#northwestern Colorado

[mother-lee]

[dubsism]

The Dubsism 15 Most Important Sports Stories of 2023

As we enter a new year, once more we find ourselves having just completed what has proven to be a tumultuous twelve months.  Unfortunately like 2022, this past year had more “downs” than “ups.” But the difference is this year, the “downs” aren’t nearly as ominous (for the most part), and the “ups” offer far more hope. Having said that, here’s the 15 stories we here at Dubsism feel define the…

[thedoubleextrapoint]

Nebraska Football: Predictions for the Cornhuskers' 2023 Season

With the new season dawning, it’s time for this year’s season preview and prediction. As with previous years, the Double Extra Point will use a somewhat-scientific method to predict the outcome of the 2023 campaign for first-year head coach Matt Rhule. The schedule will be broken down into four categories of games: Better WinWin all games in the categoryShould WinWin more than half the games in…

[therainingkiwi]

Train travel in The Lightning Thief/PJO TV season 1

Oh look, I'm overanalyzing fictional train travel because I'm one of Those neurodivergent people. Let's get into it. Warning for VERY minor book spoilers (just mentioning the names of all the cities our trio travels through).

TL; DR our trio's cross country travel route makes no sense at all.

In the first book/season of the Percy Jackson series, our main trio takes a cross-country trip from Long Island, NY, to Los Angeles, CA. In the beginning, it appears as if they've boarded a cross country bus that will drive them the whole way there (a trip that usually takes ~72 hours). However, they get derailed in rural New Jersey (presumably the northwestern part of the state).

After New Jersey, the action immediately skips ahead, and we next see our trio on an LA-bound train that's about to stop in St. Louis (and in the book, has a later stop in Denver).

So, just off the bat: the train route that the trio are taking doesn't exist IRL (assuming they board a train in Trenton, and that train stops in St. Louis, Denver, and Los Angeles). It's also impossible for a single person to travel that route for $200, much less three people. Chiron needs some up to date information about cross country travel prices.

If they were traveling a reasonable IRL amtrak route, they'd probably take the Cardinal from Trenton to Chicago, and then take the Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA. However, if they can get back to Penn Station from Aunty Em's, they could take the Lake Shore Limited from NYC to Chicago, which would be 7-8 hours shorter than getting to Chicago via the Cardinal.

They could also take a bus from north New Jersey to Chicago.

However, the Southwest Chief (most direct amtrak route to LA) stops at neither St. Louis nor Denver. The most notable cities along the route are Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff.

If they wanted to take a route to LA that had them pass thru St. Louis, they could take the Texas Eagle from Chicago to St. Louis to San Antonio, and then take the Sunset Limited from San Antonio to LA. There are 3 trains per week that make this two-leg trip without requiring travelers to transfer at San Antonio, so our trio are probably on one of those. Why they didn't take the (shorter, cheaper, and more frequent) Southwest Chief is a mystery, honestly.

Since Chicago is the USA Amtrak hub, most routes will pass thru that city. The only alternative route is taking the Crescent from Trenton to New Orleans and then taking the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to LA. This would take them nowhere near Denver or St Louis, but probably wouldn't have a significant time/price difference from routing the trip thru Chicago (assuming they travel direct from Chicago to LA rather than taking the Texas Eagle thru San Antonio).

Unfortunately, there are no trains in the USA that travel between St. Louis and Denver (or even between St. Louis and Colorado in general), so that leg of their trip would have been made via bus. Greyhound (the USA's main long-distance bus travel company) has buses directly from St. Louis to Denver that end in California (but in San Francisco rather than LA).

In conclusion, I propose a new Amtrak route called "The Lightning Thief" that travels from New York-Penn Station, down the Northeast corridor thru New Jersey, and then turns west, making major stops in St. Louis, Denver, and Las Vegas, before terminating in LA. It doesn't stop in Amtrak's Chicago hub because all hub-and-spoke transit systems should have rim routes, and because Chicago isn't mentioned in The Lightning Thief.

Also, in conclusion, the USA needs better rail infrastructure and I'm a fucking nerd.

Amtrak map below for reference.

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

FOSSIL FRIDAY: CERATOSAURUS

Ceratosaurus, the "horned lizard" is probably one of the coolest dinosaurs discovered. It was described by Othniel Charles Marsh based on a nearly complete specimen from Garden Park, Colorado.

