text:
Episode 269: Gila Monsters, Basilisks, and Sand Boas, oh my!
March 28, 2022 animals, Asia, cryptids, North America, reptile, South Americabasilisk, desert sand boa, Gila monster, lizards, sand boa, snakesstrangeanimalspodcast
https://media.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/content.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/Episode_269_Gila_monster_and_friends.mp3
Thanks to Zachary, Enzo, and Oran for their suggestions this week! Let's learn about some interesting reptiles!
Happy birthday to Vale! Have a fantastic birthday!!
The magnificent Gila monster:
The Gila monster's tongue is forked, but not like a snake's:
The remarkable green basilisk (photo by Ryan Chermel, found at this site):
A striped basilisk has a racing stripe:
I took this photo of a basilisk myself! That's why it's a terrible photo! The basilisk is sitting on a branch just above the water, its long tail hanging down:
The desert sand boa:
This week we're going to learn about three weird and interesting reptiles, with suggestions from Zachary, Enzo, and Oran, including a possible solution to a mystery animal we've talked about before!
But first, we have a birthday shoutout! A very happy birthday to Vale! You should probably get anything you want on your birthday, you know? Want a puppy? Sure, it's your birthday! Want 12 puppies? Okay, birthday! Want to take your 12 puppies on a roadtrip in a fancy racecar? Birthday!
Our first suggestion is from Enzo and Zachary, who both wrote me at different times suggesting an episode about the Gila monster. How I haven't already covered an animal that has monster right there in its name, I just don't know.
The Gila monster is a lizard that lives in parts of southwestern North America, in both the United States and Mexico. It can grow up to two feet long, or 60 cm, including its tail. It's a chonky, slow-moving lizard with osteoderms embedded in its skin that look like little pearls. Only its belly doesn't have osteoderms. This gives it a beaded appearance, and in fact the four other species in its genus are called beaded lizards. Its tongue is dark blue-black and forks at the tip, but not like a snake's tongue. It's more like a long lizard tongue that's divided at the very end.
The Gila monster varies in color with an attractive pattern of light-colored blotches on a darker background. The background color is dark brown or black, while the lighter color varies from individual to individual, from pink to yellow to orange to red. You may remember what it means when an animal has bright markings that make it stand out. It warns other animals away. That's right: the Gila monster is venomous!
The Gila monster has modified salivary glands in its lower jaw that contain toxins. Its lower teeth have grooves, and when the lizard needs to inject venom, the venom flows upward through the grooves by capillary force. Since it mostly eats eggs and small animals, scientists think it only uses its venom as a defense. Its venom is surprisingly toxic, although its bite isn't deadly to healthy adult humans. It is incredibly painful, though. Some people think the Gila monster can spit venom like some species of cobra can, but while this isn't the case, one thing the Gila monster does do is bite and hold on. It can be really hard to get it to let go.
The fossilized remains of a Gila monster relative were discovered in 2007 in Germany, dating to 47 million years ago. The fossils are well preserved and the lizard's teeth already show evidence of venom canals. The Gila monster is related to monitor lizards, although not closely, and for a long time people thought it was almost the only venomous reptile in the world. These days we know that a whole lot of lizards produce venom, including the Komodo dragon, which is a type of huge monitor lizard.
In 2005, a drug based on a protein found in Gila monster venom was approved for use in humans. It helps manage type 2 diabetes, and while the drug itself is synthetic and not an exact match for the toxin protein, if researchers hadn't started by studying the toxin, they wouldn't have come up with the drug.
The Gila monster lives in dry areas with lots of brush and rocks where it can hide. It spends most of its time in a burrow or rock shelter where it's cooler and the air is relatively moist, and only comes out when it's hungry or after rain. It eats small animals of various kinds, including insects, frogs, small snakes, mice, and birds, and it will also eat carrion. It especially likes eggs and isn't picky if the eggs are from birds, snakes, tortoises, or other reptiles. It has a keen sense of smell that helps it find food. During spring and early summer, males wrestle each other to compete for the attention of females. The female lays her eggs in a shallow hole and covers them over with dirt, and the warmth of the sun incubates them.
The Gila monster is increasingly threatened by habitat loss. Moving a Gila monster from a yard or pasture and taking it somewhere else actually doesn't do any good, because the lizard will just make its way back to its original territory. This is hard on the lizard, because it requires a lot of energy and exposes it to predators and other dangers like cars. It's better to let it stay where it is. It eats animals like mice and snakes that you probably would rather not have in your yard anyway, and as long as you don't bother it, it won't bother you. Also, it's really pretty.
Next, Oran wants to learn more about the basilisk lizard. We talked about it very briefly in episode 252 and I actually saw two of them in Belize, so they definitely deserve more attention.
The basilisk lives in rainforests from southern Mexico to northern South America. There are four species, and a big male can grow up to three feet long, or 92 cm, including his long tail. The basilisk's tail is extremely long, in fact—up to 70% of its total length.
Both male and female basilisks have a crest on the back of the head. The male also has a serrated crest on his back and another on his tail that make him look a little bit like a tiny Dimetrodon.
The basilisk is famous for its ability to run across water on its hind legs. The toes on its large hind feet have fringes of skin that give the foot more surface area and trap air bubbles, which is important since its feet plunge down into the water almost as deep as the leg is long. Without the air trapped under its toe fringes, it wouldn't be running, it would be swimming. It can run about 5 feet per second, or 1.5 meters per second, for about three seconds, depending on its weight. It uses its long tail for balance while it runs.
When a predator chases a basilisk, it rears up on its hind legs and runs toward the nearest water, and when it comes to the water it just keeps on running. The larger and heavier the basilisk is, the sooner it will sink, but it's also a very good swimmer. If it's still being pursued in the water, it will swim to the nearest tree and climb it, because it also happens to be a really good climber.
The basilisk can also close its nostrils to keep water and sand out, which is useful because it sometimes burrows into sand to hide. It can also stay underwater for as long as 20 minutes, according to some reports. It will eat pretty much anything it can find, including insects, eggs, small animals like fish and snakes, and plant material, including flowers. It mostly eats insects, though.
Fossil remains of a lizard discovered in Wyoming in 2015 may be an ancestor to modern basilisks. It lived 48 million years ago and probably spent most of its time in trees. It had a bony ridge over its eyes that shaded its eyes from the sun and also made it look angry all the time. It grew about two feet long, or 61 cm., and may have already developed the ability to run on its hind legs. We don't know if it could run on water, though.
Finally, Zachary also suggested the sand boa. Sand boas are non-venomous snakes that are mostly nocturnal. During the day the sand boa burrows deep enough into sand and dirt that it reaches a cool, relatively moist place to rest. At night it comes out and hunts small animals like rodents. If it feels threatened, it will dig its way into loose soil to hide. It's a constrictor snake like its giant cousin Boa constrictor, but it's much smaller and isn't aggressive toward humans.
Zachary thinks that the sand boa might actually be the animal behind sightings of the Mongolian death worm. We've talked about the Mongolian death worm in a few episodes, most recently in episode 156.
The Mongolian death worm was first mentioned in English in a 1926 book about paleontology, but it's been a legend in Mongolia for a long time. It's supposed to look like a giant sausage or a cow's intestine, reddish in color and said to be up to 5 feet long, or 1.5 meters. It mostly lives underground in the western or southern Gobi Desert, but in June and July it surfaces after rain. Anyone who touches the worm is supposed to die painfully, although no one's sure how exactly it kills people. Some suggestions are that it emits an electric shock or that it spits venom.
Mongolia is in central Asia and is a huge but sparsely populated country. At least one species of sand boa lives in Mongolia, although it's rare. This is Eryx miliaris, the desert sand boa. Females can grow up to 4 feet long, or 1.2 meters, while males are usually less than half that length. Until recently it was thought to be two separate species, and sometimes you'll see it called E. tataricus, but that's now an invalid name.
The desert sand boa is a strong, thick snake with a blunt tail and a head that's similarly blunt. In other words, like the Mongolian death worm it can be hard to tell at a glance which end is which. Its eyes are small and not very noticeable, just like the death worm. It's mostly brown in color with some darker and lighter markings, although its pattern can be quite variable. Some individuals have rusty red markings on the neck.
It prefers dry grasslands and will hide in rodent burrows. When it feels threatened, it will coil its tail up and may pretend to bite, but like other sand boas it's not venomous and is harmless to humans.
At first glance, the desert sand boa doesn't seem like a very good match with the Mongolian death worm. But in 1983, a group of scientists went searching for the death worm in the Gobi. They were led by a Bulgarian zoologist named Yuri Konstantinovich Gorelov, who had been the primary caretaker of a nature preserve in Mongolia for decades and was familiar with the local animals. The group visited an old herder who had once killed a death worm, and in one of those weird coincidences, while they were talking to the herder, two boys rushed in to say they'd seen a death worm on a nearby hill.
Naturally, Gorelov hurried to the top of the hill, where he found a rodent burrow. Remember that this guy knew every animal that lived in the area, so he had a good idea of what he'd find in the burrow. He stuck his hand into it, which made the boys run off in terror, and pulled out a good-sized sand boa. He draped it around his neck and sauntered back to show it to the old herder, who said that yes, this was exactly the same kind of animal he'd killed years before.
That doesn't mean every sighting of a death worm is necessarily a sand boa. I know I've said this a million times, but people see what they expect to see. The death worm is a creature of folklore, whether or not it's based on a real animal. If you hear the story of a dangerous animal that looks like a big reddish worm with no eyes and a head and tail that are hard to distinguish, and you then see a big snake with reddish markings, tiny eyes, and a head and tail that are hard to distinguish, naturally you'll assume it's a death worm.
