Snowflake Challenge 10: Five Things
Jan. 19th, 2024 05:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithSnowflake Challenge #10: Five Things
Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
My Five Most Favorite Cryptids
Cryptobiology is the study of lifeforms that may or may not exist in the modern world. It includes attempts to pin down creatures considered mythical and species considered extinct that still have unverified sightings. Also, cryptobiology is a real science that uses scientific methods in these search attempts. Calling it pseudoscience is data-cropping -- especially when you consider the significant list of cryptids that have been verified. For an example of seeking possibly-not-extinct species, see Extinct or Alive.
1) Thylacine (aka Tasmanian wolf). Marsupial predator about the size of a wolf. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, but sightings persist. Claimed sightings have not been confirmed.
2) Ivory-billed woodpecker. Large woodpecker with a pale beak. Known to exist, widely believed exinct, but sightings persist. Last confirmed sighting in 2004. Most claimed sightings are indistinct and difficult to verify. As they live in old-growth forests, often swamps, and have far-flung territories they have always been very hard to spot.
3) Loch Ness Monster. The archetypal freshwater lake monster. Unusual for cryptids, the many sightings do not agree on general parameters but instead form several clusters (e.g. sea serpent-like, plesiosaur-like). While it is implausible for there to be a viable population of truly giant creatures going unnoticed, the frequency of sightings suggests that there may be "something" out there unverified by science. That is a big, old, deep lake that likes to keep its secrets.
4) Silphium. One of the few cryptids that is a plant rather than an animal, this was a relative of giant fennel. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, exact nature lost to history. Possibly rediscovered; debate continues.
5) Mokele-Mbembe. A dinosaur-like animal from the Republic of Congo. Unverified, but occasional reports persist. While it's hard to hide a truly giant creature, a jungle is a good place to hide things, even fairly large things.
EDIT 1/19/24 -- I forgot to include the Pictish Beast! It has a long snout and legs or flippers that coil at the ends. "The Happiness of the Bee" includes a brief appearance, and its notes have a description with an excellent photograph.
+ 1) My favorite book about cryptids is Mirabile by Janet Kagan.
Read about more cryptids. What are some of your favorite cryptids?
Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
My Five Most Favorite Cryptids
Cryptobiology is the study of lifeforms that may or may not exist in the modern world. It includes attempts to pin down creatures considered mythical and species considered extinct that still have unverified sightings. Also, cryptobiology is a real science that uses scientific methods in these search attempts. Calling it pseudoscience is data-cropping -- especially when you consider the significant list of cryptids that have been verified. For an example of seeking possibly-not-extinct species, see Extinct or Alive.
1) Thylacine (aka Tasmanian wolf). Marsupial predator about the size of a wolf. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, but sightings persist. Claimed sightings have not been confirmed.
2) Ivory-billed woodpecker. Large woodpecker with a pale beak. Known to exist, widely believed exinct, but sightings persist. Last confirmed sighting in 2004. Most claimed sightings are indistinct and difficult to verify. As they live in old-growth forests, often swamps, and have far-flung territories they have always been very hard to spot.
3) Loch Ness Monster. The archetypal freshwater lake monster. Unusual for cryptids, the many sightings do not agree on general parameters but instead form several clusters (e.g. sea serpent-like, plesiosaur-like). While it is implausible for there to be a viable population of truly giant creatures going unnoticed, the frequency of sightings suggests that there may be "something" out there unverified by science. That is a big, old, deep lake that likes to keep its secrets.
4) Silphium. One of the few cryptids that is a plant rather than an animal, this was a relative of giant fennel. Known to exist, widely believed extinct, exact nature lost to history. Possibly rediscovered; debate continues.
5) Mokele-Mbembe. A dinosaur-like animal from the Republic of Congo. Unverified, but occasional reports persist. While it's hard to hide a truly giant creature, a jungle is a good place to hide things, even fairly large things.
EDIT 1/19/24 -- I forgot to include the Pictish Beast! It has a long snout and legs or flippers that coil at the ends. "The Happiness of the Bee" includes a brief appearance, and its notes have a description with an excellent photograph.
+ 1) My favorite book about cryptids is Mirabile by Janet Kagan.
Read about more cryptids. What are some of your favorite cryptids?
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-21 04:04 am (UTC)I learned a lot, too. ;) I surprised a co-worker by knowing what balut is (and got her to admit it was an acquired taste), and knew right away that the terrible-tasting hard candy another coworker gave me was durian.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-21 04:12 am (UTC)The thing I like about DT over EU is the group aspect. He wasn't a guy out there on his own. He had his team. The bunch of bozos in the woods. ::grins:: Riding camels and challenging each other to eat spiders. I liked getting to see the camera man and the sound person and the medic, all doing their bit.
I'd love to go to one of his live shows. I bet he's a hoot in person.
LOLing about balut. I was regaling people in my office about it, because none of them had heard of it. They didn't think it was real till I showed them pics online.
Yes ...
Date: 2024-01-21 04:22 am (UTC)That's what I love about nerds: we notice things and we get excited about them. We find the world fascinating.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-21 04:35 am (UTC)DT had a lot of firsts too though: first underwater ghost investigation, first Chernobyl, permission to go to Bhutan to search for their Yeti, Antarctica, etc. (really, I'm just listing off the interesting things they did to entice new people to watch 😉)
Wow!
Date: 2024-01-21 04:41 am (UTC)That guy has cannonballs.
Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-21 04:26 am (UTC)Does not appeal to me.
>> and knew right away that the terrible-tasting hard candy another coworker gave me was durian.<<
I can taste things by smell, and I've heard that durian smells like garbage but tastes different, so I'm inclined to think it would taste like garbage for me.
But I love haggis. I have no idea why people find it so objectionable. To me it tasted like excellent sausage, and I love sausage. Last year my partner got me a haggis spice chocolate bar. I loved the flavor so much that I monkeyed around until I made a good haggis spice brownie recipe. \o/
In fact our family phrase for accepting differences of opinion is, "Another haggis shortage averted!"
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-01-21 04:51 am (UTC)