291(1056), 541–582. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1981.0007

Budd, G. E. (2008). Head Structure in Upper Stem-Group Euarthropods. Palaeontology, 51(3), 561–573. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00752.x

Charles D. Walcott. (1924). Middle Cambrian Spongiae. In Cambrian Geology and Paleontology (Vol. 67, pp. 261–364). Smithsonian Institution. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/9442

[v4lentinn3]

☆-- ɪɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴘᴏꜱᴛ --☆

Hi! I'm Val, I'm a random guy in multiple fandoms such as Welcome Home,Helluva boss,Hazbin hotel,Dead Plate, Deltarune, Undertale and so many more.I sometimes like to make theories on many topics in the fandoms I've listed, mostly in Welcome home.

I'm a massive fan of Gothic literature and poetry in general. My favourite examples of these are

poetry:

“Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?” by William Shakespeare

“Trees” by Joyce Kilmer

“Love After Love” by Derek Walcott

“Mother To Son” by Langston Hughes

“A Smile To Remember” by Charles Bukowski

Gothic literature:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

~------------------------☆----------------------------~

My music taste mainly consists of:

-Will Wood

-That Handsome Devil

-Oingo Boingo

-Alex G

-TvGirl

-Mitski

-The Smiths

-Frank Sinatra

-Dean Martin

-Tiny Tim

-Teenage Disaster

-Tom Lehrer

~------------------------☆----------------------------~

Thank you for reading!!

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwback Thursday: The Wheeler Shale

Did you think we were done talking about Charles Walcott?

Not only did Walcott discover the Burgess Shale but 6 years prior he had gone out to western Utah and discovered yet another Cambrian lagerstatten, the Wheeler Shale.

Together with the Marjum and Weeks Formations, the Wheeler Shale is the most fossiliferous and best exposed sequences of Middle Cambrian rocks in North America. That is up to 2,000ft of rock exposure. Take that Burgess Shale. It is most famous for its prolific agnostid (tiny trilobites, like fingernail-sized)

and Elrathia kingii fossils.

Detailed work shows there are at least 10 lagerstatte sequences that were deposited by turbidites and mudslides during high water stands in a deep sea environment.

It also contains many other animals found in the Burgess Shale such as Hallucigenia,

Wiwaxia,

Choia,

and Sidneyia.

Fossilize you later!

[simpsforscience]

Meet Hallucigenia, the Cambrian critter that will bend your brain! 😮🧠 Decades of head-scratching ensued during its discovery. 🔍 Was it upside down? Inside out? 🤔 A figment of Walcott's overactive imagination? 💭 Swipe through this post to dive 🥽 into the fascinating story of its discovery!

📸Image credits:

Charles Walcott - Wikimedia Commons

Simon Conway - Sean Carroll's Mindscape

Hallucigenia - Matteo De Stefano/MUSE , Wikimedia commons

Hallucigenia fossil - Han Zeng, Wikimedia commons

Hallucigenia at each stage of discovery - nixilliustration

Tardigrade - Eye of Science, Science Source

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

The Only Exception

Written By: Josh Farro & Hayley Williams

Artist: Paramore

Released: 2009

“The Only Exception” the third single from Paramore’s brand new eyes was co-written between Hayley Williams and Josh Farro at a time when the band was a quintet, the song is a soft ballad, which provides musical diversity to the album. Hayley Williams explained to Kerrang! in 2009: “I’ve never written lyrics like this before. The first verse is about where I think the fear to be open or vulnerable started. Ever since the first story in Kerrang!, everyone has known about my family issues and domestic whatever, it’s something that’s kinda stayed with me and I’ve learned from. I played this song to my mom and there were tears. It was kind of embarrassing.” Hayley Williams told Alternative Press in 2010: “This is the first love song I’ve ever written. And even if I’ve tried in the past, this is the first one that I’m really proud of. I like that I was able to express the fact that I have always been really afraid of love – and I still am at times – but the excitement and the hope that it exists is still very evident in the lyrics. So it’s not like I’m a total cynic! Love is a good thing, kids.” In terms of its success as a single, it notably reached 24th on the US Billboard’s Top 100 and 31st on the UK’s Single Chart.