At least some sightings of the death worm are actually sightings of a sand boa. But some death worm sightings might be due to a different type of snake or lizard, or some other animal—maybe even something completely new to science. That's why it's important to keep an open mind, even if you're pretty sure the animal in question is a sand boa. Also, maybe don't put your bare hand in a rodent burrow.
Episode 268: Rediscovered Animals!
March 21, 2022 animals, Asia, Australia, birdsdjoongari, Gould's mouse, mice, owls, Pinatubo volcano mouse, Rajah scops owl, rodents, Shark Bay mousestrangeanimalspodcast
https://media.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/content.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/Episode_268_Rediscovered_Animals.mp3
My little cat Gracie got lost but she's home! Let's learn about some other rediscovered animals this week!
A very happy birthday to Seamus! I hope you have the best birthday ever!
Further listening:
The Casual Birder Podcast (where you can hear me talk about birding in Belize!)
Bornean Rajah Scops Owl Rediscovered After 125 Years
Shock find brings extinct mouse back from the dead
Rediscovery of the 'extinct' Pinatubo volcano mouse
Gracie, home at last! She's so SKINNY after a whole week being lost but she's eating lots now:
The Bornean Rajah scops owl (photo from article linked above):
The djoongari is the same as the supposedly extinct Gould's mouse (photo from article linked above):
The Pinatubo volcano mouse:
While I was researching animals discovered in 2021, I came across some rediscoveries. I thought that would make a fun episode, so here are three animals that were thought to be extinct but were found again!
A couple of quick things before we get started, though.
First, happy birthday to Seamus! I hope you have a brilliant birthday and that it involves family, friends, or at least your favorite kind of cake, but hopefully all three.
Next, a few weeks ago I appeared on the Casual Birder Podcast talking in depth about my trip to Belize and some of the birds I saw there. I'll put a link in the show notes. It's a great podcast that I really recommend if you're interested in birding at all, and the host has such a lovely calming voice I also recommend it if you just like to have a pleasant voice in the background while you do other stuff.
Finally, thanks for the well wishes from last week, when I let our emergency episode run. I'm actually fine, but my little cat Gracie got frightened while I was bringing her into the house from a vet visit, and she ran away. That was on Friday, March 11 and I spent all night looking for her, but then we had a late-season snowstorm come through and dump six inches of snow on my town, which made me even more frantic. At dawn on Saturday I put on my boots and heavy coat and spent all day searching for Gracie, and on Sunday I was still searching for her. I didn't have time to work on a new episode. In fact, I searched every day as much as possible all week long, until I was certain she was gone forever. I couldn't bring myself to work on this episode because rediscovered animals just seemed like a cruel joke when my little cat was gone. I was almost done with a different episode when on Saturday night, March 19, 2022, eight full days after Gracie had disappeared, I got a phone call. Someone had seen a little gray cat under their shed, over half a mile from my house! I rushed over and THERE WAS GRACIE! I found her! She is home!
So I've been researching rediscovered animals with Gracie purring in my lap, in between her going to her bowl to eat. She's lost a lot of weight but other than that she seems healthy, and she's very happy to be home.
The person who found Gracie first noticed her around their birdfeeder, so we'll start with a rediscovered bird.
There are two subspecies of Rajah scops owl that are only found on two islands in southeast Asia, Borneo and Sumatra. The subspecies that lives in Sumatra is fairly common throughout the mountains on that island, where it lives in the lower branches of trees in higher elevations. It's a tiny owl that only weighs about 4 ounces, or 100 grams. As the article I link to in the show notes points out, that's about the weight of four AA batteries.
The subspecies that lives on Borneo, though, was always much rarer and had a much smaller range. In fact, no one had seen one since 1892 and researchers thought it was probably extinct. There's another owl that lives in the mountains of Borneo, the mountain scops owl, that's fairly common.
In May of 2016, a team of scientists started a 10-year study of birds that lived on Mount Kinabalu in the country of Malaysia in northern Borneo. One team member, Keegan Tranquillo, was checking bird nests that very same month and noticed an owl that didn't look like the mountain scops owl. It was larger and its plumage was different.
Tranquillo contacted ecologist and bird expert Andy Boyce, who came out to take a look. When he saw the owl, Boyce was excited at first but then filled with anxiety. He knew the owl must be incredibly rare and would be in great danger of going extinct if conservation efforts weren't put into place. Many areas of Borneo are under pressure from logging, mining, and palm oil plantations, which is leading to habitat loss all over the island.
Not only that, the more Boyce looked at the owl, the more he noticed differences from the Sumatran subspecies of Rajah scops owl. He suspected it might not be a subspecies but a completely separate species. That made it even more important to protect the owl and study it.
The owl's rediscovery was announced in May 2021. Studies of the owl are ongoing but hopefully will soon result in more information about it and its habitat.
Next, let's talk about a rodent, since Gracie likes to play with toy mice. This rediscovery came from Australia, where a study of extinct Australian rodents and their living relations found something surprising. It's the opposite of the owl we just talked about, that might end up being a separate species of its own.
The mouse in question was once called Gould's mouse. It used to be common throughout Australia, where it's a native mammal, but it was declared extinct in 1990 after no one had seen it since the 1840s. Researchers suspected it had gone extinct after colonizers brought cats to Australia, although diseases and competition from introduced species of mice and rats also had a big impact.
Meanwhile, another native mouse, called the djoongari or Shark Bay mouse, was driven nearly to extinction. Fortunately, the djoongari survived on a few islands off western Australia. Conservation efforts in 2003 introduced it to more islands, where it spread and did well. It's a social mouse that lives in family groups in a burrow it digs under bushes. It lines the burrow with dry grass to make it warmer and more comfortable.
The djoongari is a large mouse, up to 4.5 inches long not counting the tail, or 11.5 centimeters. The tail is a little longer than the head and body combined. It has long, shaggy fur that's a mixture of dark and light brown with a paler belly and feet, and it has a tuft of dark fur at the end of its tail like a tiny lion.
In early 2021, the researchers studying native rodent DNA realized that the living djoongari and the extinct Gould's mouse had the exact same genetic profile! They were the same animal! That means Gould's mouse didn't go extinct, although technically it didn't exist in the first place.
That doesn't mean the djoongari is perfectly safe, of course. Its range is still extremely restricted and it's vulnerable to the same factors that nearly drove it to extinction in the first place. But at least it's still around and can be protected.
We'll finish with another mouse. In 1991, a volcano in the Philippines erupted. The volcano was called Mount Pinatubo on the island of Luzon, and the eruption was enormous. It was ten times stronger than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Lava and ash filled valleys up to 600 feet deep, or 183 meters. More than 800 people died from the eruption itself and the devastation afterwards, during landslides caused by all the ash every time it rained.
In addition to the awful situation for people, animals were affected too. Most of the forests near the volcano were completely destroyed. Scientists thought the Pinatubo volcano mouse had probably gone extinct since it only lived on that one volcanic mountain, which had just blown up. Surveys of the area a few years after the eruption didn't turn up signs of any of the mice.
The Pinatubo volcano mouse was only described in 1962 from a single specimen collected in 1956. It was a large mouse, almost the size of a rat, with long hind legs for jumping and climbing and a tail much longer than the length of its head and body together. It mostly ate earthworms and other small animals, but not a lot was known about it.
More than 20 years after the eruption, a team of scientists surveyed the animals living on the mountain. The conditions were difficult for the team to navigate, since there was still a lot of ash and erosion in the area that made the steep slopes unstable. The lush forests were gone, replaced by grass and bamboo, shrubs, a few trees, and other plants. They didn't expect to find a lot of animals, although they thought they'd find introduced species of rats and mice that had moved into the disturbed areas from other parts of the island.
But to their surprise, they found 17 species of mammal on the mountain. Eight were bats, there were wild pigs and deer, and the rest were rodents. And the rodents were mostly native species, not introduced ones—including the Pinatubo volcano mouse!
Researchers theorize that a mouse that lives on an active volcano as its only habitat must have evolved to weather occasional eruptions. The mice were actually most numerous in the places that had been the most destroyed. The term for a species that thrives in environments that have seen widespread natural destruction is "disturbance specialist," and that's just what these mice are.
It just goes to show that no matter how bad things may be, there is life. And where there's life, there's hope. And probably mice.
Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go make a chocolate cake to take to the person who found Gracie.
Episode 267: The Mystery Sauropod
March 14, 2022 animals, dinosaurs, fossils, North AmericaAmphicoelias fragillimus, diplodocusstrangeanimalspodcast
https://media.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/content.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/Emergency_Episode_The_Mystery_Sauropod.mp3
Hi. If you're hearing this, it means I'm sick or something else has happened that has kept me from making a new episode this week. This was a Patreon bonus episode from mid-August 2019. I think it's a good one. If you're a Patreon subscriber, I'm sorry you don't have a new episode to listen to this time. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon and we can get back to learning about lots of strange animals.
Welcome to the Patreon bonus episode of Strange Animals Podcast for mid-August, 2019!
While I was doing research for the paleontology mistakes and frauds episodes, I came across the discovery of what might have been the biggest land animal that ever lived. But while I wanted to include it in one episode or the other, it wasn't clear that it was either a mistake or a fraud. It might in fact have been a real discovery, now lost.
In late 1877 or early 1878, a man named Oramel Lucas was digging up dinosaur bones for the famous paleontologist Edward Cope. Cope was one of the men we talked about in the paleontological mistakes episode, the bitter enemy of Othniel Marsh. Lucas directed a team of workers digging for fossils in a number of sites near Garden Park in Colorado, and around the summer of 1878 he shipped the fossils he'd found to Marsh. Among them was a partial neural arch of a sauropod.
The neural arch is the top part of a vertebra, in this case probably one near the hip. Sauropods, of course, are the biggest land animals known. Brontosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Diplodocus are all sauropods. Sauropods had long necks that were probably mostly held horizontally as the animal cropped low-growing plants and shrubs, and extremely long tails held off the ground. Their legs were column-like, something like enormous elephant legs, to support the massively heavy body.
