MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Mammal foot found in fossilized microraptor
Discovery important for reconstructing ancient food webs, scientist says
An international team of scientists have discovered new evidence of a dinosaur dining on ancient mammals.
The foot of a tiny mammal was inside the stomach of a microraptor — a small feathered dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous some 100 million years ago in temperate forests in what is now China.
It’s the first time a piece of a mammal was discovered inside a microraptor.
“Looking at interactions between animals, that’s much easier to tell in the modern biology in living animals because we can actually go out and make those observations,” said Caleb Brown, a curator of dinosaur systematics and evolution at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alta.
“Trying to make those inferences for fossils is more difficult because you don’t necessarily know exactly which animal ate which other animal, unless you have exceptional cases like this.”
This find alone will not change understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems and how they evolved, said Corwin Sullivan, a professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, who was involved in the new discovery.
But the discovery will contribute to the accumulation of paleontological knowledge and allow to “build up a very general picture of how food webs functioned, to some degree, in the geological past, how these various species were behaving and interacting,” Sullivan said.
“It’s rare for a preserved fossil vertebrate to have any kind of gut contents, and certainly evidence of dinosaurs eating mammals is rare.
What did dinosaurs sound like?
We tend to associate dinosaurs with ground-shaking roars, but the latest research shows that this is probably mistaken.
You’d feel it more than hear it – a deep, visceral throb, emerging from somewhere beyond the thick foliage. Like the rumble of a foghorn, it would thrum in your ribcage and bristle the hairs on your neck. In the dense forests of the Cretaceous period, it would have been terrifying.
We have few clues for what noises dinosaurs might have made while they ruled the Earth before being killed off 66 million years ago. The remarkable stony remains uncovered by palaeontologists offer evidence of the physical prowess of these creatures, but not a great deal about how they interacted and communicated. Sound doesn’t fossilise, of course.
From what we know about animal behaviour, however, dinosaurs were almost certainly not silent.
Now with the help of new, rare fossils and advanced analysis techniques, scientists are starting to piece together some of the clues about how dinosaurs might have sounded.
There is no single answer to this puzzle. Dinosaurs dominated the planet for around 179 million years and during that time, evolved into an enormous array of different shapes and sizes. Some were tiny, like the diminutive Albinykus, which weighed under a kilogram (2.2lbs) and was probably less than 2ft (60cm) long. Others were among the biggest animals to have ever lived on land, such as the titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum, which may have weighed up to 72 tonnes. They ran on two legs, or plodded on four. And along with these diverse body shapes, they would have produced an equally wide variety of noises.
Some dinosaurs had greatly elongated necks – up to 16m (52ft) long in the largest sauropods – which would have likely altered the sounds they produced (think about what happens when a trombone is extended). Others had bizarre skull structures that, much like wind instruments, could have amplified and altered the tone the animals produced. One such creature, a herbivorous hadrosaur named Parasaurolophus tubicen, would have been responsible for the fearsome calls described at the start of this article.
READ MORE https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20221212-the-mysterious-song-of-the-dinosaurs
CHRISTMAS COMET ALERT
Space Weather News for Dec. 21, 2022
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
https://spaceweather.com
https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
CHRISTMAS COMET ALERT: Newly-discovered Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is approaching Earth for a close encounter next month. It’s already within range of backyard telescopes, and a New Moon makes Christmas weekend a good time to look. Full story @ Spaceweather.com
Instant solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive text messages when solar flares are underway.
![[]](https://mcusercontent.com/0c5fce34d5ca05f64a13d085d/images/76353f48-00cf-bae2-5d2f-1298a6c0fca9.jpg)
Above: Comet ZTF photographed by Michael Jaeger of Martinsberg, Austria, on Dec. 18, 2022
And yet more zines!
Never fails: I post a round up of zines received and the next day more arrive.
From Bill Burns:
Just missed yesterday’s update, but these new issues are now at https://efanzines.com
Taral Wayne’s The Baloobius #10
John Purcell’s Askance #54
—
Bill
More Zines!
