William G. Pullin

Greetings. Ornithomimus is an extinct genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaurs that thrived during the Late Cretaceous, between 76.5 and 66 million years ago. Ornithomimus was a swift, bipedal dinosaur with fossil evidence indicating that the reptiles were covered in feathers and equipped with a small toothless beak that may indicate an omnivorous diet. The genus had two species: Ornithomimus velox, and Ornithomimus edmontonicus. O. velox was named in 1890 by Othniel Charles Marsh on the basis of fossilized remains originating from the Denver Formation of Colorado.  Like other ornithomimids, the two species of ornithomimus were characterized by possessing strong feet with three weight-bearing toes, long slender arms, and long necks with birdlike, elongated, toothless, beaked skulls. They were completely bipedal and, on the surface, resembled modern-day ratites. They would have been swift runners thanks to their very long limbs and hollow bones, had large forward-facing eyes, and on...

Greetings. I happened to come across this image while meandering online, and it immediately caught my attention. The image suggests a fascinating possibility, one that did not come to pass, but one that is not all that really far fetched.  The Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event is the most well-known of the extinction events that have transpired in the Earth's long and storied history. The Chicxulub impactor is the most likely culprit, with a few other environmental factors at play, all resulting in the extinction of some iconic species of fauna and flora, including the non-avian dinosaurs.  But what if the Chicxulub asteroid had never crashed into the Earth? By the Late Cretaceous, the dinosaurs had attained an incredible level of evolutionary diversity and advancement, with intelligent, specialized, and endothermic species inhabiting all of the planet's continents, in all habitats and environmental conditions. Whereas modern-day reptiles are far less advanced, the saltwat...

Greetings. The Age of Disclosure? The age of bullshit.  "The Age of Disclosure" is a newly released documentary that claims to make a strong case for the existence of extraterrestrial life that has visited the Earth. Directed and produced by Dan Farah, pictured below with CNN's Jake Tapper during the course of a promotional appearance, the film was released just today for public viewing, for a price of course, of course.  I begrudgingly paid that particular price today, in an effort to see what all the hubub is about. A recent promotional post states that the documentary “shockingly reveals an 80-year global cover-up of non-human intelligent life and a secret war among major nations to reverse-engineer advanced technology of non-human origin." That is a tall statement, and as expected, not a shred of hard evidence to support it appears in the film, as with all previous documentaries about unidentified flying objects. A ufological house of cards, something that is to ...

Greetings. Canidae is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs. Members of the family are often referred to as canids. The family includes three subfamilies: the Caninae, and the extinct Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae. The Caninae are known as canines, and include domestic dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals and other species. Epicyon is an extinct genus of the subfamily Borophaginae, which was native to the North American continent. The genus existed for about 15 million years during the Miocene Epoch. Epicyon haydeni is the largest known species, and is the largest known canid of all time, with adults of the species reaching 2.4 meters in length and approximately 125 kilograms in body mass. The largest fossilized humerus recovered so far belonged to an adult individual weighing 170 kilograms.  Epicyon haydeni existed from 20.6 till' approximately 5.3 million years ago. The molars of E. haydeni were grindstone-like teeth that allowed for a ...

Greetings. Echidnas, known as spiny anteaters, are native to New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. Having initially evolved between 20 and 48 million years ago, the four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus are the sole representatives of the ancient order Monotremata. Covered in hair and quills, echidnas are solitary and extremely shy animals. The quills are made of keratin, which makes up fur, claws, nails, and horn sheaths in animals. Despite having evolved from an aquatic platypus-type ancestor, spiny anteaters are terrestrial animals, but are fully capable swimmers when necessary. Echidnas are powerful diggers, and possess short, strong limbs armed with long claws, with the hind claws having a backwards curve to assist in the digging process.  Echidnas have the second-lowest active body temperature of any mammal, at 33° Celsius, behind only the duck-billed platypus. With a diet of ants, worms, termites, and insect larvae, echidnas have no problem finding nourishment...

Greetings. "Hello William. It seems I've lost some so called friends lately which apparently is due to my stance on calling out people who push the UFO/UAP phenomenon, more for monetary gain, speculation and it's attributed publicity rather than hard scientific evidence and proven facts. I'm not bothered by this, but it annoys me. I am a follower of yours but not a friend, I'm wondering if you can readdress the issue?" The above message arrived just a few days ago, from the thoughtful keyboard of one of my readers. The sentiments contained within the message were not anything of the ordinary, and certainly not describing anything I have not experienced myself, but they are deserving of a written, albeit somewhat short allocation  The UFO subculture is a literal minefield of celebrities, personalities, and personal relationships, all subject to the same set of rules, actions, and circumstances. Some acquaintances established in the UFO landscape are real and fi...

Greetings. Alfred Russel Wallace (January 8th of 1823 – November 7th of 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator.  Wallace independently discovered the theory of evolution through natural selection, with the 1858 publication of his paper on the subject motivating Charles Darwin to set aside the book he was drafting and to quickly write an abstract of it, which was published in 1859 as "On the Origin of Species." Wallace conducted extensive fieldwork, initially in the basin of South America's Amazon River, subsequently moving his fieldwork to the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now known as the Wallace Line, which separates the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts: a western portion which is populated by faunal species of Asian origin, and an eastern portion populated by faunal species that are of Australian origin. Wallace was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the ...

Greetings. Open, candid, and honest criticism.  "The moment you say that any idea system is sacred, whether it’s a religious belief system or a secular ideology, the moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible." Salman Rushdie. In my experience, many a UFO "researcher" is highly uncomfortable with any sort of criticism, even when it takes a constructive form. Some will pushback energetically against such commentary directly, displaying some testicular capability in the process, while the majority sit back and allow their followers to defend them, engaging in name-calling, personal attacks, and childish behaviors all along the way.  A few long weeks ago, I wrote a lengthy article that focused on one particular question: Has Peter Robbins accomplished anything of scientific substance in his decades of involvement in the UFO subculture? After a time, Mr. Robbins ended up sharing the...