We know what Diplodocus looked like because we have lots of Diplodocus fossils and can reconstruct the entire skeleton, but for most other sauropods we still only have partial skeletons. The body size and shape of other sauropods are conjecture based on what we know about Diplodocus. In some cases we only have a few bones, or in the case of Cope's 1878 sauropod, a single partial bone.
Cope examined the neural arch, sketched it and made notes, and published a formal description of it later in 1878. He named it Amphicoelias [Am-fi-sil-i-as] fragillimus.
The largest species of Diplodocus, D. hallorum, was about 108 feet long, or 33 meters, measuring from its stretched-out head to the tip of its tail. Estimates of fragillimus from Cope's measurement of the single neural arch suggest that its tail alone might be longer than Diplodocus's whole body.
Cope measured fragillimus's partial neural arch as 1.5 meters tall, or almost five feet. That's only the part that remained. It was broken and weathered, but the entire vertebra may have been as large as 2.7 meters high, or 8.85 feet. From that measurement, and considering that fragillimus was seemingly related to Diplodocus, even the most conservative estimate of fragillimus's overall size is 40 meters long, or 131 feet, and could be as long as 60 meters, or 197 feet. This is far larger than even Seismosaurus, which is estimated to have grown 33.5 meters long, or 110 feet, and which is considered the largest land animal known.
So why isn't fragillimus considered the largest land animal known? Mainly because we no longer have the fossil to study. It's completely gone with no indication of where it might be or what happened to it. And that has led to some people thinking that it either never existed in the first place, or that Cope measured it wrong.
One argument is that Cope wrote down the measurements wrong and that the neural arch wasn't nearly as large as Cope's notes indicate. But Lucas, who collected the fossil, always made his own measurements and these match up with what Cope reported. Lucas and Cope both remarked on the size of the fossil, which was far larger than any they had ever found.
Oddly, Cope's nemesis Marsh inadvertently vouches for him by the things Marsh didn't do. We know that Marsh kept tabs on Cope, including even paying people to spy on his fossil excavations. Marsh was also always ready to pounce on any of Cope's mistakes and make them a big deal. But Marsh never said anything about the neural arch not being a real find, and never questioned Cope's measurements of it.
Cope never mentioned what happened to the fossil. It wasn't until 1921 that two researchers pointed out that it was missing from the Cope Collection. So what happened to it?
Most researchers suspect it just crumbled away. The fossil formed in a type of rock called mudstone, which fractures easily into little irregular cubes. In fact, Cope gave the sauropod the name fragillimus because the fossil appeared so fragile—not because of the mudstone per se, but because so much of the fossil had already weathered away and as a result it looked too delicate to be part of such a large animal.
These days paleontologists treat fossils with various preservatives to harden them, but that practice didn't start until 1880, several years after the neural arch was found. Cope only made one drawing of it, which wasn't his usual practice. It's possible the fossil was so delicate at that point that just turning it over to draw the other side caused it to fall apart. Many researchers suspect that Cope or one of his assistants eventually discarded it after it crumbled into a pile of mudstone blocks.
Obviously, if we don't have the fossil Cope examined, maybe we should go looking for more fossils that Cope's workers might have missed. Cope did mention a femur located near the neural arch that may have been another fragillimus bone, but it's not clear if the femur was actually collected. We have Cope's journal entry where he sketched the dig sites Lucas was working, a rough map that shows at least seven sites. But it's been a century and a half since then and most of the sites have been lost. In 1994 a team tried to relocate the site where Lucas found the neural arch, but without luck. It's also possible that any remaining fossils have weathered away completely. In the dig sites that have been found, the mudstone has mostly weathered away down to the underlying sandstone.
Researchers have been able to estimate a probable age for fragillimus from Cope's notes about the stratigraphy where the neural arch was found. Fragillimus probably lived in the late Jurassic, roughly 150 million years ago. This matches up with the age of other enormously large sauropods. But if fragillimus really was so much larger than the others, how did it live? Would an animal that size actually be able to support its weight, feed itself, and function overall? Wouldn't it overheat in the sun or starve due to not finding enough food to power its colossal body?
Researchers think that sauropods grew to such enormous sizes because their food was nutritionally lacking. That doesn't make sense until you realize that when a herbivore's food is poor, the longer it can keep the plant material in its digestive system, the more nutrients it can extract from it. Sauropods were probably hindgut fermenters like all modern herbivorous reptiles and a lot of birds. The best way to keep lots of plant material in the digestive system is to be really big and have a really big digestive tract. This is the case with many herbivores today, like elephants, rhinos, and horses. Other benefits come from being extremely large, too, such as being larger than potential predators.
Sauropods generally lived in semiarid savannas. Grass hadn't evolved yet, so researchers think the main groundcover plant was ferns, which sauropods probably ate in bulk. There would also have been shrubs, small trees, and some areas with much taller trees. It's possible that sauropods spent most of the day among the trees, sleeping in the shade, and came out at night to do most of their grazing.
Cope also found fossils from another sauropod that he named Amphicoelias altus. In fact, he described both Amphicoelias species in the same paper. Some researchers have therefore suspected that the two species were actually the same. A. altus is estimated to grow about the same size as Diplodocus, about 82 feet long, or 25 meters.
But in 2018, a paleontologist named Kenneth Carpenter examined Cope's information on fragillimus and came to some interesting conclusions. He reclassified it from the family Diplodocidae to the family Rebbachisauridae and renamed it Maraapunisaurus fragillimus. As a result, the estimates of its size have changed. Carpenter suggests that it was much smaller, about 99 feet long, or 30 meters, but that Cope's measurements were correct. Sauropods of this family just have larger vertebrae than Diplodocidae.
The only difficulty with fragillimus being a member of the Rebbachisauridae is that this group of sauropods isn't known to have lived in North America, just Europe and South America. But the fossil record is incomplete and every find requires researchers to adjust what we know about where dinosaurs lived and how widespread a particular species or family was.
Hopefully, eventually more and better remains of fragillimus will turn up soon. Then we can work out exactly how big it really was.
Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening! The next episode in the main feed will be about an unusual small fish and an extinct pig relative called the unicorn pig. Basically both those animals should have gone in other episodes but I messed up and forgot to add them to strangest small fish and the weird pigs episodes, but they're both really neat and I wanted to share them.
https://www.patreon.com/rss/strangeanimalspodcast?auth=eb94e995bdf4bc11930eeda8bc5b4a3e
Episode 266: Mystery Macaws
March 7, 2022 animals, birds, cryptids, South Americablue and gold macaw, hyacinth macaw, macaw, Martinique macaw, parrots, scarlet macawstrangeanimalspodcast
https://media.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/content.blubrry.com/strangeanimalspodcast/Episode_266_Mystery_Macaws.mp3
Thanks to Pranav for this week's suggestion!
Happy birthday to MaxOrangutan! Have a great birthday!
Scarlet macaw DNA points to ancient breeding operation in Southwest
The glorious hyacinth macaw:
Roelant Savery's dodo painting with not one but TWO separate mystery macaws featured:
The blue-and-gold macaw:
Eleazar Albin's mystery macaw:
Detail from Jan Steen's painting of a mystery macaw:
The scarlet macaw:
Recently, Pranav suggested the topic of mystery macaws. As it happens, that's a topic I researched for the book, which by the way is now FORMATTED! And hopefully by the time you hear this I'll have been able to order a test copy to make sure it looks good before I order enough copies for everyone who backed the Kickstarter at that level. Whew!
I've used the mystery macaw chapter from the book as a basis for this episode, but it's not identical by any means—I've added some stuff.
Before we learn about some mystery macaws, though, we have a birthday shout-out! Happy birthday to MaxOrangutan! Max! I bet you like bananas and climb around a lot! I hope you have a fantastic birthday, maybe with a banana cake or a cake banana, which I think is a thing I just made up but it sounds good, doesn't it?
Macaws are a type of parrot native to the Americas. They have longer tails and larger bills than true parrots and have face patches that are mostly white or yellow. There are six genera [original incorrectly stated six species] of macaw with lots of living species, but many other species that are extinct or probably extinct. The largest living species is the hyacinth macaw, which is a beautiful blue all over except for yellow face markings. It can grow over 3 feet long, or about 92 centimeters, including its long tail. It mostly eats nuts, even coconuts and macadamia nuts that are too tough for most other animals to crack open, but it also likes fruit, seeds, and some other plant material. Like other parrots, macaws are intelligent birds that have been observed using tools. For instance, the hyacinth macaw will use pieces of sticks and other items to keep a nut from rolling away while it works on biting it open.
The story of a mystery bird sometimes called the Martinique macaw starts almost 400 years ago, when Jacques Bouton, a French priest, visited the Caribbean in 1639 and specifically Martinique in 1642. Bouton wrote an account of the people and animals he saw, including several macaws that don't quite match any birds known today. One of these is the so-called Martinique macaw, which he said was blue and saffron in color. Saffron is a rich orangey yellow.
We have some paintings that might be depictions of the mystery macaws. An artist named Eleazar Albin painted a blue and yellow parrot with a white face patch in 1740 that's supposedly the Martinique macaw, although Albin would have seen the bird in Jamaica when he visited in 1701, not Martinique. The two islands are about 1,100 miles apart, or almost 1,800 kilometers.
A similar blue and yellow macaw appears in Roelant Savery's 1626 painting of a dodo. The dodo lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, nowhere near the Americas. Savery just liked to paint dodos and included them in a lot of his art. In another 1626 painting, called "Landscape with Birds," he included a dodo, an ostrich, a chicken, a turkey, a peacock, ducks, swans, cranes of various kinds, and lots of other birds that don't live anywhere near each other. On the far left edge of the painting there's a blue macaw with yellow underparts.