Lots more zines arrived while I was busy with Christmas stuff.
This is the November 2022 issue of The N3F Review of Books. N3FReview202211
This is Guy Lillian’s review of zines: TZD56
From Israel, here is CyberCozen for December CCDecember-2022-v01
From Gail in South Africa: PROBE194X
Received via the N3F:
A busy week for fanzine production! Now at https://efanzines.com are:
Andy Hooper’s CAPTAIN FLASHBACK #48
Alexiad #122 edited by Lisa & Joseph Major
Leybl Botwinik’s CyberCozen – December 2022
David Grigg’s The Megaloscope #4
Archive issues of Heath Row’s Telegraphs & Tar Pits #39-43, Explosion Containment Umbrella #4, Faculae & Filigree #16
Opuntia #539, edited by Dale Speirs
Journey Planet #66, edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia et al
Octothorpe #72, a regular fannish podcast by John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty, is now on line
Bill
N3F: Origin and Fanactivity Gazette are attached. Happy Holidays!
From Garth Spencer: The Obdurate Eye 22
From the N3F: TNFF202212
Just added at https://efanzines.com:
Marc Ortlieb’s Knot a Fanzine #4
Garth Spencer’s The Obdurate Eye #22
Henry Grynnsten’s Wild Ideas #30
Christopher J. Garcia’s The Drink Tank #442
Journey Planet #67, edited by James Bacon, Chris Garcia et al
—
Bill
HAPPY HANUKKAH!
INVITATION TO CLUB’S CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON!
Invitation to MonSFFA’s 2022 Christmas Luncheon
The club invites all of its members and friends, and their families, to a buffet-style Christmas Luncheon on Saturday afternoon, December 10, from 2:00PM-6:00PM
THIS IS AN IN-PERSON, FACE-TO-FACE GATHERING TO CELEBRATE THE FESTIVE SEASON!
To download a PDF version of this post, click here: CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON, INVITATION (PDF)
Sandwiches, snacks, and soft drinks will be provided by MonSFFA!
We will also hold our traditional Christmas Fund-Raising Auction, proceeds to benefit the club.
Raffle tickets are $1.00 each; note that Platinum-Level members benefit from a two-for-the-price-of-one special!
Many wrapped gift prizes of cool sci-fi/holiday items will be arrayed under the tree from which winners may chose!
By special arrangement, we are meeting in the “Harmony Room” on the ground floor of an apartment building situated just behind the Plaza Pointe-Claire mall. Said mall is located at the corner of St-Jean Blvd. and Donegani Avenue/Highway 20 in Pointe-Claire, on the West Island. The locale is accessible by car, commuter rail, or bus, and at between a 5- and 15-minute walk away from the several public transit stops nearby. Commuter train stops: either Gare Pointe-Claire or Gare Cedar Park; bus: 201, 203, or 211 (check STM route schedules).
Because this locale is a private residence which the club is employing by special arrangement, we are curtailing publication of the specific address for reasons of privacy.
However, all members have been e-mailed a special password and upon visiting the “Members Only” section of the club Web site (www.MonSFFA.ca), under “Our Holiday Feasts,” the details can be there found, including address, directions, map, and local parking information, viewable or downloadable as a PDF. If you have not yet received this password, please contact president@monsffa.ca to request it.
Post 4 of 4: The Many Ways of Joy
This is post 4 of 4, in which we bring to a close the principal content offered in this, our 2022 Virtual Holiday Get-Together. If you’re just now joining us, scroll back to today’s Post 1 of 4 to enjoy the posted content, start to finish.
Thanks are proffered to all who put this e-gathering together, and before we sign-off, here are the answers to the quiz we put up in Post 1 of 4, followed by Josée Bellemare’s 2020 presentation “The Many Ways of Joy,” which we thought a nice close to the afternoon.
Note that while this is the final post of the afternoon, our ZOOM-chat may well continue for a little longer, at the discretion of those involved.
