It’s Fossil Friday, so soar into the weekend with Archaeopteryx!


It’s Fossil Friday, so soar into the weekend with Archaeopteryx! When this dinosaur was first described in 1861, it caused a sensation.

 Discovered shortly after Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution by means of natural selection, Archaeopteryx provided an example of evolution in action—a fossil that showed the transition between non-avian dinosaurs and birds. 

The first Archaeopteryx fossils ever found included exquisitely preserved skeletons with clear imprints of wings and feathers, but also teeth and a bony tail. 

Today, scientists think Archaeopteryx wasn’t able to fly very well, but the species still represents a turning point in paleontologists’ understanding of the relationship between ancient dinosaurs and modern birds in the design of both its body and brain.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CLIFFORD HOYT: THE MAN WHO HAS SEEN HELL

Image
CLIFFORD HOYT: THE MAN WHO HAS SEEN HELL I immediately make a premise. Many Paranormal groups report news similar to the one I am about to publish, about a certain Harry Hoyt, aged 31, who died in 1999 a few days after having an accident from which he woke up saying he saw Hell (and they put a scene from the movie “Hellraiser 2” as a photo).  Well, what I found in my research is very different, although the common thread is the same. So it's up to you to decide which version is the right one (assuming one of the two is true). Let's go to the facts. The protagonist is Clifford Hoyt (not Harry: Harry Hyot is an American filmmaker to me), 31 who suffered serious injuries in a car accident due to icy asphalt in 1999, on his way home after a long day at work in Maryland. . He remained in a coma for a few hours and when he regained consciousness, he revealed to the nurse that he was looking after him that he had been sucked into a vortex that led him straight to Hell. He told of the ...
Read more

Hands of madness

Image
Italino Iacomelli Tomb, 1925 This is the grave of Italino Iacomelli, a child that died on the 16th of August in 1925 when he was five years old. He became the victim of a mad killer while he was playing in the garden. His mother had already died. The father, Donatello Iacomelli (1889/1976) has been buried in this grave where the mother rests, too. Hands of madness The tragic story of a child that found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Coming to the highest part of the  Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno  (Genova, Italy), you might come across a particular statue, different from all the others. It represents a child of about 5 years, running carefree behind his circle, while two hands of madness are about to grab him from behind and seal his fate. Italino It was the  year 1925 , and a child, baptized with a nationalist name  Italo , as it was used at that time, was  spending his days playing in the streets of Genova . His mother died durin...
Read more

Kids as Crew: Ship’s Boys, Powder Monkeys, Cabin Boys, and Midshipmen in the Age of Sail

Image
Kids as Crew: Ship’s Boys, Powder Monkeys, Cabin Boys, and Midshipmen in the Age of Sail Ship’s Boys … and Girls! The Age of Sail was said to be the domain of “wooden ships and iron men.” This may be true, but sailing ships also had “boys” on their official crew lists. Truth be told, some ships also carried women, and some of the people who signed on as “ship’s boys” were actually girls. But what were these kids doing on board sailing ships? Today, you have to be 14 years old before you can get a job in most states in the US, but in the Age of Sail both merchant ships and navy vessels signed on boys as young as seven years old as regular members of the crew. Positions open to kids were usually that of cabin boy (also called ship’s boy), midshipman, and powder monkey. Ship’s boys and powder monkeys usually came from poor families, or were runaways or orphans. Getting a position onboard a ship at least meant they had a place to sleep and meals to eat, plus opportunities to...
Read more

This photograph shows a young Mother, exhausted from spending hours making matchboxes

Image
This photograph shows a young Mother, exhausted from spending hours making matchboxes, a pile of which can be seen on the table. At her feet is a young, sleeping child covered by a blanket. For such homeworkers engaged in the sweated industries there was no division between work and home life. Match-box making was amongst the lowest paid work. The industry primarily employed women and children who could expect to work an average of 16 hours per day. For every 144 boxes made they received 2 pennies. This photograph appears in an album with a number of other prints depicting sweated labourers and London's poor. Such albums were often compiled by charities to raise funds and inform the public about the plight of those living and working in London's poorest areas, such as the East End. London’s Working Class: 1870-1901 The Social Reformer Charles Booth was a wealthy man who campaigned for better conditions for the poorest workers in London. He commissioned photographers to take...
Read more

The story behind the ‘Simpson and his Donkey’ statue

Image
The story behind the ‘Simpson and his Donkey’ statue This evocative statue is located in the gardens of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.  The tale of Simpson and his donkey rescuing wounded soldiers from the murderous heights of Gallipoli has taken on mythical proportions in Australia.  It’s become a sacred pillar of the Anzac legend.  And unsurprisingly its sculpture, designed by Wallace Anderson in 1933, is laden with biblical meaning.  A donkey, after all, carried Mary across the Holy Land. Simpson was a real life exemplar of the Good Samaritan parable. And like Jesus Christ, Simpson sacrificed himself so others could live.  Now, the real story behind Simpson and the statue turns out to be much more interesting than the one-dimensional legend.  Firstly, the knock-about Simpson’s real surname was Kirkpatrick; secondly, he was English, not Australian. And finally, rather than working with the medical corps, Kirkpatrick had adopted his own ‘roving commiss...
Read more

29 Jun, 1941 - Germany invaded and occupied Lvov, in eastern Galicia, in the Ukraine. Thousands of people were slaughtered.