In the early 20th century, a zoologist named Walter Rothschild read Bouton's account and decided those birds needed to be described as new species, even though there were no type specimens and no way of knowing if the birds were actually new to science.
He described the Martinique macaw in 1905 but reclassified it when he published a book named Extinct Birds in 1907. He got an artist to paint a depiction of it based on Bouton's account and it actually doesn't look all that similar to Albin's and Savery's birds. It's dark blue above, bright orange underneath, and only has a small white patch next to its lower mandible instead of a big white patch over the eye.
In other words, Albin's macaw might be a totally different bird from the Martinique macaw.
There is a known bird that might have inspired Albin's painting. The blue-and-gold macaw lives in many parts of northern South America. It has rich yellowy-gold underparts and is a brilliant aqua blue above. It matches the colors of Albin's painting pretty well, but not the facial markings. The blue-and-gold macaw has a white face but a large stripe of black, outlining the white patch, that extends under its chin. Albin's macaw doesn't have any black markings and its white patch is much smaller than the blue-and-gold macaw's.
Of course, Albin may have gotten details wrong in his painting. Even though he was probably painting from sketches and notes he took during his visit to Jamaica, about forty years had passed since he actually saw it. As for Savery's paintings of a similar macaw, he never traveled to the Americas and probably based his paintings on pet birds brought to Europe by sailors and missionaries. He was known for his meticulous detail when painting animals, though, and his birds clearly show the white face and black stripe under the chin of a blue-and-gold macaw, even though the blue plumage appears much darker than in living birds. This is probably due to the paint pigments fading over the centuries.
Savery's birds lack one detail that blue-and-gold macaws have: a small patch of blue under the tail. This would be an easy detail for an artist to miss, though, especially if he finished the painting's details without a real bird to look at. Albin's painting also lacks the blue patch.
That still leaves us with two bird mysteries. Was Albin's macaw a real species or just a blue-and-gold macaw with incorrect details? And what bird did Bouton see in Martinique?
These aren't the only mystery macaws, though. Roelant Savery painted another one in the same dodo picture where the mystery blue and yellow macaw appears. This macaw is bright red all over except for some yellow markings on the wing and a white face patch. He painted that one in 1626, and in 1665 a Dutch artist named Jan Steen painted a very similar bird in the background of a painting. It's also red except for yellowish markings on its wings and a yellowish or white face patch.
There are many reports of a big red macaw seen on the Guadaloupe islands in the Caribbean that date all the way back to 1493 when Christopher Columbus visited. Back then the bird was common but by the end of the 17th century it was rare. It was supposed to look a lot like the scarlet macaw, which is common in parts of Central America and northern South America, but it was smaller with a shorter tail. It was mostly red with blue and yellow markings on the wings and a white patch on its face. Its tail was all red, whereas the scarlet macaw has a red and blue tail.
Savery's and Steen's paintings don't show any blue markings, so either the artists got that detail incorrect or they were painting birds that didn't have blue wing markings—meaning that there's potentially yet another mystery red macaw.
There are, in fact, a whole lot of mystery macaws, maybe as many as 15. Some of these may be species or subspecies of macaw that went extinct before any scientist could examine them, while some may have just been known macaw species outside of their natural range.
People have been trading macaws and parrots as a type of currency for thousands of years, since their large, brightly colored feathers were in high demand for ceremonial items. They're relatively easy to tame and can be kept as pets. A genetic study of scarlet macaw remains found at archaeological sites in New Mexico revealed that the birds were all relatively closely related even though the remains came from birds who lived at different times over a 300-year period. Researchers think there must have been a captive breeding program in place somewhere in the area about a thousand years ago. It wasn't at the sites where the bird remains were found because there were no macaw eggshells in the whole area.
Similarly, remains of scarlet macaws and Amazon parrots have been found in archaeological sites in the Atacama desert. The remains date back to almost a thousand years ago also. But the Atacama is in northern Chile on the western coast of South America, not the southwestern United States. To reach it from the scarlet macaw's natural range in northern South America you have to travel more than 300 miles, or 500 kilometers, at minimum and cross the Andes Mountains. But that's exactly what people did, bringing macaws and parrots to oasis communities in the Atacama by llama caravan.
If any of these mystery macaws ever existed, they seem to be extinct now—but they might not be. Many macaws live in South America in sometimes hard to explore terrain. While many known species of macaw are threatened with habitat loss and hunting for feathers or for the pet trade, there's always a possibility that an undiscovered species still thrives in remote parts of the Amazon rainforest.


text:
Ocean Bar Report
Fun Events!
WEATHER IN LINCOLN COUNTY
Lake Oswego couple has their Lincoln City Vacation Rental Dwelling license revoked
Mar 2, 2012 | VRD
Lincoln City, courtesy photo
In what could be interpreted as a "get tough" approach to Vacation Rental Dwelling (VRD) rule violators, the Lincoln City City Council this week, acting as a VRD Appeals Board, tentatively revoked the VRD business license of a Lake Oswego couple who own a VRD in the Nelscott area on SW Beach Street. Neighbors have filed complaints over the past two years of excessive noise and smoke as renters gathered in the back yard of the unit, a 1929 home that has been converted into a vacation rental.
Scott and Kathleen Kiever said they have done their best to make amends to the neighbors by posting "No Noise" notices around and inside the home, and have gotten rid of the open fire pit apparatus used to build small bon fires. However, city staff said that the family only recently completely did away with the fire pit and that the noise problem persists. Staff also indicated that the home's garage, which is required to provide guest parking, was too frequently filled with odds and ends that made it impossible to be used as a parking spot. The Kievers told the council that the extra "stuff" has been removed from the garage and that it is now available for parking a vehicle.
The city's code Enforcement officer told the appeals board that the Kievers have been cited into municipal court and were found guilty twice of violations, paying $1,600 in fines. The officer also noted that the home is in a very densely packed area so parking is at a premium and that the home is situated in such a way that noise has been a constant problem for the neighbors.
The Kievers acknowledged the problems but pointed out that four formal complaints over the past two years still gives them a 98% compliance rate with city codes pertaining to VRD's. However, a neighbor testified that the Kiever rental has been a nuisance to the neighbors far more often than they were officially cited. He said, "I don't mean to be a whiner or complainer, or a cop for the city, but there are nights I can't get to sleep I from all the noise coming from the Kiever property."
The Kievers said if they lost their VRD license they'd be losing $100,000 in improvements they've made to the property. However, city councilor Alex Ward reminded the Kievers that they could always rent their home out on a month to month basis.
In the end the council, acting as an appeals board, voted unanimously to revoke the Kiever's VRD business license. Mayor Dick Anderson said their ruling is likely to be finalized when the city council convenes again on March 12th.
The city council this week hired a community facilitator to help Lincoln City residents and VRD owners find common ground on the issues of noise, parking, trash/garbage, etc., and developing regulations and criteria for current and future VRD owners to qualify for a VRD business license. Over the years, Lincoln City has become home to hundreds of VRD's, creating a density of vacation rentals unparalleled in any city on the Oregon Coast. There have been years upon years of local neighbor complaints about VRD's that they contend are frequently owned by wealthy Portland area real estate investors who care only about the money they make rather than being good neighbors. Neighbors also complain that the city ordinance governing VRD's is violated with impunity as many owners treat their units like mini-hotels rather than their main residence described in city law as "Owners shall have the right to rent their homes out on occasions when they themselves are not using it." But VRD property manager Carolyn Plummer told the council that her understanding of that sentence is that homes are available quite often throughout the year, not just "occasionally."
The city's VRD consultant is expected to mediate and negotiate a city position relative to VRD's when he schedules a number of community-wide meetings and consultations with stakeholders. But it appears that whatever the outcome, the council's decision this week sends a clear signal to city residents that if a VRD in their neighborhood is causing a verifiable and repetitive nuisance, and they promptly complain to the city, the owner runs a substantial risk of losing their VRD business license.
© 2012 - 2019. News Lincoln County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In anticipation of director Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," my neurotic mind drifts to last year's "Before Midnight" press conference. The "Before" stories, which detail the lifelong romance between Jessie (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) bears a spiritual kinship to "Boyhood," a project Linklater shot from 2002 to 2013.
Clocking in at 160 minutes, "Boyhood" gives us a peek into the life of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), the son of divorced parents (Hawke and Patricia Arquette). As the trailer suggests, we see Mason (and Coltrane)grow before our very eyes. Although it's a one shot film and "Before" may be ongoing series, both narratives deal with our relationship to aging.
My favorite Jackson Browne album moniker is "Time the Conqueror," and such a concept may be applied to Linklater's work. For better and worse, the years do have an affect on our collective spirits, and it's what we do with that time that truly matters.
Humanity's ever expanding scope and reach serves as Richard Linklater's creative canvas, and don't expect the director to work with anything less, even if his films don't pack 'em in like some bloated, nonsensical, summer blockbuster.


The RMS sound samples and effects are very high quality – however most laptops and desktops have basic sound hardware which may sound fine through desktop speakers but can sound hissy and thin when amplified. And if you use the headphone/line out from your computer you might also pass on the computer's beeps and sound effects! Again you're welcome to use anything you may already have (or your sound company may have) instead of our equipment if you wish.
You will also need a MIDI IN interface for the computer to plug the keyboard into – this can be a separate USB device (which we don't supply) or a part of the sound interface (which we do). Alternatively keyboards which support MIDI-over-USB should also work, for example our Roland and Yamaha ones.
We offer the following interfaces which are top end professional units. Both are USB (our laptops don't have a Firewire port) and each take up just one USB port.
