THERE IS A NEW DINOSAUR. THIS IS AWESOME. Editor’s warning: Mentions of death and injury.
Happening in the World: Just before Friday at midnight, a powerful earthquake rocked areas in northwest Nepal. Ground soldiers and helicopters raced to assist those injured. The earthquake happened at a depth of eleven miles and had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter of the earthquake, according to the National Earthquake Monitoring & Research Center of Nepal, was at Jajarkot, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Kathmandu, the country’s capital. The capital of India, New Delhi, which is more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away from the epicenter of the earthquake, also felt the impact of the earthquake. (AP News)
Happening in the US: The previously unidentified mosasaur has been described by paleontologists based on fossils discovered close to the North Dakota town of Walhalla. NDGS 10838 is the new name for the fossil. It has a nearly whole skull with a bony ridge covering the eyes, mouth, and certain skeletal components, such as 12 vertebrae and 11 ribs. The study authors noted that the scientists’ attempt to categorize the newcomer was thwarted by a variety of traits found in its skull bones, suggesting that the mosasaur group is more diversified than previously thought. (CNN)
Happening in NYC: Following the announcement by New York Sen. Charles Schumer of an additional $3.8 billion in federal money for the project, politicians promised on Friday that the long-stalled and historically expensive project to build a second tunnel under the Hudson River for NJ Transit and Amtrak will soon get underway. The construction of the tunnel’s concrete casing will mark the beginning of Gateway’s work on the New York side of the Hudson River. It will be built underneath the west side of Manhattan at 30th Street, where the High Line ends. Officials estimate that 72,000 employment and $19 billion in economic activity will result from Gateway. (Gothamist)
Happening in Our Community: Anger Jorn’s 1962 work L’avant-garde se rend pas will be the inspiration for the film “The Avant-Garde Does Not Surrender,” will be screened by the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute all day today. The symposium honors the cinematic creations and methods of the well-known Yugoslav director Želimir Žilnik, who since the 1960s has led the European film industry in socially and politically conscious filmmaking.ſilnik’s “cinema-as-praxis” (Levi) adamantly opposes dominant knowledge regimes by promoting understandings and actions in the world that are grounded in real-world experience. To register for the event, click here.
Dinosaur Fossil Image via Bwarchives