iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 8h

It's also #TraceFossilTuesday, and it turns out the Lego Jurassic World exhibition includes a whole room dedicated to dinoturbation! More than one way to make tracks, ya know! 🐾 Just ... don't step on 'em?

Self-build instructions for a variety of Lego dino tracks

Self-build instructions for a Lego theropod dino tracks

Self-build instructions for a Lego Velociraptor dino tracks

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 13h

#TalonTuesday isn't a thing, is it? I feel like maybe it could be. Reach out and touch someone! 🧪⚒️🦖

Assorted replica theropod talons and phalanges. Large.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I really don't have words about Cornell right now. What I do have is professional expertise in taphonomy and a deep understanding of the uses, limitations, and application of forensic DNA evidence. Ain't no judge yet willing to put me on a jury.

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Dr Wendy Morrison @hillfortian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I don't know to whom the credit goes for this! It appears sans ™ on another platform. Brilliant. Students of #ashwell26... This was the soil matrix drawing you deserved, not my poor dry erase board scribbles 😂 #archaeology #geology Please shout if you are the clever originator!

A soil matrix triangle showing percentages of sand, clay and silt, but with regions identified using punny song names like Clay Jude and Only the Loamy

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#MolluskMonday kicks off with a keyhole limpet, because it's been a long time since I've seen one alive. Like naticids, these guys can squish way down.

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SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Doesn't surprise me that this is their (garbage) take But it does remind me that so many social movements (successful and failed alike) were driven by underemployed, overcredentialed, and aggrieved young people, even movements that primarily benefit other groups we're dangerous to the WSJ types

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's me! (Product safety warning labels continue on reverse. Please consult an attorney before removal from packaging.)

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My undergrad thesis was as much history as science. You can't truly understand the science unless ypu understand the history. Literally the reason we cite prior work. You have to understand how we learned what we think we know!

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I have a whole bit about this in my chapter on the Anthropocene in Planet Work ... also, a lot about fire. Necromancy. And stratigraphic nomenclature.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Marietta has had an on-again, off-again vertebrate paleo program. I understand they found this skull years back, the only known Apatosaurus skull still attached to the neck, now on display at the Cincinnati Museum Center. We still have this replica, though. Anyways, part of the annual pilgrimage!

Original Apatosaurus skull and cervical vertebrae, Cincinnati Museum Center.

Marietta replica of said Apatosaurus skull, excavated from their permit site in Utah.

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Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just as a FYI: The vast majority of #MinCup26 cheating is by one person shoving hundreds of votes per match. A second person occasionally shoves dozens of votes as a triggered counter-campaign. That’s it. Neither are on Bluesky. Any “cheating” here is reload errors from stumbling on captchas.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Hell is real, and it's Cincinnati traffic.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Of quartz I'm voting #quartz! Anyone stuffing the ballot box this time knows where to stuff this! ⚒️💎

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April Wright @wrightam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The highlighted quote is fantastic. There’s a real desire among admin to capitalize on something that is fundamentally very difficult to predict: a future job market Fundamental skills - critical thinking, strong oral and written communication, and ability to learn - are always in style

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

By special request, we have Seven Dead Sins for #FossilFriday... we can debate their theological status, but in the immortal words of Dr. McCoy, they done shuffled off the mortal coil. Or something like. 🧪⚒️☠️ First up ... naah, who are we kidding? Sloth is never first to the party. Just wants hugs.

Replica: Megalonyx jeffersoni skull, a giant ground sloth.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The balance tips into night. Time for Persephone to go to ground, exchange her crown of flowers for something a little more intimidating. Do the dead celebrate the return of the queen? "Show me what it takes for the dead to rise, just say the word and I'll paint the skies" Anyways, happy equinox.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

For #MolluskMonday , Oliva, a rather pretty gastropod.

Oliva, Recent, Crescent Beach, . John's Co. Florida

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I know, running late, it's #MineralMonday... and I don't remember where we are in the cup, only that I don't have cylindrite. So, here's some azurite?

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Seen in deep SE Ohio. Very, very red country.

Gas pump with a sticker of the president pointing towards the price display. The sticker reads "Iran prices up" with I in red to highlight "I ran"

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Caxela @caxela.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Persistent Light

A Lystrosaurus peeks out of its burrow in the middle of a barren landscape. The silhouettes of a few trees can be seen in the far distance, in front of the glow of ongoing wildfires. The sun can be seen shining through the dark, smoky sky. The foreground is illuminated by the sun. The scene takes place during the Permian-Triassic extinction event.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Oh, that's right. I need to add this one to the shipwreck discussion if I ever get the chance to teach Oceanography again.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Of #quartz I have a pick today for #MinCup26 ! 🧪⚒️💎 My mineralogy students might have a favorite specimen, but it's hard to tell why.