The RME Fireface UC – this supports one or two MIDI INs via a breakout cable and up to three pairs of L/R balanced audio outputs (which you then DI into the sound system). It will also work in mono but stereo is always preferred. ADAT and SPDIF connections are also available.
It is built like a tank and is a very nice piece of kit. Full details are available from the RME web site.
The RME Babyface – this supports one MIDI IN and one pair of L/R balanced audio outputs via the breakout cable. ADAT connections are available too.
The Babyface is powered from the USB port so does not require a separate power supply. It may look a bit plasticy, but it is actually very well built and powder-coated in metallic blue.
Full details are available from the RME web site.


My wife and I are both 34.
We live in Shanghai, China with our two sons, ages 3 and 1.
My wife is Chinese and I have been living in Mainland China for 12 years.
I am originally from the Upper Midwest where I grew up and completed all of my schooling through University.
I moved to China in 2006 as a fresh graduate looking to experience more of the world before starting something in the corporate world. As you can see I never made it back to the U.S.
I have had a high savings rate since graduating college, well over 70% before having children.
Before learning about financial blogs and financial independence I had always been very good at saving and delayed gratification. The number one reason for my current financial position is my tendency to save.
I also had a big influence on my wife's spending habits. When we first began dating she didn't have a concept of saving. Growing up as an only child in China her parents felt it their responsibility to provide for her while she was in school. When we met she was in law school so her parents were providing her with all necessary funds. When she saw how I was independent and responsible for my own finances she gained a new perspective and learned a lot from me about the value of money, or at least how I valued money.
Over the years she has developed a pretty good barometer for measuring when to best deploy our money or when to put off a purchase until a better deal comes along. But I do need to add that she also does a good job of keeping me balanced as well. At times I can take my savings a bit overboard.
To sum it up, the biggest factors have been my tendency to save and the support of my wife to keep our spending in order.
I currently work in Retail Management and my wife is a lawyer. This January she established a law firm with two other partners.
Together we earn in the range of $180,000. I make a little over $90,000 and my wife brings in between $85,000 and $95,000 a year. We have very similar incomes with mine being more stable and hers fluctuating month to month depending on the amount and size of cases that she takes on.
The last 3 years she has been balancing the demands of being a new mother to our two boys and slowed down her career since our first son was born. We expect her income to grow as the boys get older. Once the boys begin school full time (at age 3 in China) she will have more time to commit to work and her law firm.
I started as an English teacher at a university in China making $3,750 a year ($375/month – summers were not paid). During that time my room was provided with a computer and internet. My only expenses were food and entertainment. I could easily save 70% of my income because I was living in a part of China, Chongqing, that had a very low cost of living. 3 meals cost under $4 a day and transportation was very cheap.
I worked in that job for 3 years and lived the life of a poor college student. We had a lot of fun during those years and could still save a little bit of money.
My plan wasn't to stay in China, originally I planned to stay for one year and then decided to extend for a second year. After the second year I went back to the US to find work but this was the summer of 2008 so the majority my friends were being let go or hanging on to their jobs for dear life. It didn't have a name yet but the effects of the Economic Crisis were being felt, especially for peers in my age group.
After sending out 200 resumes in 3 months and contacting everyone I knew for a job without being invited to a single interview I decided that I had better move back to China. I was 24 at the time.
The teaching job that I had was not very strenuous (14 hours per week) so I was able to pick up part-time tutoring work, English voice recording work, spend time to learn Mandarin and also open a bar. Although my salary reached as high as $460 a month I was actually making close to $850 a month while only spending about $150 a month. During those 3 years I managed to save $10,000.
In 2009 I moved to Shanghai where I was still teaching English but the salary was much higher at $28,800/year. This new job was with a private English training company and was my first exposure to the world of sales and business. As a teacher I was involved somewhat in the sales and we could receive very small commissions for successful demo classes or support for referrals. We also worked side by side with highly driven sales.
In Shanghai my salary got a big bump but the cost of living was also much higher. I always lived with roommates during my time in Shanghai and saved over 70% of my income.
Within 3 years of living in Shanghai I was making $62,400 a year because I was promoted 3 times over that period because I was open to learning, working hard and supporting the sales department as much possible. On top of that my Chinese level was rapidly improving which helped build trust because the entire sales team were local citizens.
I worked as a manager in that company for nearly 4 years and was earning $79,000 a year when I left. I was taking on a lot of extra projects and was working toward a promotion when I was given an opportunity to work for a Fortune 50 company in a totally new industry. It wasn't an easy choice because I was growing and advancing at my previous company but this new opportunity would look great on my resume, offer benefits beyond what I was getting before, allow me to further develop my Chinese skills as well as allow me to have the option to transfer back to the U.S. at some point if I had the choice.
Some of my former direct level colleagues did not find it easy to transition back to the U.S/U.K. after leaving the English training industry. Although they autonomy and responsibilities well beyond many director roles in very large international companies they didn't have a big name on their resume to make a smooth transition to good positions back home.
I decided to change careers and industries in 2015 and currently I make $92,000 (+ a few thousand dollars in Restricted Stock Options). I have been able to make the industry transition and reach this level because I have a strong grasp of Mandarin Chinese and know a great deal about the local culture, local customer profiles and the local business climate.
As a foreigner I can connect with all profiles of the Chinese market, including the non-English speaking population of China. This has been an invaluable skill for me as my career has progressed.
I can participate in meetings with other managers and not miss any information, I can have development conversations in Chinese with the team and participated in the jokes and funny stories with the team. Many of the foreigners working in China cannot speak the language which limits their effectiveness.
Although I didn't/haven't furthered my education by going to business school I often comfort myself by the fact that my experience in China has been a huge part of my continued education and personal development and have given me experience and knowledge that cannot be taught in higher education. Although I still consider myself very much American my local colleagues often call me a real local. I take this as a compliment because I've worked very hard to learn the language, culture and values of the country.
Before we had children I was often doing extra work like tutoring and TV appearances but after we had kids I haven't had the time and energy take on extra work.
I prefer to get as much time with the boys as I can during these early years. Once they get a little older I'm sure they won't want to spend as much time with daddy. At that point I will again look for ways to bring in some extra income linked to a hobby or passion.
The other plan would be to get back to working hard to advance my career further.
I spent the first three years of my working career not really focusing on growing my income or earning a lot of money.
Also, I see other expats living in China that have been sent here by their companies and have excellent packages. They will usually make 30% – 50% more than me (and sometimes much more) and their company will also cover their living expenses, provide a car and driver and pay for the family to fly back home once or twice a year.
Although these types expats are becoming fewer and fewer in China and are usually at least 10 years older than me, as a highly competitive person I can see what the possibilities there are in my earning potential and have a goal to be there in the near future.
Also, in the time since having children I don't think I have put as much time and effort into earning as I had in the past. If I had focused more on my career I could have raised my income by enough $5,000 to $10,000 for better performance increases.
In Shanghai a solid middle class household income would be $35,000 so considering that fact I think I've done better than average.
I am still aiming at being promoted within the next 6-months.
I am currently on track and in my current company there are many opportunities in China. With a promotion comes increased income but also a large increase in the amount of stock options that I will receive. Now that my first son will start school in September this will free up some time to spend on doing more at work.
Along with this my wife's law firm should continue to grow and provide both larger income and yearly dividends for the profit. Her income potential is unlimited and I would not be surprised if her income more than tripled in the next 3 to 5 years.
She is a very talented lawyer and has a very strong work ethic. (She worked roughly 15 hours a week for the last three years, sometimes less, and was able to make on average $85,000 while having two kids).
Our goal is to reach $300,000 in combined income by 2020.
Currently we save 100% of my income and live off my wife's income with some to spare.
We save around 60% of our income.
I have always been a big saver and when it was just my wife and me we were saving more than 80% of our income to save for the down payment of our home.
I always had a roommate or even free housing. I walked as much as I could instead of taking taxis or even the subway. The walking was free, was great exercise and I learned so much about this great city, all for little to no expense.
I did all of my exercising at home using tables and chairs or in nearby parks. If I went out with friends I wouldn't order expensive drinks.
Once we were dating seriously my wife and I often hosted dinners, friends brought drinks and we all had a great time for very reasonable costs. I didn't have a car until I was 31 (I still don't think we need a car but that's another story).
I always looked for reasonable accommodation and have kept a close eye on rental prices. While renting the most we ever spent on housing in a year was $7,500 and most years were under $5,000.
When friends moved out of Shanghai we would pick up things from them and give them a second life. We had our furniture custom made (in China this is cheaper than buying at Ikea but better quality). When we decorated our condo my wife and her cousin went to individual vendors for tiles, flooring, paint, fixtures, cabinets to negotiate lower deals individually. The contractor we used was one of my wife's clients so we gave him a deal.
My wife helped some of our neighbors with their contracts so they can help us babysit for free in a pinch. I like to dress in a reasonably nice way but usually purchase with discounts and I only buy when I need something. Most of my nice shirts come from second-hand or consignment stores. I only buy clothes about once a year when I visit the U.S so I just pick up the necessities because you can only fit so much into a suitcase.
My wife keeps an eye on the used market for kids toys that we might want to pick up. We frequent the library or second hand store for children's books.
We eat 90% of our meals at home, it also helps negate some of the cost of having our nanny. And I really don't care about birthday presents or gifts for myself.
We have done a very good job of keeping our costs down over the years. As the boys have come my wife still has the tendency to buy expensive clothes for the boys or imported products which are expensive.
Daycare doesn't exist in China so we also have a live in nanny/house keeper that cooks and helps with the kids. In China it's expected that grandparents do 80% of the child raising. Parents are usually responsible for fun and some childcare duties on the weekends.
In some cases the grandchildren live with the grandparents in another city. Parents will come to visit on holidays/weekends. We decided against that approach and my wife and I do most of the child care by balancing our schedules but have our nanny to do the cooking cleaning and some help with the children.