It is one of four large theropods in the Morrison Formation of the U.S. and the Lourina Formation of Portugal. There is currently only one accepted species: Ceratosaurus nasicornis.

Allosaurus, Torvosaurus and Ceratosaurus at the BYU Museum of Paleontology.

Ceratosaurus is a medium-sized theropod. The type specimen is about 17 ft (5.3 m) long but other specimens indicate it could get more than 20 ft long. It is characterized by deep jaws that supported proportionally long, blade-like teeth, a prominent, ridge-like nasal crest, and a pair of crests over the eyes making it appear very dragon-like.

It had fairly short arms especially compared to its contemporary rivals. Each hand had four fingers with the three larger ones sporting a claw.

It also had a row of osteoderms that ran down it's neck, back and tail.

It is thought that Ceratosaurus was a solitary hunter. None have ever been found in close proximity to another. In a paper written by Donald M. Henderson in 1998, he stated that Ceratosaurus' taller skull indicated a resistance to bending. Its long, broad teeth would present increased frictional resistance to penetration due to increased surface area.

It had powerful adductor muscles that would increase the overall stresses on the entire skull. Having a deeper skull would relieve that by increasing the flexural rigidity and thus the strength. Think pit bull or hyena.

Ceratosaurus is only represented by a handful of specimens, far more common than Torvosaurus but still much less common than Allosaurus. There are two ideas floating around about why this is. One, there simply weren't as many of them. Two, it preferred a habitat that just didn't preserve fossils as well. Whatever the case may be, I hope that we can help answer some of these questions with the potential specimen we found at the Evil Tree Bonebed.

Possible Ceratosaur ischium (and it's a whopper for size).

Want to help recover the Ceratosaurus? Then come join us this summer at Colorado Northwestern Community College! Check out the link for more info. Hope to see you there!

[blueiscoool]

Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys Stegosaurus Fossil ‘Apex’ For Record $44M

Stegosaurus skeleton, nicknamed 'Apex,' sells for record $44.6M

A nearly complete stegosaurus skeleton sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York on Wednesday for a record $44.6 million -- the most ever paid for a fossil.

The dinosaur, nicknamed "Apex" -- which lived between 146 and 161 million years ago in the Late Jurassic Period -- was originally expected to sell for between $4 million and $6 million, according to the auction house.

Sotheby's has said Apex is the "most complete and best-preserved Stegosaurus specimen of its size ever discovered."

The skeleton was discovered on private land in Moffat County, Colorado -- in northwestern Colorado and on the border with Utah and Wyoming -- in May 2022 by commercial paleontologist Jason Cooper, with excavation completed in 2023, according to Sotheby's. The county is an area where many other dinosaur fossils have been discovered and is home to the Dinosaur National Monument.

Apex measures 11 feet tall and 27 feet long from nose to tail. The skeleton consists of 319 bones -- 254 of which are fossils and the remainder being either 3D printed or sculpted. It's unclear if Apex was male or female.

Stegosaurus sp. Late Jurassic (approx. 161-146 million years ago) Morrison Formation, Moffatt County, Colorado, USA

[ruthbancroftgarden]

Ferocactus acanthodes

This barrel cactus occurs in the Mojave Desert and southward on both sides of the Colorado River into northwestern Mexico. With its thick covering of interlaced spines, it seems miraculous that the flowers are able to fight their way through, providing a burst of yellow in the hottest part of the summer. This species is sometimes listed as Ferocactus cylindraceus (although the name F. acanthodes is older, and thus should have priority, the original description was vague, and it is hard to be certain that this is indeed the species to which it refers; however, the trend in recent years has been to accept it).

