Monday, September 24, 2007

Velociraptor: The New Peacock?

So apparently scientists are almost completely sure that velociraptor had feathers. (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hfrz4P9iuz2PMVx546JTCapQvsNA)



This raises a lot of interesting questions like, how scary were these things anyways? I mean, sure, an ostrich may scare some, but how much more would it instill terror if it had scales?


Wikipedia has an awesome artist's impression of Deinonychus, which I've posted to the above. I Like the whole puffin look it has going on!

In all seriousness though, this whole "dinosaur-bird" thing is really starting to grab my interest. Exactly how many dinosaurs had feathers that we have traditionally assumed didn't? Apparently a relative of the T-Rex had feathers as well... was the mighty Tyrant Lizard more akin to a thanksgiving turkey?

Well, I'm off to find some scholarship to read about this whole thing!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Fossils: Uniting the World?

Hey Fossil Fans,

I couldn't resist a post to analyze the stats to my cafepress store, even though they have nothing to do with fossils. It seems that people all over the world are eager for fossilly goodness!

The biggest group is still the USA, though. So far today, for instance, 30 of 57 hits have been from the US.

Second is jolly old Canada, my own country, with 7 hits. Now this may seem pitiful, but think about it this way: The population of Canada versus the US is 33 022 208 versus 302 907 501, or a ratio of 1:9.17. So, I got one hit per 4 717 458 Canadians, and only one hit per 10 096 917 Americans! I knew there was a way to make Canada's hits seem better! And just to note, I blocked my IP from counting in the stats, so it's all legit! :P.

The Netherlands stepped up to the plate with three hits. Could it be that legalizing everything actually creates an interest in my products? Or perhaps fossils in general? This definitely bears further study...

Next in line is France with two unique visits. France is my homie, and Canada shares an official language with France, so that makes us rock it together! Nuff said.

Belgium also gave me two hits, obviously not wanting to be outdone by France...

Germany had one hit... I'll avoid my usual cracks about the war :P (Fawlty Towers, anyone?).

One for Austria as well, keeping pace nicely with Germany.

One from Israel, which is cool, my first hit from the middle east!

One from China, cruising through on the paleo webring I belong to. I've heard that paleontology is getting huge there.

And finally, one hit from an ominously "unknown" location. Are aliens interested in this sort of thing too?

To sum up, I really have to show some love for the US for the interest you are showing my site. We Canadians totally make jabs at you to show our love! Hits are flowing in from all over the world, and that's super cool as far as I'm concerned!

Anyways, I promise the next post will have something more to do with fossils, lol.

Friday, September 7, 2007

More on Drumheller...

Hi fossil fans,

I mentioned the Royal Tyrrell Museum, in Drumheller AB, in my last post, and today I read an interesting story in relation to Drumheller. Go ahead and read it for yourself at http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=7634fab1-1e59-4838-9929-f7e085a001bb .

The article talks about the new expansion and renewal of the museum (which I saw, and it's awsome), as well as the rich fossil deposits of the area. The Drumheller area is known for dinosaur fossils, and only a few hours away, the Burgess Shale area is home to one of the most spectacular deposits of Cambrian period fossils in the world.

As an aside to that, and actually on the topic of trilobite clothing, I am basing my "Cambrian Collection" on species found in the burgess shale. That isn't to say that the species are exclusive to that deposit, but they were present there.

that's all for now!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Grand Opening...

Welcome to the official blog of Trilobite Clothing! In case you didn't know, we are located at http://www.cafepress.com/trilobite. We are steadily updating the store with new content, and are ready to satisfy all of your prehistoric clothing needs!

Marketing for the store will be going full steam ahead for the next few weeks, so check back here often for updates!

Just a side note: For fossil lovers in western Canada, the Royal Tyrrel Museum in Drumheller Alberta is an excellent place to visit. I highly recommend it!