For our nanny we also found a way to save. We pay less than the going market value because we found a woman that was recommended by a friend instead of going through an agency. She didn't have any experience which helped save on this cost as well. Because she is rarely alone with the kids we don't care about her prior experience and trust our friend's recommendation.
This saved us about 50% on our nanny cost and because she is only doing a small part of the childcare we are satisfied with her. She has been with us for more than 2 years and can see her staying with us for the next few years.
I expect that our savings will go above 70% in the coming years as our income increases and some of our major expenses have been taken care of.
We purchased a car 2 years ago and this year we bought the license plate.
Once our oldest begins kindergarten in September our expenses will drop again. Kindergarten in China is essentially a public daycare system. The cost is $20 a month which includes meals. Kindergarten lasts 3 years. Currently he attends some basic classes during the week days to learn to play and also help with his Chinese skills. This cost will go away in September.
Our main investments are low cost index funds and company stock.
My company also has a good Employee Stock Purchase Program as well as restricted stock units as part of our salary.
I know over investment in one company is risky but the company I work for has performed very very well since I joined 3 years ago and is blue chip company. I plan to continue to buy company stock at a discount each month and slowly sell off parts of the stock to balance my portfolio but my company stock has performed very well in these three years. It has provided a 52% return on investment.
If something were to happen to the housing market in the U.S. we would look into getting into a little bit of real estate investing in the U.S. with long-term rentals. But I feel most comfortable with low cost index funds with Vanguard for most of my portfolio.
The biggest factor in our wealth has been the value of our condo.
We purchased our 748 square foot condo (yes, that's right) for $400,000 in early 2014.
In China the cost of housing has been exploding for the last 15 years and it's where most Chinese people put their investments. Our condo is in downtown Shanghai on two main subway lines and one of the main thorough-fairs of the city. The location is great and hopefully somewhat protected from any major bubbles.
I'm a very conservative person and it took my wife a great deal of time and pressure to convince me to purchase the condo. The average price for 1 square meter in Shanghai currently is over $12,000 so you don't get a lot for your money.
At one point our home was valued at $1,200,000 but with the government imposing further restrictions (the down payment for a second house is 70%) to cool the market the prices have dropped because the wealthy have a tight limit on how many homes they can purchase. When I first purchased in 2014 I thought it was at the height of the market but the prices have only continued to go up in the major cities in China.
I don't consider my condo an investment because I need to live somewhere but it's been the biggest reason for increase in our net worth.
I give the rating of 5 because in the last 5 years I have spent a great deal of time learning about personal finance but was slow to pull the trigger to begin investing. I'm quite risk adverse and wanted to find a safe way. Finally after many years of research it seems that the best way to go is with low cost index funds.
Another challenge has been that being an expat our access to some financial vehicles are limited in the U.S. It took me some time to also find out where I could put my money.
I didn't start investing early enough because it took so long to decide whether or not to purchase a condo. Also, I have no idea how volatile the housing market will be. Most of the reason I have this net worth is a lot of luck with the Shanghai housing market.
But I have to say that the high savings rate has allowed me to be in this position. Many of my expat friends that earn similar to or more than I do could never afford the down payment for a condo and were very much surprised when I told them that we had purchased a condo in the location that we did. Anyone living in Shanghai for any amount of time knows the prices and policies for owning in China and that most down payments for a small condo (450 square feet) start around $100,000.
Home ownership is very important in Chinese culture and usually parents feel it's their responsibility to purchase a condo for their son before marriage. Without a condo it's common that women won't even consider dating or continuing a relationship with a boy. The women will also get pressure from their parents to find a partner that can provide a condo. This is one of the reasons that the housing market can maintain its value, families will do what they must to fulfill this requirement.
In our case my wife's parents were open to us not marrying before we owned and could see that we were saving and doing well financially. When we did purchase we put down 35% because I really don't like debt. So our down payment was $140,000.
Because of the high demand for housing here all costs for closing are covered by the buyer. There is a 1% seller's fee and a 1% buyer's fee. The buyer will cover both costs. Definitely a seller's market here.
We have also paid off some of the principal early because we have a non-fixed rate mortgage. Foreign banks in China don't offer fixed rate mortgages so we are at the whim of the U.S. interest rates and our bank. That doesn't make me feel comfortable as our interest rate has increased from 3.9% to 5.4% in just 4.5 years.
Keep going with low cost index funds and company stock as well as maxing out the company match for a "retirement fund".
This retirement fund will be given to me without any restrictions/penalties if I leave the company. I hope to put $100,000 into our Vanguard fund each year.
I loaned a large amount of money to a girlfriend that didn't pay me back after our relationship ended. I learned a lesson from that about lending money to people. I don't think I will lend any money to family or friends again. I will give them a gift for the amount I feel comfortable with and not expect the money to be returned.
Also, don't wait to invest. Start today, buy an S&P 500 index fund and get yourself started and add to it every month.
Learn negotiation skills. Negotiating your salary will have exponential impact on your salary over a career. Spend some time to learn and practice this skill and put it into practice. It can be hard to do the first time but if you do it well you will have a sense of accomplishment and your boss will have a different respect for you and your business acumen.
Network as much as possible. Build real relationships with people and get to know them personally. Invest some time and money to invite others out to lunch or a coffee. Offer your help to them and be open to share about yourself. People want to connect and if you can make an impression and can openly let people know about your skills and passions they will find you when a good chance comes up.
Are there any other expats out there? What are you doing with your investments? What percentage of your home value should make up your net worth?
Does anyone have negotiating or networking tips? What has or hasn't worked for you?
This isn't a question but I am 100% open to the ESI community's feedback. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions for me I would love to hear them. Both positive and constructive feedback are welcome. Your questions or suggestions could inspire my decisions on my path to growing my wealth.
Sometimes when you are so caught up in your own situation it can be hard to get another perspective or see things clearly. Most people are not interested in talking about money and my situation is unique among my friends so many times I feel that it can be challenging to find the best path for my situation and there aren't many blueprints to follow.
Your savings rate is impressive, for sure. It sounds like you are doing a great job keeping spending down and have a simple, yet effective plan for investing. Not sure that I would change much, honestly.
It's really interesting hearing the differences between living in the States versus living in China. Who knew that a license plate could be an investment vehicle (no pun intended)?
Thanks. The Shanghai liscense plate was actually a big hassle. We had to join the monthly lottery for the license plate, it took us more that 2 years to successfully be chosen to receive the plate. And we actually had to use a "scalper" to help us. The scalper was $3,000, so throw that on top of the $15,000 cost of the plate. I need quite a few years to get the cost of the scalper back. That was a bit of a hard pill to swallow.
The demand for shanghai liscense plates is through the roof as more and more families buying cars as a show of their status.
With more and more families having the ability to purchase a car and wanting to display their status with the purchase of a vehicle he demand for the Shanghai liscense plate is very high. We waited two years to successfully win one of the monthly lotteries. We also hired a "scalper" with a high speed computer and specific software to win he lottery bid. That was an extra $3,000 on top of the $15,000 cost for the plate.
The demand is high and the scalpers are making a killing.
Nice job sharing out with all you've done and are planning to do moving forward —— sounds like you're well on your way : increasing your skills in a number of areas. Good luck.
Again, after multiple trips to China, I learned a lot and being able to visit about 20 cities really opened my eyes ——- I'm a better person for making that long trip from the US to all parts of China. Loved the people, their ways and I really loved the food —— can't get enough spice here in the states since I returned from China.
Oh, I also love how you're putting family FIRST — from your wife and her interest, to your in-laws and now to your kids. Nicely done, my friend.
I very much appreciate your comments and your support. As my wealth grows I will consider your words about investing. I also hope that my best earning years are still to come.
For me living abroad has changed me as a person. The biggest lesson I learned is to put yourself out there, be open to new ideas/experiences and new ways of doing things. Try not to say no before trying something for the first time.
I was and still am a introvert but I have learned how to be more extroverted when the situation calls for it. It wasn't always comfortable but that is a skill that I have developed and can use when needed.
Also, China is growing and changing at such a rapid rate that being flexible and having the ability to adapt is a normal part of life.
How do you get a 3.8% savings account?!
Good question. It's available in China through Alibaba. They have a product called Alipay and one of the services is an online savings acccount that you can connect with your bank. With two or three clicks you can move your money arround easily. When the service originally opened it was over 7% interest but as the government has put more and more regulation the interest rate has slowly decreased as well as the amount of money that you can put into the account. We were lucky to get in early and still have a sizeable amount of money in the account and the savings rate is still far better than a bank.
Shanghai is now nearly a cashless/digital society. You would be hard pressed to find someone under 30 carrying any cash. Alibaba is leading the way in this front.
You can order any meal to be delivered to your home, office, the park.
Online deliveries for good arrive in usually less that 24 hours, at most 48, any day of the week.
You can order a repairman to come to your home through your phone.
With Alipay you can transfer money to friends and family instantly. If you go out to dinner with friends you can split the bill and send your money to them in just a split second.
"Without a condo it's common that women won't even consider dating or continuing a relationship with a boy." Glad to hear you're married. I have some colleagues in Shanghai that said the same thing. In fact, they said some of their male colleagues went back to their hometowns because they couldn't find a date, even though they were good guys, experienced software engineeers and reasonably good looking.
Any tips on selling a condo in Shanghai? My Mom's looking to sell but it's tough to navigate how to do it from overseas.


Where The Water Falls Oil Painting Max Dstandley Oil Painting Water Uploaded by saPainting on Tuesday, May 29th, 2018 in category Painting.
See also Oil Painting Water Peace Palette Knife Oil Painting On Canvas Leonid Afremov from Painting Topic.
