Skip to main content

Nice birdie


OK, so modern birds are supposedly derived from beasties like Argentavis magnificens, a little feathered friend with a 7m (23 foot) wingspan.

I was impressed many years ago when cousins of mine caught an eagle with a wingspan so wide that in order to pose it on a truck (semi-), they had to stand on each side of the tray & stretch their little arms wide. Magnificens is at least twice as wide as that, & weighed about 70kg (not far short of my own weight).

One would hope that birdie was a delicate scavenger, since an angry or starving one would not be a kind thing to meet while out walking. While a veggo bird that big is possible, this one is drawn with the long, sharp beak typical of a predator. Nyeh! Keep the kiddies inside!

At ¾ the wingspan of a Cessna, this would be something to watch out for while flying, & I don’t think even a Jumbo would do so well after sucking one into an engine.

With its powerful beak and big clawed feet, Argentavis would have made a fearsome predator, swooping down to snatch unsuspecting rodents.
Rodents? I reckon that would include the big hoppy ones — what do they call them? Oh, yes, kangaroo. Can’t see a 7m bird having much hassle downing a 2m boomer. Carrying one off might be harder, but OTOH 50kg of ’roo would make quite a dine-in meal.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b
1 comment
Read more

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.
Post a Comment
Read more

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.
Post a Comment
Read more