ANSWERS TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE
1) In the atrociously bad 1964 “Yuletide science fiction fantasy” Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, what are the names of the two Earth children kidnapped by the Martians?
ANSWER: Billy and Betty, portrayed by Victor Stiles and Donna Conforti.
2) 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special included an animated sequence entitled “The Faithful Wookiee,” which introduced a new character to Star Wars canon, bounty hunter Boba Fett. Name the Canadian animation studio that George Lucas enlisted to produce this “Faithful Wookiee” cartoon.
ANSWER: Nelvana
Headquartered in Toronto, Nelvana Limited, now Nelvana Enterprises, was founded in 1971 and produces principally children’s programming. George Lucas was a fan of the studio and chose Nelvana to produce the 10-minute short for the Star Wars Holiday Special. The cartoon is widely considered to be the only redeeming part of an otherwise abysmal, embarrassingly unwatchable steaming coil of Bantha poodoo.
3) Rankin/Bass’ 1964 stop-motion animated Christmas classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was filmed in Japan under the direction of animation supervisor Tadahito “Tad” Mochinaga. The voice work and songs, however, were recorded elsewhere; where was the show’s soundtrack recorded?
ANSWER: Toronto, Canada. Most of the speaking roles and songs were performed by Canadian talent, including Paul Soles as Hermey, Billie Mae Richards as Rudolph, Janis Orenstein as Clarice, and Larry Mann as Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snow Monster.
4) What is the clever postal code created by Canada Post for the North Pole?
ANSWER: H0H 0H0
5) The Big Heart, My Heart Tells Me, and It’s Only Human—these were working titles for which classic Christmas film?
ANSWER: Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Set during the Christmas season, the film was originally to be called Christmas Miracle on 34th Street, until its release date was moved to May by studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck, who argued that more people went to the movies in summer!
6) Name the only three Christmas movies to have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
ANSWER: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Miracle on 34th Street, and The Bishop’s Wife (both 1947). None won Best Picture, but Edmund Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle/Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, was awarded the Best Supporting Actor prize, quipping during his acceptance speech, “Now I know there’s a Santa Claus.”
7) How many ghosts appear to surly Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?
ANSWER: Four. In addition to the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, a fourth ghost, that of Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, first appears to Scrooge and foretells of the impending visits by the other three.
8) What is briefly visible on Katrina “Kate” Andrich’s wrist as she rides her father’s cab home in Last Christmas (2019)?
ANSWER: Tattoos of dragons. Actress Emilia Clarke, who played Kate, had the tattoos inked as a memento of her star-making role in Game of Thrones, that of Daenerys Targaryen, the Queen of Dragons.
9) He famously voiced an animated space hero, she made her mark as a scream queen; name these two actors, and the 2004 Christmas movie in which they star.
ANSWER: Tim “Buzz Lightyear” Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween fame, who starred as Luther and Nora Krank in Christmas with the Kranks. The film also featured Ghostbuster and Conehead Dan Aykroyd.
10) What former “James Bond” starred as the bishop in Christmas classic The Bishop’s Wife?
ANSWER: David Niven, who appeared as Bond in the spy-picture spoof Casino Royale (1967).
11) What child actress was featured as a young family member in two back-to-back classic Christmas films?
ANSWER: Karolyn Grimes, who at age six, portrayed Zuzu, George and Mary Bailey’s youngest daughter in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the following year, Debby Brougham, Bishop Henry Brougham and his wife, Julia’s, daughter in The Bishop’s Wife.
12) What is notable about supporting player Alvin Greenman, who portrayed young Macy’s Department Store janitor Alfred in the original Miracle on 34th Street?
He is the only original cast member to appear in the 1994 remake of the classic, where he cameoed as a doorman, also named Alfred.