Here we have another image Paintings Of Water Google Search Water Paintings Pinterest Oil Painting Water featured under Where The Water Falls Oil Painting Max Dstandley Oil Painting Water. We hope you enjoyed it and if you want to download the pictures in high quality, simply right click the image and choose "Save As". Thanks for reading Where The Water Falls Oil Painting Max Dstandley Oil Painting Water.


Daycare infant room Infant Room from Back - from www.pinterest.com. plan your dining room design keys to success of having wonderful design of a dining room is you should plan your dining room design with a color palette that is appetizing it s also possible to make a small dining room design feel like a grand hall . Tag : daycare room , Daycare infant room Infant Room from Back.
They are ready for down load, if you like and want to get it, click save badge on the page, and it will be directly saved in your laptop. For most upgrades and latest information about Daycare Room Layout Ideas Gk1q graphics, please share to google plus or follow us on tweets, Instagram and path, or you mark this page on bookmark area, We attempt to present you update periodically with fresh and new pictures, love your exploring, and find the perfect for you.


text:
Wintley Phipps
Vocal Artist and Founder of the US Dream Academy
Vero Beach, FL, USA
Virtual Event: $5,000 - $10,000
Christian Speakers, Inspirational Speakers, Motivation, Virtual Speakers
Wintley Phipps Biography
Wintley Augustus Phipps was born in Trinidad, West Indies and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He attended Kingsway College, a Christian Academy; Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama where he received a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Theology; and earned a Masters of Divinity Degree from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. He also holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Waynesburg University and MidAmerica Nazarene University; an honorary degree of Doctor of Education from Wheelock College; and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Oakwood University. Phipps is married to Linda Diane Galloway Phipps, an RN, and they have three adult sons: Wintley Augustus, II, Winston Adriel, and Wade Alexander.
Phipps is a pastor, world-renowned vocal artist, motivational speaker, and education activist. He is the founder, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc., a national after-school program that aims to break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration by giving children the skills and vision necessary to lead productive and fulfilling lives. The Dream Academy program offers skill-building, character-building and dream-building activities in a safe after-school environment utilizing both one-to-one mentoring as well as state of the art technology to deliver on-line academic enrichment to children of incarcerated parents and those falling behind in school.
Phipps has brought his considerable skills to a number of organizations where he served formerly including the Scholarship of America Board of Directors; Miss America's Outstanding Teen; and Prison Fellowship Ministries. For his work at the U.S. Dream Academy Mr. Phipps has received numerous service awards, among them: Promise Hero Award from America's Promise; the Excellence in Mentoring for Program Leadership Award from MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership; the Oprah Winfrey Angel Network Use Your Life Award; Philanthropist of the Year from The National Center for Black Philanthropy, Inc.; 2019 AARP Purpose Prize; and the Distinguished Service Award from Loma Linda University. In recognition of his positive global impact through speaking, The National Speakers Association awarded Phipps the prestigious Master of Influence Award.
Phipps has been the featured speaker and performer for many notable occasions around the world. On Monday afternoon of July 27, we all paused to honor civil rights icon Congressman John Robert Lewis: the Conscience of the Congress. The Lewis Family requested Phipps serve as soloist and as he stood in the Rotunda singing, "Amazing Grace" and "It is Well," his heart filled with gratitude for this remarkable life of one who answered the call to uplift humanity through advocacy for justice for all. In January 2009 and 2013, Phipps was privileged to serve as the guest soloist for the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service of President Barack Obama at the Washington National Cathedral. On January 2nd, 2007 by special request of Oprah Winfrey, Phipps delivered an inspirational address and prayer for the opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. He has sung for Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, and George W. Bush at distinguished celebrations. He has met the late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa; performed for the 2005 pre-inaugural swearing-in ceremony of President George Bush; both the 1984 and 1988 National Democratic Conventions; performed at Congressional Gold Medal Ceremonies in the White House for Mother Teresa of Calcutta and The Little Rock Nine; the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. television special; 13th and 14th annual European Prayer Breakfast in Brussels hosted by the European Parliament; the National Urban League; the Boston Symphony Pops; Billy Graham Crusades; the Vatican for Pope John Paul II; special guest soloist at the 1986 wedding ceremony of Diana Ross in Switzerland; the Rosa Parks Birthday Celebration at the Kennedy Center; and the Loma Linda University Centennial Celebration. He has also conducted lectures in Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa and North and South America.
Phipps served as senior pastor to several churches in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. He currently serves as the senior pastor of the Palm Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church in Florida. Phipps has performed on Saturday Night Live as well as Sunday Live and has been the special guest on the Emmy award-winning series Super Soul Sunday on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Phipps was nominated for Grammy Awards in 1988 and 1989. He is the author of "The Power of A Dream" (1996), "My Greatest Romance" (Love Notes to God) Volume I (2011), "Your Best Destiny" (2015), and founder of Songs of Freedom Publishing Company and Coral Records Recording Company. Phipps has attracted an entire new generation of fans as his performance of "Amazing Grace" has received 20 million cumulative viewers making him one of the most watched Gospel Music artists on YouTube.
Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Wintley Phipps and other top speakers and celebrities.
Wintley Phipps - Amazing Grace
Wintley Phipps – Official Lyric Video for "Amazing Grace," available now!
Inspirational Speaker - Wintley Phipps - Motivational & Success Speaker
Wintley Phipps is the most watched inspirational speaker in the world! Wintley...
Your Best Destiny: Becoming The Person You Were Created To Be
My Greatest Romance: Love Notes To God
The Power Of A Dream: The Inspiring Story Of A Young Man's Audacious Faith
Q&A: Wintley Phipps brings his voice and gospel message to 'Lift ...
Wintley Phipps has a deep, rich bass-baritone, smooth and expressive, and uses his gift in the service of his Christian faith. Friday night, he'll be the featured ...
CBN TV - Wintley Phipps: I Have a Dream Too
Wintley Phipps: I Have a Dream Too. Baritone and piano player Wintley Phipps talks about the role of music in Black history and sings "Amazing Grace." ...
HOW TO BOOK Wintley Phipps?
Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like Wintley Phipps for both live and virtual events for over 15 years. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment. Fill out a booking request form for Wintley Phipps, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get pricing information and check availability for Wintley Phipps or any other celebrity of your choice.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO BOOK Wintley Phipps?
Booking fees for Wintley Phipps, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. Pricing often varies between live and virtual events. Other factors that can affect speaker fees include the talent's schedule, market conditions, length of presentation, and the location of the event. The live and virtual event speaking fees listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual quote may be above or below the stated range. For the most current fee to hire Wintley Phipps, please fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak with an experienced booking agent.
WHO IS THE AGENT FOR Wintley Phipps?
All American Entertainment has successfully secured celebrity talent like Wintley Phipps for clients worldwide for more than 15 years. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Wintley Phipps for your next private or corporate function.
All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. We do not exclusively represent Wintley Phipps or claim ourselves as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for Wintley Phipps or any other speaker or celebrity on this website. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read the AAE Advantage.
LaDonna Gatlin
Singer & Author; Sister of the Legendary Country Music...
Motivational Speaker, NY Times Bestselling Author, Founder...
Former Catholic Priest; Religion Commentator; Author;...
World Boxing Champion & Entrepreneur
Known for His Brief MLB Career & Subject of Disney's "The...
Daniel Ritchie
Disability Advocate, Preacher, Author & Co Host of the...
Founder, Joel Osteen Ministries; Best-Selling Author;...
Pastor & Best-Selling Author; Best Known for "Crazy Love"...
Tom Thelen
Founder of the Victimproof Bullying Prevention Program &...
Will Bowen
Founder of the Complaint Free Movement; Bestselling Author...
World's First Armless Pilot & First Armless Black-Belt in...
Shawn Harper
Former NFL Football Player, Successful Businessman & Life...
Pat Williams
Motivational Speaker & Sports Executive; Senior Vice...
Dave Dravecky
Former Professional Baseball Player; Cancer Survivor, Arm...
Reverend Robert Wright Lee IV
North Carolina Pastor & Descendant of Robert E. Lee; Known...
Steve Diggs
Steve helps organizations get ReTooled and ReFueled so they...
Heath Calhoun
Alpine Skier & Veteran of the United States Army
Arno Michaelis
Author of "My Life After Hate" & Educator
Richard Quest
Renowned CNN Business Correspondent; Known for "Quest Means...
Sports Broadcaster for Turner Sports & CBS Sports
Wintley Phipps Videos
Wintley Phipps is the most watched inspirational speaker in the world! Wintley is a speaker and singer who specializes in messages of hope, faith,...
Wintley Phipps Books
Speaker Lists Featuring Wintley Phipps
Best Speakers for Your Next Event in Orlando
Orlando, known for its flourishing tourism market and amazing themes parks, is home to the second largest convention facility in the United States. These men and women are astronauts, entrepreneurs, athletes, authors, and...
Browse All Keynote Speaker Lists »
FAQs on booking Wintley Phipps
Wintley Phipps is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book Wintley Phipps for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Wintley Phipps generally travels from Vero Beach, FL, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are LaDonna Gatlin, Nick Vujicic, Jonathan Morris, George Foreman and Jim Morris. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Wintley Phipps for an upcoming live or virtual event.
Wintley Phipps Speaker Videos
Wintley Phipps is the most watched inspirational speaker in the world! Wintley is a speaker and singer who specializes in messages of hope, faith, and possibility thinking. Wintley Phipps is...
Wintley Phipps News
Provide you with the speaking fee to book Wintley Phipps or other celebrity appearance fees
Speakers Similar to Wintley Phipps
Singer & Author; Sister of the Legendary Country Music Group, The Gatlin Brothers
Motivational Speaker, NY Times Bestselling Author, Founder & CEO of Life Without Limbs
Former Catholic Priest; Religion Commentator; Author; Contributor to Fox News
Known for His Brief MLB Career & Subject of Disney's "The Rookie"
Disability Advocate, Preacher, Author & Co Host of the Podcast "The Middle with Daniel & Heather Ritchie"
Founder, Joel Osteen Ministries; Best-Selling Author; Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, the Largest Church in the U.S.