Image
29 Jun, 1941 - Germany invaded and occupied Lvov, in eastern Galicia, in the Ukraine. Thousands of people were slaughtered. At the start of World War II, Lvov changed hands, this time falling under the control of the Soviets, who entered the city on September 22, 1939 and immediately annexed it together with the rest of Eastern Galicia. Refugees poured into the city from German-occupied western Poland, and the Jewish population ballooned to more than 200,000.  In the summer of 1940, many of them were expelled to the remote regions of the Soviet Union. Under the Soviets, Lvov underwent a process of “Ukrainization,” whereby Jewish shopkeepers were forced to sell their stocks, and later liquidate their businesses, and synagogues were forced to close down. Schools were instructed to adopt Soviet curriculums, and the Ukrainian language was gradually introduced at the expense of Yiddish. However, about 100,000 Jewish refugees from western Poland gathered in Lvov during this time, which l...
Read more

During the 1980s, Carmelo “Carlo” Profeta was part of Roy DeMeo's famous crew, known as "The Murder Machine".

Image
During the 1980s, Carmelo “Carlo” Profeta was part of Roy DeMeo's famous crew, known as "The Murder Machine".  This crew of the Gambino family sold drugs in large quantities, stole luxury cars to resell them abroad, and its members killed 75 known people (the true number of people killed by this crew is actually estimated at nearly 200 people) around New York.  All these crimes lead to a trial in 1989. Profeta was sentenced to eight years in prison. After his release from prison, Profeta joined the Lucchese family and he and Private John "Johnny V" Vanasco (image) became good friends. They have since gone through thick and thin together. At the beginning of 2002, Profeta and Vanasco both extorted the manager of a fuel oil company, threatening him with bodily harm and even more if he did not approve their request. In September 2002, they were both convicted of extortion by a federal jury in Manhattan. In December 2003, a Brooklyn court again found the two men gui...
Read more

1984 murder of Bath teenager Melanie Road, advancements in DNA techniques are a ‘game-changer’ in terms of solving old cases.

Image
1984 murder of Bath teenager Melanie Road, advancements in DNA techniques are a ‘game-changer’ in terms of solving old cases. 2016 - A father of four has been jailed for life after the chance arrest of his daughter over a trivial matter resulted in him being linked to the brutal unsolved rape and murder of a teenage girl more than 30-years ago. Christopher Hampton, 67, a painter and decorator, was told he will likely die in prison, after pleading guilty to killing 17-year-old A’level student, Melanie Road in June 1984. Melanie had been walking home from a nightclub following an evening out with friends, when she was attacked just yards from her home in Bath. She was subjected to a “lengthy and brutal” sexual assault before being stabbed 26 times in her chest and back. Melanie’s 81-year-old mother, Jean Road, feared she would go to her grave without ever seeing justice, but Hampton was finally caught last year when his eldest daughter Clare, 44, was arrested following a row with her boy...
Read more

Ruth Snyder & Judd Gray “Granite Woman and Putty Man”.

Image
Ruth Snyder & Judd Gray “Granite Woman and Putty Man”. Ruth Brown Snyder was a 33 year old housewife who was electrocuted in New York’s Sing Sing prison on January 12, 1928, together with her boyfriend Henry Judd Gray, a married corset salesman for the murder of her husband, Albert, on March 20, 1927 in Queen’s Village, Queens, New York. In 1915, Ruth Brown, 20, was employed as a secretary for Motor Boating magazine in Manhattan. She dreamed of marrying a wealthy man and in fact married the magazine’s art editor, 44 year old  Albert Snyder. The couple had a daughter in 1918, named Lorraine. Ruth and Judd had been having an affair since 1925 and evolved a plan to kill Albert as he was in the way of their relationship. To compound the crime a $48,000 double indemnity life insurance had been taken out on Albert’s life.  Gray hid in a closet until the couple returned home from a night out. He then hit Albert over the head with a sash weight, then Ruth joined in and also hit hi...
Read more

These children at the Theresienstadt ghetto and camp appeared to be happy and healthy

Image
These children at the Theresienstadt ghetto and camp appeared to be happy and healthy. But this photograph was part of an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the Nazis. The International Red Cross inspected Theresienstadt on this day in 1944 after Denmark’s government demanded information about Danish Jews imprisoned there. To prepare for the visit, prisoners were forced to plant flowers and install benches and a playground. The Nazis deported thousands of prisoners to Auschwitz to alleviate overcrowding. The visitors saw well-dressed inmates, a soccer game, and musical performances in this “spa town.” Prisoners were pawns in the Nazis' choreographed show. “If anybody would have come two weeks later, there was nothing left. The swings were gone, the playpens were gone, the rocking horses were gone, and the children were gone—all into the gas chambers," said Marianka May, a Theresienstadt survivor. The Nazis resumed deportations after the visit. In total, two-thirds of the 140,000 Je...
Read more