13) In the Lost in Space episode “Return From Outer Space,” against his father’s express orders, young Will Robinson employs dangerous alien technology to matter-transfer himself across the gulf of space and back to Earth, materializing in a small town at Christmastime. His plan is to alert Alpha Control at Cape Kennedy of his family’s location on a distant, barren planet so that a rescue ship might be dispatched. But no one in town believes that he’s a member of the famous First Family in Space, long missing and now presumed dead! In what U.S. state is located the small town to which Will beams himself?
ANSWER: Vermont. The fictional town of Hatfield Four Corners is located in a Quebec-bordering state less than two hours’ drive south of Montreal!
14) Who wrote the book that served as inspiration for the movie Christmas with the Kranks?
ANSWER: John Grisham, known principally for his popular legal thrillers. His comedic novel Skipping Christmas (2001) served as the film’s source material.
15) Gimmel, Nun, Hey, and Shin are the Hebrew letters traditionally inscribed on a dreidel, one on each of the four sides. A dreidel is a spinning top associated with Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The letters stand for the phrase “Nes gadôl hayah sham,” or in English, “A great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the phrase is modified slightly to read “Nes gadôl hayah poh,” or “A great miracle happened here.” But what are Kimar, Rigna, Stobo, and Shim?
ANSWER: The names of Martian characters in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
16) Because nothing says Yuletide like math, in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many presents are given altogether?
ANSWER: 364. Here’s the breakdown: partridges in a pear tree (1 × 12 = 12); turtle doves (2 × 11 = 22); French hens (3 × 10 = 30); calling birds (4 × 9 = 36); golden rings (5 × 8 = 40); geese a-laying (6 × 7 = 42); swans a-swimming (7 × 6 = 42); maids a-milking (8 × 5 = 40); ladies dancing (9 × 4 = 36); lords a-leaping (10 × 3 = 30); pipers playing (11 × 2 = 22); drummers drumming (12 × 1 = 12). Adding all those subtotals provides us with the grand total of gifts given (12 + 22 + 30 + 36 + 40 + 42 + 42 + 40 + 36 + 30 + 22 + 12 = 364)!
17) Name all of Santa’s reindeer!
ANSWER: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph
Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” or more commonly, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” cites an original eight tiny reindeer. Owing to his bright, shiny red nose, Rudolph, the most famous reindeer of all, joined the team in 1939, bringing the total number to nine. Rudolph was born of a marketing campaign launched by the Chicago-based department store Montgomery Ward to promote the Holiday season.
While most of the team are generally perceived to be male, interestingly, male reindeer lose their antlers in early December once mating season has ended, while the females retain theirs throughout the winter. As Santa’s reindeer are always depicted sporting their antlers, scientifically therefore, one can only conclude that they are all female. Of course, it may be that this particular breed of magical flying reindeer do not adhere to the laws of nature as do their conventional woodland cousins!
18) In It’s a Wonderful Life, a distraught and suicidal George Bailey is certain that his family and friends would have been better off had he never been born, and in a chilling alternate-history sequence, his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, allows him a look at just such a scenario in a bid to convince George otherwise. The two stop for a drink at a bar George finds markedly changed from the friendly watering hole he’d always known. While Clarence considers ordering a flaming rum punch, he finally settles on “a mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon, light on the troubles!” George, on the other hand, asks fo a stiff drink more suited to his current mood; what does he order?
ANSWER: A double bourbon.
19) The rom-com Last Christmas is based on the Wham song of the same name, written and co-performed by British pop star George Michael. Though released in 2019, in what year is the film primarily set?
ANSWER: 2017, which would thus make the titular “last Christmas” December 25, 2016, eerily, the date of George Michael’s unfortunate death.
20) What Christmas song plays over the end credits of Die Hard (1988)?
ANSWER: Vaughn Monroe’s version of “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”
THE MANY WAYS OF JOY
Merry Christmas to All, and to All, A Good Night.
Post 3 of 4: An Introduction to Chanukah (and Also to Hannukah, Hanoukka, and Hanoucca)
This is the third post of the afternoon. Joe Aspler offers again his presentation “Introduction to Chanukah,” with a few updates.
Dreidel in zero-G
The next post will be up at 4:00PM.