Clear quartz crystals, Mt. Ida and Alaska

Unlabeled quartz crystal mass, in a vaguely suggestive habit.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#TeamVengeance! Quartz and stichtite are neck and neck! OKAY IT'S 2 vs. 2 BUT STILL!

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

We made crystal models in Mineralogy yesterday, trying to bridge the gap between atomic bonds and crystal geometry in a tactile, constructive fashion. The students found it relaxing, meditative. 🧪⚒️💎

Crystal lattice models. Diamond and sphalerite, elemental sulfur, halite, fluorite, garnet

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Look. "Love who you love" was the whole of the law, damn it. We tried the whole "be kind to everyone" thing, but it tuned out a lot of people really needed their attitude checked. With hammers. I love hammers.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

For #FossilFriday, a screaming oreodont. I feel ya. 🧪⚒️

Screaming oreodont fossil and art.
Label (abbreviated):
"Merycoidodon gracilis
Oligocene, Brule Fm., east Wyoming
Donated by William Schoen, class of 1967"

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Claire Zagorski, PhD, MSc, EMT-P @clairezagorski.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Be incredibly watchful of university presidents and provosts. See what they do and say. Preserve faculty governance above all else. Do not tolerate censorship. Stamp it out when it’s small. Be really, really annoying about preserving academic freedom.

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Did a brachiopod write this? 😅

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I've barely skimmed it, but as someone who has gone toe to toe with phosphate oxygen isotope paleothermometry and survived, I like the approach and don't see any red flags!

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Been too long. I've got a little time this morning.

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Hady George @houdzgeorge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Welcome Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda! I'm delighted to introduce you to a new species of protomammal. Hailing from the Triassic of Tanzania, this is the first record of Dinodontosaurus outside of South America, and it informs on the origin of dinosaurs. Here's a thread summarising our findings 🧵

Life reconstruction of two Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda individuals by Gabriel Ugueto

Skull and jaw of the holotype of Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda. Original photos by Jonathan Jackson

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Look, guys, I've bounced around enough in my career I have the elastic coefficient of Happy Fun Ball. We've got good chunks of sauropod down at Marietta. But the replicas in the teaching collection at Tuscarawas are ... pretty over the top. Never seen an assortment like this in the intro labs. 🧪⚒️

Replica Lystrosaurus and Dimetrodon skulls

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Inject this righteous anger into my veins

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laurasita @laurasita.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Jessica Meir is an Antarctican. There is no question she will absolutely always have dancing pants with her. You always gotta bring something fun to the remote site!!

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Gang. GANG. I don't believe much on Facebook, but this is ostensibly from the account for the Governor of Ohio. 9.25. #Dolly

Via Facebook, so take it with a grain of #Halite #MinCup26 but ... it's ostensibly an official proclamation from Gov. DeWine declaring 9/25 Dolly Parton Day. Well, this year.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

For #MolluskMonday, an assortment of ammonites. ⚒️🧪🦑

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Wait, is that a cat exhibiting the Japan twin law?

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

For #MineralMonday we have the aluminosilicates ... kyanite won last year, but #andalusite is in the mix for #MinCup26! No pressure.

The aluminosilicates: kyanite on the left (2 specimens), andalusite var. chiastolite and sillimanite on the right.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Ooh, convenient timing! I was just going to start into crystal growth, defects, and pseudomorphism this week. Still haven't decided my vote yet.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Oh yeah ... been there, dine that! Got dragged out to Poland for a week by my Humboldt friends, got to recreate a Nat Geo pic from my childhood that I had thought I would never, ever see in real life. I use it as the cover slide for my Mining lecture, as a reminder that we choose art or violence.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Perhaps the wax we used for wings would have been put to better use making candles.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Did I ever show off any of the Marietta dinosaurs? I should show off some of the Marietta dinosaurs. I might get to teach with them in the spring. 🧪⚒️🦕🦖 <knock on wood> One of the former faculty 3D printed these guys for stairway mounts. Normally this part of Ohio you'd go for game trophies?

3D printed replicas of dinosaur skulls on the stairway wall. Mammal-like reptile for scale.

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Dave Rodland @daverodland.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

So, having watched several votes now where classic minerals with strong bases of support went against newcomers and lost (or nearly did) in #MinCup26, may I interest anyone in #TeamVengeance where the goal is simply blood and honor for the fallen against the upstart spoilers with no base but spite?

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