Pastor & Best-Selling Author; Best Known for "Crazy Love" and "Letters to the Church"
Founder of the Victimproof Bullying Prevention Program & Youth Motivational Speaker
Founder of the Complaint Free Movement; Bestselling Author of "A Complaint Free World"
Former NFL Football Player, Successful Businessman & Life Coach
Motivational Speaker & Sports Executive; Senior Vice President of the NBA's Orlando Magic
Former Professional Baseball Player; Cancer Survivor, Arm Amputee & Author of "Comeback"
North Carolina Pastor & Descendant of Robert E. Lee; Known for his 2017 MTV VMAs Speech
Steve helps organizations get ReTooled and ReFueled so they can fast-forward their sales and improve the skills and performance of their workforce.
Renowned CNN Business Correspondent; Known for "Quest Means Business"


text:
Items tagged with STEAM
by Nathan Ord - Sun, Jan 01, 2023
Valve Celebrates The Most Played Games On Steam For 2022
Gaming is how many people prefer to spend their free time these days, and given that, the market has exploded. There are new game titles coming out every day, to the degree that it can be difficult to decide what to play. However, over the past year, some front runners stole the show on Steam, so let's dive into the top titles of 2022 thanks Read more...
by Tim Sweezy - Fri, Dec 16, 2022
Steam Deck Designers Reveal Future Console Updates In Expansive Interview
Steam Deck designers recently gave in-depth insight into the future of the highly-popular handheld gaming device. From plans to update the software indefinitely, to continue to experiment with new hardware, the team does not plan to take its foot off the gas. Since Valve launched its Steam Deck, it has run into its... Read more...
by Aaron Leong - Thu, Dec 15, 2022
Tesla Turns Its Cars Into Steam Gaming PCs On Wheels, But How About That $350 SSD?
Tesla's major year-end update for select EVs called the 2022 Holiday Update includes support for Steam Games and (drum roll, please) a $350 1TB SSD. Yes, you read it right. Deemed the "Holiday Update" as far back as 2019, it is Tesla's way of gifting new features for its line of electric vehicles. This year, owners... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Mon, Dec 12, 2022
Steam Survey Hints Apple Is Secretly Testing Gaming Chops Of Two Unreleased Macs
When you think gaming, you think Mac, right? Yeah, we didn't think so. That doesn't mean you can't game on a mac, it's just not particularly ideal compared to the PC or even Linux experience. Still, that hasn't stopped some users, possibly Apple itself, from submitting to the Steam Hardware Survey and creating a... Read more...
by Zak Killian - Thu, Dec 01, 2022
Steam Deck Consoles Will Be Given Away Each Minute Of The Game Awards, How To Enter
You know, your author here would really like to have a Steam Deck. The thing is, he just can't justify the purchase. If you're in the same boat, don't miss your chance to pick up a free Steam Deck in Valve's Game Awards giveaway on December 8th. Every single minute, Valve will pick one live viewer of The Game Awards... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Wed, Nov 02, 2022
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Update Quietly Removed This Popular Feature On Steam
Steam Family Sharing is a great feature that does just what its name suggests -- it allows family members linked on Steam to share a game, without shelling out for additional copies. The feature was released in 2014 and has allowed people marked as family members to share games across each others' accounts, as well as... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Thu, Sep 29, 2022
Terraria Team Releases Hotfix For The 'Labor Of Love' Update's Pile Of New Features
The mega-popular exploration, platforming, gathering, combat, mining, base building, all that and the kitchen sink-containing, 2D side-scroller Terraria turned 11 this year. The Labor of Love update arrived last month to celebrate the communities that have developed around it. It represented one of the largest updates... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Fri, Sep 23, 2022
Steam Says Goodbye To Its Stats Page And Replaces It With Real-Time Charts, Check It Out
Sadly, the Steam Stats Page is no more. However, Valve has already replaced it with something that looks and behaves far better, Steam Charts. It provides live data views of most played and top-selling games. The top-selling breakdown even takes DLC sales into account now, too. This change comes closely behind another... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Sun, Sep 18, 2022
Valve Finally Unveils Steam Deck Dock At Tokyo Game Show To A Luke-Warm Reception
In August of 2021 Valve announced the Steam Deck. In February of 2022 the portable gaming device started shipping, and was ultimately met with mostly positive reviews. This year at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), the Steam Deck has been the main focus for Valve, as its booth design definitely highlights. One big part of... Read more...
by Mark Tyson - Thu, Sep 15, 2022
Valve Shows Off A Supersized Steam Deck Game Console And It's Way Bigger Than You Imagine
The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) kicked off today, and Valve is using it to promote its PC gaming handheld. One of the most eye-catching stands at the TGS thus featured a massive rendition of the Steam Deck—a version that we guesstimate to be about 10ft tall and 25ft wide. Valve's extremely popular device only went up for... Read more...
by Nathan Wasson - Tue, Sep 13, 2022
Beware Of Hackers Using Fake Browser Windows To Steal Your Steam Credentials
The cybersecurity firm Group-IB published research today detailing how various threat actors are stealing Steam login credentials using browser windows. Specialists from the computer emegency response team at Group-IB (CERT-GIB) discovered over 150 phishing resources mimicking Steam in just the month of July. Steam... Read more...
News, Security
by Tim Sweezy - Thu, Sep 08, 2022
Valve Revamps Steam To Make It Easier To Find Games You Actually Want To Play
The highly popular PC game retailer, Valve, released an update yesterday to make searching for your favorite games simpler and more intuitive. The update for the Steam app was previously launched as a Steam Labs experiment, allowing the company to test and get player feedback over the last few months. The updated... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Tue, Sep 06, 2022
Windows 11 Is Winning Over Gamers On Steam But Can It Catch Windows 10?
Windows 11 is gaining steam among gamers, or more specifically, is adding more Steam gamers to its ranks. That's according to Valve's latest Steam survey data, which contains a wealth of statistics for the digital distribution platform. The recently updated figures show that Windows 11 adoption on the platform grew by... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Mon, Sep 05, 2022
Deal You Can't Refuse: Mafia Is Still Free To Claim On PC But Only If You Hurry
We're a bit late on this one (apologies!), but in case you missed it, the original Mafia game is free to claim on Steam right now. That's the kind of offer that is too good to refuse, but the caveat is that time is running out—you only have until 1:00pm ET (10:00am PT) to add the classic game to your Steam library... Read more...
by Ryan Whitwam - Mon, Aug 15, 2022
Spider-Man Shines As Sony's Second Biggest PC Launch Surpassing Horizon Zero Dawn
Sony has just released Spider-Man Remastered on PC, and it's shaping up to be its second biggest launch yet. Gaming database SteamDB shows more than 66,000 players were active on the game late on Sunday, putting the superhero action-adventure title within a few thousand of God of War, which remains Sony's biggest PC... Read more...
News, Gaming
by Chris Goetting - Fri, Aug 05, 2022
Surprise Indie Hit Vampire Survivors Revives The Cheat Menu In New Update
Vampire Survivors sounds like a stupid game. You pick a character, then load into the game where your only interaction is to move around and choose power ups while your weapons and abilities autonomously slay the hordes of creatures around you. Yet, the $3 game's simple Roguelite charm and retro throwback has... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Fri, Jul 29, 2022
Steam Now Supports These Nintendo And Sega Controllers For Glorious Retro PC Gaming
Ever feel like there's just not enough support for classic hardware or even reproductions of them on PC? Valve seems to think so too because as of the July 27th update to Steam there is now support for all Nintendo Online classic controllers, and more. Valve's attempt at making Steam as universal as possible... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Wed, Jul 27, 2022
Stray's Secret Language Revealed, How To Translate The Cryptic Text
Unless you've been living under a rock you are likely aware of Stray, te game where you play as a stray cat in a dystopian future uncovering the secrets of the world as you explore it. The game has a metacritic score of 84, which is impressively high for a brand new title. Developed by AnnaPurna Interactive, and... Read more...
by Lane Babuder - Mon, Jul 25, 2022
Dog Lovers, Here's How To Replace The Cat In The Game Stray With A Puppy
Hey dog lovers, do you want to play the popular new game Stray but just can't bring yourself to it because it's not a dog? Well, you're in luck— thanks to a fun little mod the cute little cat can be turned into an adorable little puppy! Stray was only released a few days ago, but it has made splashes thanks to its... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Wed, Jul 20, 2022
Stray Climbs To Over 60K Concurrent Steam Gamers And It's A Hit With Actual Cats Too
As any cat owner can attest, our feline companions love to climb things—bedspreads, curtains, the backs of couches, fleshy human legs, and the list goes on. We can now add Steam's concurrent players chart to the list, too. In less than 24 hours, Stray has climbed to over 60,000 concurrent players, peaking at 62,963... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Mon, Jul 04, 2022
Steam Survey Shows Gamers Clinging To This 6-Year-Old GPU And Migrating To Windows 11
It has been right around nine months since Microsoft released Windows 11 to the public and during that time it has carved out a section of gamers, according to the latest Steam survey. Valve's monthly audit of Steam gamers shows that around one out of every five systems that tapped into the digital distribution... Read more...
by Zak Killian - Sat, Jun 25, 2022
Valve's Steam Summer Game Sale Kicks Off To Help You Forget About Life For A While
Summer can be stressful as an adult. Remember when you were a kid, and summer meant endless sleepovers, staying up all night playing games or watching films, and no responsibilities? These days, your own kids may be out of school, high temperatures mean rising power bills, and yet you've still got to get out there and... Read more...