-Brian

-

[typhlonectes]

Breeding birds of high-elevation mixed-conifer forests have declined in national parks of the southwestern U.S. while lower-elevation species have increased, with responses to drought varying by habitat 

Harrison H Jones, Chris Ray, Matthew Johnson, Rodney Siegel

Abstract

Climate change is considered a major driver of recent avian population declines, particularly in the drought-stricken southwestern United States. Predicting how bird populations will respond requires understanding the climatic drivers influencing population density across the region’s diverse habitats. We modelled breeding-season densities of 50 bird species in relation to spring and summer drought and the timing of North American monsoon rainfall over a 12-year period (2007–2018) and across 4 habitats comprising an approximately 1,500 m elevational gradient. We estimated annual breeding-season population density in relation to climate in the previous year by fitting a Bayesian hierarchical N-mixture model to point-count data from each of 6 national parks on the Colorado Plateau. Specifically, we asked whether: (1) population trends were stable, increasing, or decreasing in the focal parks; (2) breeding densities were affected by drought or the timing of monsoon rains; and (3) climatic effects differed across habitat types and among species that molt on the breeding grounds, the nonbreeding grounds, or stopover to molt in the monsoon region of northwestern Mexico (molt migrants). Population trends varied with habitat. Species of high-elevation mixed-conifer forest declined over the study period, matching regional Breeding Bird Survey trends, likely in response to climate-related habitat loss and disturbance. By contrast, lower-elevation pinyon-juniper and grassland-shrubland species density generally increased. Effects of drought varied by habitat with elevation: mixed-conifer species responded positively to drought in the previous year, likely due to earlier snowmelt and breeding phenology, whereas pinyon-juniper species were unaffected, and grassland-shrubland species responded negatively, perhaps due to reduced nest survival. Later arrival of monsoon rains, a common prediction of climate models, had a positive effect on grassland bird densities, but a negative effect on molt-migrant densities. Late monsoon rains may result in a phenological mismatch between migration timing and the pulse of resources required to molt.

Read the paper here:

Breeding birds of high-elevation mixed-conifer forests have declined in national parks of the southwestern U.S. while lower-elevation species have increased, with responses to drought varying by habitat | Ornithological Applications | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

[rabbitcruiser]

Navajo Lake, UT (No. 1)

Navajo Lake is a small reservoir in northwestern Kane County in southern Utah, United States. It is shallow, reaching depths of only 25 feet (7.6 m). Recreation includes fishing, boating, swimming, and lodging facilities. Species of trout in Navajo Lake are brook trout, splake trout (hybrid), and rainbow trout. Trout survival for winter is very poor with only the splake and brook trout overwintering. There is also a dense population of Utah chub. The lake was formed by a lava flow across the eastern end of the valley. The lake drains into both the Great Basin and the Colorado River drainage systems through sinkholes in the lake floor.

Source: Wikipedia

[lboogie1906]

James Caldwell (January 16, 1955) is a football coach who is a senior assistant for the Carolina Panthers. He served as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions. He was the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach for the Colts that won Super Bowl XLI and the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens that won Super Bowl XLVII.

He served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Southern Illinois University, Northwestern University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Louisville, and Pennsylvania State University before being named head coach at Wake Forest University in 1993. He was the first African American head football coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa – The National Leadership Honor Society at Wake Forest.

In eight years, he had a record of 26–63. He installed a powerful passing attack that set numerous school records. His teams rarely ran well; in one year the Demon Deacons’ leading rusher only notched 300 yards for the entire season. He only had one winning season, when the Deacons won the Aloha Bowl.

After being released from Detroit, he was hired by the reincarnated XFL to a consulting panel that addressed football rules for the league.

On February 14, 2023, he was named a senior assistant for the Panthers under new head coach Frank Reich.

He and his wife, Cheryl, have four children. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[mylittlesecrethaven]

Let's Look At Where We Would Be In Panem

I'm doing all 50 states, so let's fucking go. (I'm not doing exact, so if it's only partially in the wilds, I'm not stating that)