[Verse 1] When I was younger I saw my daddy cry And curse at the wind He broke his own heart and I watched As he tried to reassemble it And my momma swore that she would Never let herself forget And that was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love if it does not exist [Chorus] But darling You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception [Verse 2] Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul That love never lasts And we've got to find other ways to make it alone Or keep a straight face And I've always lived like this Keeping a comfortable distance And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content With loneliness Because none of it was ever worth the risk [Chorus] Well, you are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception [Bridge] I've got a tight grip on reality but I can't Let go of what's in front of me here I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream Whoa-oh-oh [Chorus] You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception [Outro] And I'm on my way to believing Oh, and I'm on my way to believing

So This Is Love

Written By: Paul J. Smith, Al Hoffman, Mack David & Jerry Livingston

Artist: Ilene Woods & Mike Douglas for Cinderella

Released: 1950

"So This Is Love" is a 1948 song composed by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston. It was written for Walt Disney's Cinderella, in which it was performed by Ilene Woods and Mike Douglas. It is sung by the characters of Cinderella and Prince Charming as they dance with each other at the ball. Composed in 3/4 time (also known as waltz time), a secondary title, "The Cinderella Waltz", appears in parenthesis next to or beneath the song's main name on many editions of sheet music. Prior to the Hoffman, David, and Livingston trio joining the film, songs for Cinderella were written by Larry Morey and Charles Walcott, with a song entitled "Dancing on a Cloud" intended for the ball scene. However, their songs would be scrapped. The song does not appear in Disney's 2015 live-action adaptation of the film, replaced instead with 19th-century inspired waltzes and polkas written by cinematic composer Patrick Doyle. Ilene Woods also commercially recorded the song with RCA Victor in 1949 to help promote the film's release the next year. It has since been performed by artists such as Vaughn Monroe, Vera Lynn, James Ingram, and Dave Brubeck, amongst others.

[CINDERELLA] Mmmmmm Mmmmmm So this is love Mmmmmm So this is love So this is what makes life divine I'm all aglow Mmmmmm And now I know [PRINCE] And now I know [CINDERELLA & PRINCE] The key to all heaven is mine [CINDERELLA] My heart has wings Mmmmmm And I can fly [CINDERELLA & PRINCE] I'll touch ev'ry star in the sky So this is the miracle That I've been dreaming of [CINDERELLA] Mmmmmm [PRINCE] Mmmmmm [CINDERELLA & PRINCE] So this is love

[lboogie1906]

Ezzard Charles (July 7, 1921 - May 28, 1975) known as “The Cincinnati Cobra,” was a quiet, modest individual who went on to become a world heavyweight champion. Born in Lawrenceville, Georgia, He moved to Cincinnati at the age of nine to live with his grandmother. He began boxing as an amateur in his teens and won the AAU National middleweight title (1939). He turned professional (1940). His early bouts were against the top middleweights and light heavyweights in the world. A clever boxer, throughout his professional career he defeated many of boxing’s greatest fighters including Charley Burley, Joey Maxim, Archie Moore (three times), “Jersey” Joe Walcott, Gus Lesnevich, and Joe Louis.

His professional career was interrupted (1944-45) when he served a stint in the army during WWII. He returned to boxing (1946) and defeated Archie Moore, Lloyd Marshall, and Jimmy Bivins to earn a #2 ranking in the light heavyweight class. He fought a total of five light heavyweight champions, defeating four of them, but never received an opportunity to fight for the division’s title. Many consider him one of the greatest light heavyweight fighters of all time based on his record in that weight class.

He fought for the vacant National Boxing Association heavyweight title (1949) against “Jersey” Joe Walcott and earned a 15-round decision victory. Joe Louis came out of retirement and he defeated him (1950) gaining recognition as the undisputed world heavyweight champion. He successfully defended the title three times before losing it to Walcott (1951).

He challenged Rocky Marciano, losing twice. Marciano referred to their first meeting as one of the toughest fights he ever had. It was the only time a fighter ever lasted a full 15 rounds against the “Brockton Blockbuster.”

He retired from the ring, but financial problems forced him to come out of retirement and fight for two more years (1958-59). He lost 12 of his final decisions, bringing his overall record to 89 wins, 25 losses, and 1 draw. In 1966, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[newlabdakos]

Waptia fieldensis

(temporal range: 510-505 mio. years ago)

[text from the Wikipedia article, see also link above]

Waptia is an extinct genus of arthropod from the Middle Cambrian of North America. It grew to a length of 6.65 cm (3 in), and had a large bivalved carapace and a segmented body terminating into a pair of tail flaps. It was an active swimmer and likely a predator of soft-bodied prey. It is also one of the oldest animals with direct evidence of brood care. Waptia fieldensis is the only species classified under the genus Waptia, and is known from the Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of British Columbia, Canada. Specimens of Waptia are also known from the Spence Shale of Utah, United States.

Based on the number of individuals, Waptia fieldensis is the third most abundant arthropod from the Burgess Shale Formation, with thousands of specimens collected. It was among the first fossils found by the American paleontologist Charles D. Walcott in 1909. He described it in 1912 and named it after two mountains near the discovery site – Wapta Mountain and Mount Field, other specimens

Although it bears a remarkable resemblance to modern crustaceans, its taxonomic affinities were long unclear. A comprehensive redescription published 2018 classified it a member of Hymenocarina (which contains numerous other bivalved arthropods) within Mandibulata.