Alabama - 11 (Agriculture) Alaska - None Arizona - 5 (Power) Arkansas - Southern = 11 (Agriculture), Northern = 8 (Textiles) California - 4 (Fishing) Colorado - 2 (Masonry) Connecticut - Wilds Delaware - Wilds Florida - Wilds Georgia - Wilds Hawaii - None Idaho - Southern = 1 (Luxury), Middle = 4 (Fishing), Northern = 7 (Lumber) Illinois - Southern = 8 (Textiles), Northern = 3 (Technology) Indiana - Southern = 12 (Coal), Norhtern = 3 (Technology) Iowa - 3 (Technology) Kansas - 8 (Textiles) Kentucky - 12 (Coal) Louisiana - Wilds Maine - Wilds Maryland - Wilds Massachusetts - Wilds Michigan - Southern = 3 (Technology), Northwestern = 6 (Transportation), Northeastern = 13 (Nuclear) Minnesota - Western = 9 (Grain), Eastern = 3 (Technology) Mississippi - 11 (Agriculture) Missouri - 8 (Textiles) Montana - Southern = 1 (Luxury), Northern = 7 (Lumber) Nebraska - 9 (Grain) Nevada - 4 (Fishing) New Hampshire - Wilds New Jersey - Wilds New Mexico - 2 (Masonry) New York - 13 (Nuclear) North Carolina - Wilds North Dakota - 9 (Grain) Ohio - 12 (Coal) Oklahoma - 11 (Agriculture) Oregon - 4 (Fishing) Pennsylvania - Wilds Rhode Island - Wilds South Carolina - Wilds South Dakota - 9 (Agriculture) Tennessee - 8 (Textiles) Texas - Western = 10 (Livestock), Eastern = 11 (Agriculture) Utah - Southern = 5 (Power), Northern = 1 (Luxury) Vermont - Wilds Virginia - Wilds Washington - 7 (Lumber) West Virginia - 12 (Coal) Wisconsin - Western = 3 (Technology), Eastern = 6 (Transportation) Wyoming - Southern = Capital, Nothern = 1 (Luxury)

This isn't perfectly exact, but I tried my best.

(Btw, I'd be in District 11. Lemme know where y'all would be.)

[broadcastarchive-umd]

#VoxPop The long-running radio interview program Vox Pop highlighted many aspects of American culture during the 1930s and 1940s. One of the show’s favorite themes was college life. From 1940 to 1947, Vox Pop broadcast from 23 college campuses all over the country, interviewing students, faculty, administrators, and coaches. 

On January 25, 1940, Vox Pop broadcast from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Here, hosts Parks Johnson and Wally Butterworth pose with Jean Wiltberger at the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity House while admirers look on. Wiltberger, a student at Northwestern University, had recently been selected as the “typical American co-ed.”

After graduating from Northwestern, Wiltberger married fellow student Robert Osborn. During World War II, she worked at the Studebaker automotive plant. After the war, she and Robert settled in Fort Collins, Colorado. She retired in San Diego, California, where she died in 2017 at the age of 96. 

Source: Parks Johnson collection on Vox Pop

[newsfromstolenland]

A potentially powerful weather system that could bring a severe thunderstorm threat to parts southern Ontario is on track to hit Wednesday. According to Enviornment Canada, the storm will look very different in various parts of the province. Winter storm warnings are in place for parts northwestern Ontario, including Thunder Bay. Meanwhile, freezing rain warnings are in place for many parts of northeastern through eastern Ontario. According to Enviornment Canada, up the 15 mm of ice accretion with power outages and tree damage is possible.

But for those in southern Ontario, the Colorado low is expected to bring heavy rain, gusty winds and a severe thunderstorm threat.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[stele3]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-embassy-warns-imminent-extremist-attack-moscow-2024-03-08/

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

FOSSIL FRIDAY

Today we will talk about Petrified Wood!

One of the most common fossils, petrified wood is is tree or tree-like wood that has either been fossilized through replacement or permineralization. Usually, the organic material is replicated by silica (quartz or it's microcrystalline forms opal or chalcedony).

Petrified wood forms when woody plants are buried in saturated sediments with dissolved minerals in solution. The lack of oxygen slows decay and allows fossilization to occur.

Below are petrified wood and cycad specimens I have collected over the years from various localities I have worked at. All come from Late Jurassic sites.

The first is from the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation in northwestern Colorado. It has been replaced by silica, most likely the microcrystalline quartz form, chalcedony.

The second is from the same location and has definitely been replaced by chalcedony. In this case, it looks to be the "flint" variety.

The third photo contains pieces of of wood from the Late Jurassic Swift Formation in northwest central Montana (It's a huge state. I need to be that weirdly specific). These are partially petrified and partially coalified. They still retain some of the original organic material which leaves a black residue on the fingers.

The fourth photograph are pieces that came from the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation in the San Rafael Swell of Utah. These have been permineralized by quartz.

Finally, the last two show cycads, a type of woody plant that was a prominent part of the Mesozoic woodlands and prairies. These specimens came from the same Salt Wash site as the first two tree specimens. These have also been replaced by chalcedony.